Table of contents

• Rearranging coursework & obtaining extensions: general rules
• Approaching the EAMC where labs cannot be re-arranged in Part I
• Part I Missed Coursework and Deadline Extension Guidance
• Part IIA Project and Coursework Extensions
• Part IIB Project and Coursework Extensions

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Rearranging coursework & obtaining extensions: general rules

Introduction

Although we expect students to attend all lab sessions and respect coursework deadlines, we understand there may be reasons why this may not always be possible. In such cases, students may be allowed to rearrange timetabled lab sessions or request deadline extensions for coursework submission. This document sets out the department’s approach to this subject as agreed by the faculty board.

Principles

1. All timetabled coursework activities are compulsory parts of the course.
2. Marks are not awarded for activities not completed. Requests for allowances for the disregarding of marks in respect of coursework activities left incomplete is a matter for the Examination Access and Mitigations Committee (EAMC).
3. Students may self-declare periods of illness up to 7 days (and a total of 28 days in an academic year) to the department teaching office for the purposes of extensions to deadlines and re-arranging coursework activities. No tutorial support or medical evidence is required.
4. There is no appeal process as such, however, students unhappy with a departmental decision may apply to the EAMC.
5. Rescheduling timetabled coursework activities:
   1. Students are expected to pro-actively re-schedule missed coursework activities. The Teaching Office will approve requests and assist if needed.
   2. Requests for re-arrangement of timetabled coursework activities can only be accommodated in the very limited circumstances set out below.
6. Deadline extension for coursework submissions:
   1. Applications must be made at the time or on return from illness. Retrospective requests will be rejected by the department.
   2. Extensions are only available through the department process for illness up to 7 days or where a student’s SSD mentions extensions may be required. Extensions in other circumstances must be applied for via the EAMC.
   3. Extensions may not be possible, or only be possible for a limited period of time, close to the end of a term or the academic year.

Acceptable reasons for seeking re-arrangement of timetabled coursework activities (not deadline extensions)

Procedure for re-arrangement

Where one of the grounds below applies the student should complete the online form. If the request is accepted the Teaching Office will then contact the relevant lab leader and student approving the request for rearrangement. The student should then discuss re-arrangement with the lab leader. If re-arrangement is not approved or not possible and the activity is missed the student will not be awarded the marks for the missed activity. The student will need to consult with their tutor regarding the possibility of an application to the EAMC in such cases.

Illness

The department will accept self-certification of illness for periods of up to 7 days at a time and a total of 28 days in an academic year. This should be declared using the online form promptly on return to study. Where a student has missed a coursework session due to illness they should seek to re-arrange the missed session as soon as possible after their return to study. Re-arrangement on the grounds of illness will only be possible where self-certification has been completed.

Compassionate or religious grounds

Students will, wherever practicable, be allowed to rearrange timetabled coursework activities on compassionate or religious grounds . Such re-arrangements must be made in advance.

Examples of compassionate grounds includes attendance at a funeral of a close family member or a family or medical emergency. Attendance at a family event, such as a family holiday, wedding or graduation would not be considered compassionate grounds. Applications to rearrange timetabled coursework activities for religious observance that usually occurs over a restricted period (e.g. Eid al-Fitr, Shavuot, Pesach, Shivaratri, Vaisakhi) will be considered. Where observance extends over a significant period of time (e.g. Ramadan), and where it is normally expected that daily activities (including teaching) will continue as normal, applications would not be considered. Rearrangements for the purpose of holy visits, pilgrimages etc. cannot be approved.

Interviews

When applying for jobs, work placements or sponsorship, students may be invited for interview on days that conflict with coursework activities. Students should in the first instance seek to rearrange the interview rather than the coursework. If this proves impossible, then the student should try to rearrange the coursework. This must be done in advance and if not possible the coursework session must be attended.

Sporting commitments

Coursework may not be rearranged to accommodate College sporting commitments or College or University training sessions. Students will, wherever practicable, be allowed to seek to rearrange coursework that conflicts with University sporting fixtures. Arrangements need to be made in advance. Retrospective requests will not be accepted.

