Academic Governance Unit

Chief Examiner: is responsible for the implementation of the unit assessment regime and must recommend the final result for each student. The faculty board appoints a Chief Examiner for each unit taught by the faculty.

Unit Coordinator: academic staff member assigned to coordinate academic and administrative activities. The Chief Examiner may also be the Unit Coordinator;

1.1 Methods of assessment

Assessment tasks in the Faculty of Business and Economics include:

• invigilated examinations
• mid-semester tests
• class tests (normally held in scheduled lecture or tutorial hours)
• self-administered online tests
• individual assignments
• group assignments
• class preparation and participation
• oral presentations
• research projects

The specific assessment tasks chosen for each unit must be appropriate to the assessment of the learning outcomes specified in the unit guide and the University Handbook.

1.2 Pass requirements and Assessment hurdles

A student must achieve at least fifty per cent in total to pass a unit.

• It is optional to have a hurdle requirement in a unit, but if an assessment hurdle is specified, then it must be linked to the learning outcomes detailed in the unit guide.
• A hurdle requirement can only be specified for the final summative assessment task of the unit (i.e. final examination or final assessment task).
• Where a student fails the unit solely because of failure to satisfy the hurdle requirements, the Chief Examiner must return a mark of 48%.
• For internship/work placement units hurdles may be based on participation or attendance.

(See also section 8.1.1 below)

1.3 Assessment weightings and written assignments

As a general guideline, for a six credit point unit, the total length of assessment tasks should not exceed 6,000 words. Each hour of an examination is treated as being equivalent to 1,000 words of assessment. This weighting of 6,000 words per 6 credit points is also applicable to 12, 18 and 24-credit point units (i.e., 12,000, 18,000 and 24,000 words respectively).

2. Examinations

2.1 Examination papers

Examination papers must:

• contain questions which assess the unit learning outcomes, and must contain an indicative breakdown of marks across all examination questions
• be reviewed by a staff member other than the Chief Examiner for accuracy, level of difficulty, balance and conformity to the objectives for the unit.
• be approved by the Head of Department or nominee

Heads of Department may specify further requirements of chief examiners, such as the preparation of model solutions for the examination questions and these model solutions must be approved by an independent staff member

2.2 Student access to examination scripts

Students are entitled to view the examination paper and their examination scripts. However, students may be denied access to their scripts if the examination contains short-answer questions or a component of multiple-choice questions. The original examination script may not be retained by the student under any circumstances.

Further information can be found in the faculty feedback on exam performance procedures.

3. In-semester Assessment

In-semester assessment comprises assessment tasks completed outside of the University examination period. In most cases, such assessment consists of either written assignments completed by students outside of class time, or invigilated assessment tasks completed during class time. In-semester assessment may also be linked to a hurdle requirement. A list of assessment tasks is provided under subsection 1.1 above.

Where in-semester assessment tasks are assigned to groups, academic staff are advised to refer to the faculty's Group Assessment Guidelines for information about setting and assessing group assessment tasks.

4. Supplementary Assessment

4.1 Determination by Board of Examiners regarding the granting of supplementary assessment

4.1.1 In accordance with Section 5 of the Assessment Regulations, after each teaching period the Board of Examiners will consider all students who have failed one unit with a result of at least 45 in that teaching period to determine whether they are eligible for supplementary assessment. There is no application process.

4.1.2 Provided that the student has not already been granted more than one supplementary assessment in the current course of study, a student will be granted supplementary assessment where the failed unit is the final unit required to complete the requirements for the course in which the student is currently enrolled (refer Assessment Regulations, section 5.2.3).

4.1 3 The Board of Examiners may at its discretion grant a student supplementary assessment in a unit where the Board considers that failure of the unit will significantly impact on the student's progress (refer Assessment Regulations,section 5.2.4). For the purposes of section 5.2.4 of the Regulations, failing a unit and having to repeat it at another time is not considered a significant impact on the student’s progress.

4.1.4 In determining whether to grant supplementary assessment, section 5.2.2 of the Assessment Regulations provides the Board of Examiners with discretion to consider exceptional circumstances. For the purposes of section 5.2.2 of the Regulations, failing a unit and having to repeat it at another time is not considered an exceptional circumstance.

4.2 Form of supplementary assessment

The supplementary assessment will take the form appropriate to the part(s) of the unit assessment that the student failed.

4.3 Outcome of supplementary assessment

4.3.1 If a student passes the supplementary assessment task, a mark of 50 will be returned for the unit.

4.3.2 If a student fails their supplementary assessment, their original mark for the unit will stand.

4.3.3 A supplementary examination is only offered once and there is no provision to defer a supplementary examination. Thus, a student who fails to sit the supplementary examination will receive a fail mark for the supplementary assessment task and the original mark for the unit will stand.

5. Marking, Grading and Results

5.1 Grading scale

Refer to the University's Grading Scale policy.
Examples of grades and corresponding achievement levels are available here.

5.2 Grade Distribution

The faculty's Grade Distribution report templates and information can be found here.

