Exam and assessment update

On Friday I met with the MMU Registrar, Gwyn Arnold, and the Director of Student Services, Alex Thorley, to talk about the concerns that you have raised with me recently about your exams and essays.  This email is to let you know what we spoke about, and how I’m representing you.
 
I told the university that hundreds of you had contacted us because you weren’t happy about the organisation of your exams and essays.  Issues raised included struggling to plan your time effectively due to exam timetables being issued late or with changes, and how to balance getting essays and dissertations in on time with revision for exams, which had been scheduled for the day afterwards.
 
From the responses you’ve given us, it is clear that the assessment situation varies across the University: many of you are fine with your assessment but some of you feel strongly that the way assessments have been organised adds unnecessary pressure that might impact your performance.  
 
The university indicated that the attention of Boards of Examiners will be drawn, in the normal way, to any issues that might have impacted adversely on whole cohorts of students.  They also agreed that the students’ union and the university would meet after the assessment period and evaluate how this year went, so that we can prevent any re-occurrence of problems.
 
If you have any comments or concerns that you want me to raise with the university about the way that assessment is handled from now until the end of May, please fill in our e-form and let us know your thoughts.
 
I appreciate that some of you might want to discuss other factors that you think might impact your performance.  If you think that you have individual issues that will affect only you during your assessment and not the rest of your cohort, visit our Advice Centre.  
 
Good luck with your assessments!
 

David Saxton
VP Education