Other reasons

If a student wishes to seek to rearrange coursework for any reason not covered by the four categories above, they should discuss the matter with the Director of Undergraduate Education in advance of the activity in question.

Deadline Extensions

Disability Related

Where a student has a Student Support Document (SSD) which refers to a potential need for extended deadlines students may request short extensions by completing the online form. These requests will be discussed with the student by the Director of Undergraduate Education. These requests cannot be made retrospectively. The department will refer students to the EAMC process where requests for extensions for an individual student amount to more than 28 days in an academic year

Illness

The online illness self-certification form should be used to request extensions on the grounds of illness of up to seven days. Deadlines falling during the period of illness or immediately thereafter may be extended for the length of the period of illness. The department will refer students to the EAMC process where requests for extensions for an individual student amount to more than 28 days in an academic year.

Other

Requests for deadline extensions on other grounds, retrospective requests, requests for extensions due to periods of illness of more than 7 days or reflecting illness of more than 28 days in an academic year need to be made to the EAMC rather than via the department.

Explanatory Notes

• "Immediately thereafter" in the guidance above is interpreted to mean deadlines falling no more than 14 days after end of the period of illness.
• Multiple extension requests under this policy cannot be combined to extend a deadline for any individual piece of work by more than 7 days, this is to ensure consistency with EAMC guidance.
• The 28 day limit for the total of extensions available via the department policy applies to the sum of aggregate extensions due to disability and any self-declared periods of illness. A student reaching this limit in an academic year would need to apply for further extensions via the EAMC process
• The department policy is intended to reduce paperwork and complexity by removing the need for simple and straightforward issues to be submitted to the EAMC. It is not intended to deal with complex matters. The limits above are intended to ensure that complex situations are given appropriate and full consideration.
• Decisions under this policy are normally made by the Director of Undergraduate Education acting on behalf of the department. On request decisions can be reviewed by the Deputy Head (Teaching). As stated in the policy, students remain free to approach the EAMC if a deadline extension is not approved by the department
• The department will not approve extensions on the grounds of computer failure. Students are expected to use the University provided OneDrive or Google Drive to save their work with revisions so that it is available in case of equipment failure or corruption. Computers are always available for use in the DPO where a student has no computer.

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Approaching the EAMC where labs cannot be re-arranged in Part I

If your request for re-arrangement is accepted, however you are told that the lab leader cannot practically accomodate this then, as set out in the policy above, you will not be awarded the marks for the activity. This section explains how you should go about collecting evidence and applying to the EAMC to have missed labs disregarded for the purposes of meeting the standard credit requirement. Please remember that you may still achieve standard credit if you miss only a small part of a section of the coursework so you may not need to do this. Please see the coursework credit notices for IA and IB for details.

Your College Tutor can assist you in making an application to the EAMC. You should note that EAMC approves allowances in the case of illness or other "grave cause" .

The department has received guidance from the EAMC secretariat that Part I students in Engineering should make one application in respect of all missed labs in a year when the standard credit marks are published (normally around the time of the last lectures in Easter Term). You should not make applications piecemeal throughout the year. You will be emailed about this before the exams take place. Unfortunately we are not able to answer queries about marks until these are collated at that time. You should also note that the EAMC typically only considers cases which would lead to change in class.

Any application to the EAMC will be reliant on the evidence submitted to support the application and therefore you should keep evidence, including any emails confirming that the lab could not be re-arranged and any notes of any interactions that you had with your GP, Tutor or College Nurse at the time to confirm illness. You should also keep evidence of any positive COVID test etc. If you missed the lab due to other reasons you should keep evidence of those reasons.

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Part I Missed Coursework and Deadline Extension Guidance

For Part I coursework sessions, once the teaching office has approved the re-arrangement request, students should identify an appropriate replacement slot in the timetable, in discussion with the appropriate lab technician or lab leader. Alternatively the lab leader may offer an equivalent exercise, such as an online version of the lab.

For activities that extend over a longer period such as exposition, "re-arrangement" may consist advice on catching up with the task rather than a substitute session as such, in this case no penalty marks will be applied for non-attendance at a session if teaching office approval is given.

Contact details of lab leaders and technicians are available online: IA, IB.