5.3 Verification of Fail Grades

Under section G.5 of the University's Unit Assessment Procedures, each faculty is required to have a specified procedure for verifying fail grades.

In the Faculty of Business and Economics, all examination papers, individual in-semester assessment items worth more than 10% and continuous assessment totalling more than 30% (where the individual tasks are worth less than 10%) receiving a fail grade must be second marked.*

*The review of overall unit results will be conducted in line with the specifications of section 6.2.1

6. Review of Results

Section G.7 of the University's Unit Assessment Procedures provides for students to seek a review of their assessment, subject to the relevant faculty's procedures. A review of marks may result in an increase or decrease in the marks awarded. The final result obtained after the review of marks will stand.

The Faculty of Business and Economics review of results procedure is as follows.

6.1 Review of overall unit results

6.1.1 Students achieving a passing grade can request that an arithmetical check of the calculation of the overall grade be conducted. In such circumstances, there will not be any re-marking of any assessment task.

6.1.2 All requests for review of a unit result must be received by the relevant department in writing within 20 working days of the official publication of results. Applications received after this date will not be considered.

6.1.3 Departments will notify students in writing of the outcome of their request to review a unit result within 10 working days of receipt of the request. This notification will also provide details relating to the appeal process.

6.1.4 Appeals against department decisions must be lodged with the Associate Dean Learning and Teaching within 10 working days of the student receiving the department notification of the outcome. Appeals decisions will be processed within 10 working days.

6.2 Review of result for an assessment task

6.2.1 Students may request a review of the result for an in-semester assessment task worth more than 10% and continuous assessment such as submission of weekly exercises or computer based learning activities totalling more than 30% (where the individual tasks are worth less than 10%).

6.2.2 Requests for a review of an assessment task must be submitted in writing to the relevant department no more than 20 working days following the department's notification of the result for that assessment task. No applications received after this time will be considered.

6.2.3 Departments will notify students of the outcome within 10 working days of receipt of the review request and advise students of the appeal process in their notification letter.

6.2.4 Appeals against department decisions must be lodged with the Associate Dean Learning and Teaching within 10 working days of the student receiving the department notification of the outcome. Appeals will be processed within 10 working days.

6.2.5 The above policy does not preclude a student from seeking a review of an overall unit result or individual assessment task result on non-academic grounds, such as unlawful forms of discrimination which may have negatively impacted on their performance. These grievances are managed by the University's Equity and Diversity Centre.

7. Chief Examiners

7.1 Appointment of Chief Examiners

Chief Examiners are appointed pursuant to Statute 6.1.5 - Assessment (refer section 2.1). Chief examiners are appointed by Faculty Board and Assistant Examiners by the Dean or Faculty Board on the recommendation of the Head of Department.

7.2 Responsibilities of Chief Examiners

Chief Examiners hold responsibility for the quality, relevance and currency of academic unit content, overall assessment regime and the setting of assessment tasks and examinations within their specified unit. They are also responsible for overseeing the teaching practice and curriculum taught in the relevant unit.

Key responsibilities of Chief Examiners include:

• Providing details of the relevant unit(s) for the annual publication of the Handbook;

• Ensuring that unit objectives, prerequisite units, reading guides, assessment details and administrative requirements are provided to students inWeek 0 of the semester as specified in the University policy;

• Providing the Head of Department or nominee with details about the proposed methods of assessment in the unit;

• Ratifying, if prepared by other staff in the unit, draft class tests, assignments and other assessable exercises;

• Identifying and handling (including reporting, where appropriate) cases of suspected plagiarism, academic misconduct in in-semester assessment tasks, and any other suspected academic or general misconduct;

• Recommending the award of student prizes, if any, for the unit;

• Maintaining comprehensive records of student assessment tasks and results;

• Analysing the distribution of grades in the unit;

• Liaison with other academics/ teaching associates involved in the delivery of the unit

• Dealing with student complaints related to teaching and assessment in the unit; and

• Ensuring that the unit is reviewed/evaluated as required by policy.

8. Dissemination of Information to Students

8.1 Unit Guides

Under the University's revised Transition Policy and Unit Guide Policy, unit material must be made available to students in Week 0 (Orientation Week).

The following statement must appear in all unit guides:

"The final mark that a student receives for a unit will be determined by the Board of Examiners taking into account all aspects of assessment"

8.1.1 Hurdle Requirements

Where a hurdle exists, the following statement must also be included in either thelearning outcomes or hurdles requirements section:

Hurdle requirements

There is a hurdle requirement in this unit.

The learning outcomes in this unit require students to demonstrate in the final summative assessment task a comprehensive understanding of the topics covered in the unit. This is demonstrated by the requirement that the student must attain a mark of at least xx%1 in the final summative assessment task.

A student's final mark is normally the sum of the marks obtained in all of the assessment tasks in the unit. Where a student fails the unit solely because of failure to satisfy the hurdle requirement, a mark of 48 will be returned for the unit.

1 To be determined by department.

8.2 Communication

The primary method of communication to students should be through the relevant MUSO site for the unit, to ensure that announcements reach all students as necessary.