Marking

Assessments are marked anonymously. Processes are in place to ensure the fairness and equity of marks awarded.

Anonymous marking

Anonymous marking must be adopted for all assessments with the following exceptions:

Where the assessment takes the form of a practical demonstration performed in the presence of examiners eg oral assessments, clinical practice, performance.
Where assessment takes place over a period of time with support from a designated supervisor or tutor eg projects, dissertations, portfolios.
Where the assessment takes place during a module for formative purposes and anonymity might prevent speedy and effective feedback e.g. examples classes.

Any further exceptions must be approved by the relevant Faculty Taught Student Education Committee, reported to Taught Student Education Board and published for students by the school concerned. Where anonymous marking is not appropriate, schools must ensure that internal moderation is rigorous to ensure that marking is accurate and consistent.

Check marking

All schools must have arrangements in place, and documented, for checking the marks awarded to assessed work, either through double-marking on systematic monitoring.

Role of external examiner in the marking process

The external examiner ratifies module marks. They normally look at a sample of assessed work to satisfy themselves that the marks awarded are fair and equitable. If they are not fully confident in the marks awarded, they may ask for:

additional samples of all the student work within the group
additional samples of an element of the assessed work of all the students within the group
moderation of the marks of all the students within the group.

Exceptionally, they may determine a mark:

if they have been specifically invited to adjudicate between internal markers
in specialist discipline areas (such as Bulgarian or Mongolian) where only one internal examiner has the appropriate expertise.

Re-marking of scripts

The Committee on Applications decide whether a script should be re-marked. If a candidate wishes to appeal against a mark for a module, they may do so by following the appeals procedure. A script cannot be re-marked unless the student has formally appealed and the Committee on Applications has upheld the appeal.

Archiving of scripts

Scripts should be archived for a minimum of one year after the student has completed their studies or withdrawn from the University. Schools are, however, encouraged to store scripts for longer if space is available as academic references are often sought for former students.

Legibility and clarity

It is the student’s responsibility to write clearly and legibly during written assessments. Examiners may refuse to mark a script or require the student to read or re-write the script, either of which will result in the student forfeiting their right to anonymous marking.