UCL’s full ‘no detriment’ package explained

UCL has set out the full details of its “no detriment” package, which aims to attenuate the pandemic’s effect on students’ assessment.

Source: UCL Imagestore

On Monday, UCL has announced the official “no detriment” package for the 2020-21 academic year, designed to support students through the assessment period, which was derailed by the pandemic. After a month of negotiations with the Students’ Union, UCL has rejected the module-discounting concessions which were prominent in the last year’s “no detriment” policy, opting instead for a package of measures to support students’ assessment during the pandemic. 

The main measures introduced to this year’s “no detriment” package are the revised classification borderline and an increased total of five opportunities for a 14-day deadline extension through the Extenuating Circumstances procedure. 

Under the “borderline” rule, students have previously been able to receive a higher degree classification even if their final weighted mark does not reach the classification boundary. In order to be eligible, students’ final year weighted mark must fall within a grade “borderline”, which has now been widened by 1 per cent, and they must have attained the higher degree classification in 50 per cent or more of their final-year modules.

For example, a finalist who achieves a final weighted mark of 67.5 per cent within the grade “borderline” may be eligible for a First Class Honours if they have attained a First in half or more of their final-year modules. The previous grade boundaries are still in place, meaning that students who achieve at least a final degree grade of 69.5 per cent will receive a First Class Honours regardless of their final-year marks. 

In the Students’ Union’s podcast, the Group Chat, Education Officer Ayman Benmati explained that, “What it boils down to is if you do find that you’ve done badly in one or two, maybe even three modules, which are like outliers, this won’t affect your overall classification.” 

UCL has also introduced two additional self-certified Extenuating Circumstances (EC) opportunities, bringing the total to five across the entire year. Under the expanded EC policy, students can self-certify for five deadline extensions on any coursework or exams for up to 14 days, or the removal of late submission penalties for up to 14 days. 

Students can also self-certify in order to move certain pieces of assessment to a later assessment period in order to accommodate for other obligations, such as work or caring responsibilities, although this may affect their ability to graduate on time or progress to the next academic year.

The university’s “condonement” and “provisional progression” policies have also been combined this year, meaning that students may still be able to progress to the next academic year even if they fail up to 60 credits. This will allow students to write off up to 30 failed credits in the 2020-21 assessment period if they meet certain conditions, and to retake the remaining 30 credits alongside their other modules in the next year. 

This announcement comes after continued talks between the Examinations and Assessment Contingency Panel and the Students’ Union, with Benmati expressing his disappointment that UCL had decided not to implement a similar no detriment policy to last year’s “safety net” that would discount certain anomalous marks to prevent them from lowering students’ overall grade average.

The full package can be read here.