Student's assessment deadlines can be extended without detriment, University of Portsmouth vice-chancellor confirms

The measures will include allowing students to push back their assessments without detriment, as well continuing their studies next year if they have not been able to complete this academic year’s work.

Vice Chancellor Graham Galbraith also confirmed that examination boards will be able disregard exam marks if they are out-of-line with those taken earlier in the year, with a new grade being decided by grades achieved before the coronavirus outbreak.

Professor Galbraith said: ‘The combination of our current practices that support student achievement, combined with the new measures we are introducing, provide a series of no detriment practices that will ensure no student is disadvantaged as a result of the current circumstances.

‘Students are at the heart of all we do at the University of Portsmouth, and I and my senior team have been working closely with the Students’ Union, listening to their representation. Alongside this we have been carefully reviewing the feedback and comments from students, and in some cases parents.’

Students will be able to seek individual support for personal circumstances, including those who need to undertake employment or face issues with their computer equipment.

It follows a petition to cancel this year’s exams and assessments gaining more than 5,600 signatures earlier this month.

Petition organiser and University of Portsmouth student, Molly Rose Carpenter, stated: ‘We as students believe that it’s now vital to seriously consider the wellbeing of everyone at the university and what measures can reasonably be put in place in order to combat additional stress and anxiety.’

The University of Portsmouth has come up with the new measures after speaking to students and reviewing the ‘no detriments’ policy of other universities, according to Professor Galbraith.

He said: ‘I’m confident that the package of measures that we have are as good as, if not better, than many of these other policies, and that the University of Portsmouth is supporting our students by being more generous and flexible than many universities.’

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