UCL Releases New Delayed Assessment Scheme
Image Courtesy: Jenni Bozec/UCL ImageStore
UCL has released its new Delayed Assessment scheme, granting students extensions, called Delayed Assessment Permits (DAPs), for three assignments per academic year. Unlike the pre-existing Extenuating Circumstances (EC) process, students do not need to provide evidence and wait for approval in the scheme. Instead, when you submit a DAP request, the extension is given automatically.
A DAP can be used for assignments, coursework, dissertations or exams. The extension is five days, but if you get a DAP for an exam, you’ll sit it at the next suitable occasion, usually during the late summer assessment period. DAPs can not be used for group work assessments, or in addition to extensions already granted by an EC.
UCL has introduced the scheme to help students balance study, life and wellbeing. While ECs are granted to aid students when their studies are significantly disrupted, DAPs are intended for less extreme circumstances, for example, if you have a minor illness.
When asked about how they felt about the scheme, UCL students responses were mixed. Filippo, a Statistics student, told me:
“I can see some benefits to it. Sometimes deadlines pile up and are all within the same week, especially if you’re doing five or more modules a term. DAPs give you time to properly focus on each assessment. Also, they help students manage their time by accounting for extracurricular commitments like societies, sports or work.”
But Carlos, an Arts and Sciences student, was more sceptical:
“On the one hand ECs were so automatic that this doesn’t feel like a big change in policy. ECs basically gave two automatic extensions anyway. But on the other hand, this scheme is infantilising us because in the real world deadlines are deadlines unless something serious has happened. Making it official like this, I do wonder if it’s further encouraging people to not take deadlines seriously.”
One professor also said that if students use a DAP to delay an exam to the late summer assessment period, the extra preparation time could make the difference between a 2:1 and a first class degree.
Opinions are divided, with some celebrating the prioritisation of mental wellbeing, and others concerned that the scheme will leave students unprepared for deadlines in the workplace.