 

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Part IIA Project and Coursework Extensions

Part IIA Coursework Overview

During the Michaelmas and Lent terms, Part IIA undergraduates submit a minimum of 8 reports/essays associated with modules, and 2 full technical reports (FTR), and complete an Extension Activity (ExA). During the Easter term, students undertake 2 projects.  Students are expected to make all reasonable efforts to complete missed experiments, FTRs and ExAs at a later date, and should contact the member of staff in charge of the activity concerned as soon as possible to arrange rescheduling. As these activties are typically booked by students rather than being timetabled we would normally expect students to simply rebook their lab session and the teaching office does not need to give permission for this. If a student experiences difficulty in rebooking a session in consultation with the lab leader for the module they should contact the teaching office. As deadlines for coursework submission run from the date the associated lab is actually undertaken, no deadline extension request need be made where a student has simply rebooked a lab session. Where a student fails to complete an activity they would need to consult with their Tutor regarding an approach to EAMC, the department does not award marks for activities that are not completed.

Deadline extensions for coursework and FTRs due to illness or other reason must be approved by the teaching office following the completion of the online form. An approved deadline extension will result in the removal of any late submission penalities. Please see the relevant policy for more information.

Work for which an extension has been approved is due at the same time of day as the original deadline, usually 4pm.

Part IIA projects

Students are expected to complete as much as possible of the work associated with their two projects, but the four week timetable imposes tight constraints. 

Missed Sessions

Mark penalties are applied for missing compulsory sessions. If a "re-arrangement" of a session is approved by the teaching office (via the online form) penalty marks will not be applied for a missed session as it is assumed that a student will attempt to catch up at a later time.

Significant disruption

If disruption to your project work is sufficient that there is a significant risk that you may not be able to catch up all of the work and complete the project, you must notify your Tutor, project leader(s) and the Director of Undergraduate Education by email immediately. You may need to apply for an appropriate allowance via the EAMC process in this case.

Deadline Extensions

Deadline extensions for IIA project reports can be applied for on the online form in the normal way. However extensions for final reports are limited to 4pm on the Monday following the final project deadline, since the Examiners must publish the final class lists two weeks after the submission date. This constraint, as it is due to minmum time requirements for marking and classing, cannot be extended by an approach to the EAMC.

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Part IIB Project and Coursework Extensions

Module coursework

Students are expected to make all reasonable efforts to complete any missed coursework, normally during the term in which the module is taught or the following vacation. Deadline extensions can be requested using the online form . Please see the full department policy on deadline extensions for further details.

Work for which an extension has been approved is due at the same time of day as the original deadline, usually 4pm.

Projects

Students unable, for one of the reasons given in the department policy , to give their presentations at the scheduled times should notify their project supervisor and group project coordinator as soon as possible. Students will be asked to join another group, or a one-off presentation may be arranged. Permission from the teaching office is not required for such re-arrangement if agreed by supervisor and group project coordinator. A student experiencing difficulties that cannot be resolved via their supervisor and/or group project coordinator should contact the teaching office for advice.

Notwithstanding the above, final project presentations must have occurred before Wednesday of week 6. It is not possible to delay final project presentations beyond this point due to the requirement to ensure that marks are available in time for examiners to class candidates.

Extensions to the technical milestone report deadline will be permitted in accordance with the department policy on extensions.

Extensions to the final MEng project report deadline cannot be requested via the departmental allowance process as it is a major part of the degree assessment. These must be requested via the EAMC process. Even where such an allowance is granted the examiners are not able to accommodate a deadline extension of more than 5 days in any circumstances due to the need to mark and class candidates. As this project runs over the entire year it is expected that there will be very limited circumstances where a short deadline extension is relevant.

Failure to submit any project reports for assessment will be treated in the same way as a missed examination: zero marks awarded. Please note that the EAMC's guidelines suggest that they would be unlikely to propose classing a candidate who does not submit a final project report, given it amounts to 50% of the year's work.

Penalties will be applied, where no extension is granted,  for each day that a report is late. The final report will not be accepted if more than five days late.

Penalties will be applied for infringement of the rules concerning report length.

 

Last updated on 06/11/2022 11:00