College of Humanities & Social Science
University of Edinburgh
Meeting for Convenors of Boards of Examiners
19 April 2011
(1) Authorised Interruption of Study versus Failure to Complete Degree
Assessment
In recent years, a number of issues have arisen regarding how to deal with cases
where an honours student requests an authorised interruption of study (AIS) at a
late stage in the academic year. These issues relate to how and when to decide that
it is too late to treat these cases as AIS requests and that they need instead to be
considered by the Board of Examiners under the regulations for “failure to complete
degree assessment adequately” (Undergraduate Assessment Regulations 13.1 to
13.4). The relevant sections of the College’s DoS guidance are shown below.
6.2
Authorised Interruption of Study (required for absence of more than
three weeks):
All requests for interruption of studies should be submitted to the Associate
Dean (Academic Progress) by the SSO along with an explanation of
circumstances and relevant documentary evidence (e.g. medical certificates).
[…]

Students in Honours years
The Regulations only allow the Associate Dean (Academic Progress) to
consider a request to allow students to suspend an Honours year of study if
they have not undertaken (or failed to complete) a significant amount of
assessment. This will require judgement on the basis of the circumstances
of a particular student. However, it is unlikely that a student could be allowed
to suspend an Honours year of study after March, since in most cases a
student will have completed (or been due to complete) a significant amount of
assessment in that year. Furthermore, since most of the tuition will have been
completed, it will mainly be assessment that remains to be “interrupted”. In
cases where a significant amount of assessment has already taken place (or
been missed) or where most of the tuition has been completed, requests for
authorised interruption of studies should be treated in line with the
procedures set out in section 4.1.2 Honours Students Unable to Progress or
Graduate. The flowchart attached as Appendix 1 provides additional
guidance regarding procedures for considering requests from students to
suspend Honours study or to repeat Honours courses.

Students in years one and two *
Where students in years one and two are unable to progress, Schools should
follow their usual progression processes. If Schools are in possession of
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sufficient evidence regarding such students before the meeting of
examination boards in May/June, the progression process can be
implemented at once rather than waiting until the start of the following
session.
If Schools wish to recommend a full-time repeat year of study,
this recommendation must be sent to the Associate Dean (Academic
Progress) for approval.
*This section is not yet included in the Guidance of Undergraduate Direction
of Studies but will be inserted in the notes for session 2011/2012.
4.1.2 Honours Students Unable to Progress or Graduate
Where a student fails to complete Honours assessment and seeks a
concession to repeat Honours assessment or to retake an Honours year, the
permission of the Convener of the College Undergraduate Studies
Committee is required. For concessions relating to Senior Honours, College /
Senatus approval will also be necessary. The Undergraduate Assessment
Regulations (13.1 to 13.4) require that the College only considers such
requests on the basis of advice from a Board of Examiners. It therefore
follows that College/Senatus is not in a position to consider a request until
the examination diet has been concluded and the Board of Examiners has
met. In exceptional circumstances, though, the Convenor of the Board of
Examiners may convene the Board or a sub-committee of the Board (e.g. the
Special Circumstances Committee) at an earlier date in order to consider
cases where there is clear documentary evidence that the student will be
unable to complete the forthcoming assessments. In such cases (which are
most likely to arise in March and early April), the Convenor must consult the
Dean of Undergraduate Studies in advance of convening the Board. Any
concessions recommended by the Board must then be referred to the Dean
for approval at College/Senatus level and must be reported to the main
meeting of the Board for homologation and recording in the minutes. In
cases where a student has not taken a significant amount of assessment in
an Honours year and wishes to suspend their study, it may however be
possible to handle this as authorised interruption of studies, see section 6.2.
The flowchart attached as Appendix 1 provides additional guidance regarding
procedures for considering requests from students to suspend Honours study
or to repeat Honours courses.
(2) Progression from Junior to Senior Honours
Please note Undergraduate Assessment Regulation 9.5 (a):
“The junior honours year Boards of Examiners have the responsibility to decide which
students can progress to the next year of study. Progressing students must attain at least
80 credits and be awarded an aggregate pass for the 120 credits of junior honours study
and must satisfy any other specific requirements for the degree programme. The Board of
Examiners may propose to the College that an award of an Ordinary or General degree be
made to students who have attained at least 80 credits at level 9 and above and been
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awarded an aggregate pass for the 120 credits of junior honours study but who do not
satisfy the other specific honours degree requirements.”
This means that for each honours degree programme (including combined honours
programmes), the relevant Board of Examiners needs to:
• make progression decisions for all Year 3 students and record this in the
minutes
• in cases where a student has not passed 120 credits of level 9/10 courses,
consider whether an aggregate pass can be awarded [and if so, notify
Registry via the Examiners’ lists for the relevant course(s)]
• in cases where it considers that Special Circumstances have contributed to
failure to complete assessment adequately (Undergraduate Assessment
Regulation 13.4) and where awarding an aggregate pass would be
insufficient or inappropriate, decide whether to recommend a concession
(e.g. taking assessments as a first attempt in the August diet, repeating
courses and/or assessments in the following academic year before
progressing to Year 4.)
• check that any credit deficits carried forward from the pre-honours years
have been rectified
NOTE:
It is not permissible for students to take courses or assessments
amounting to more than 120 credits in year 4.
After the Board of Examiners meeting, the Convenor needs to:
• seek the Dean of Undergraduate Studies’ approval for its recommendations
(e.g. concessions or Ordinary degree) regarding any students who have not
met the criteria for progression to Senior Honours, preferably using the
attached concession pro-forma which is available at:
https://www.polopoly.mis.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.59611!fileManager/CUGL
AT%20concession%20request%20template.doc
• notify these students in writing/by email of the Board’s recommendation
(once approved by the Dean), with copy to the DoS and to Joan Kemp
(College Office)
• ensure that, if a student is being permitted to take an assessment as a first
attempt in the August diet, relevant colleagues are informed of any steps
they need to take to enable this (e.g. academic colleagues if a special
paper needs to be set, Registry so that exam can be included in timetable)
• complete the pro-forma Report on Student Progression and return it to the
Dean of Undergraduate Studies. This pro-forma is available at:
https://www.polopoly.mis.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.59610!fileManager/3rd%2
0year%20progression%20form.doc
(3) Concessions requiring Senatus level approval
Approval by the Senatus Curriculum and Student Progression Committee
(CSPC) is required for some concessions, e.g. those relating to Senior Honours
students under regulation 13.3. To allow time for the Dean of Undergraduate
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Studies to approve these concession requests prior to CSPC’s meeting (9 June),
please send details of any such requests to Joan Kemp by Monday 6 June.
(4) Contact details
Dr Morag Donaldson (Dean of Undergraduate Studies):
DeanUG.HSS@ed.ac.uk Tel: 503566/503437
Mr Alan Brown (Associate Dean, Academic Progress)
Alan.C.Brown@ed.ac.uk Tel: 503804
Mrs Joan Kemp (Academic Affairs Officer)
Joan.Kemp@ed.ac.uk Tel: 503567
Academic Office
College of Humanities and Social Science
55 George Square (1st floor)
Morag Donaldson
April 2011
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Appendix A is located at:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.43481!fileManager/GuidanceOnDirectionOfStudies2010-2011.pdf
on Page 26.
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