Degree Regulations
The degree regulations for students can be found on the University website.
If you commenced your studies before September 2012 you should consult the degree regulations for students registered on an undergraduate programme on or after 1 September 2010 (but prior to 1 September 2012) which can be found on the University website here.
| Bachelors Degree classification weighted to 120 credits |
Classification thresholds: weighted average (0 to 100 mark range) |
Boundary zone weighted average |
| First class | 70.0 | 68.0 to 69.9 |
| Upper Second class | 60.0 | 58.0 to 59.9 |
| Lower Second class | 50.0 | 48.0 to 49.9 |
| Third class | 40.0 | 37.0 to 39.9 |
Note, unlike the BSc degrees, it is not possible to attain a 3rd class for an MSci degree. Consequently, MSci students who obtain a final mark of less than 50% will fail the MSci degree. However, you will be able to graduate with BSc(Hons) degree based on your performance during your first three years.
Assessments and examinations
Second Year
Second year assessments and examinations contribute 30% towards your final degree mark or 19% for MSci students.
Allocation to projects in the final year and eligibility for post-graduate study in the School will also be based on second year performance.
Pass marks and compensation rules
The pass mark for each unit examination is 40%, and ideally you should pass all the units for which you are registered. However, the examiners realise that not all students will achieve this ideal, and some students may pass most of their units, getting good marks in some but just failing others. The following compensation rules are therefore used, whereby good marks can compensate for some fail marks; the degree of compensation permitted will depend on the marks of all your units (excluding the tutorials).
To obtain a compensated pass in the Second Year Examination as a whole you must:
- have satisfactory attendance at tutorials and practical classes (see sections Tutorial assessments and Practical assessments)
- gain a mark of at least 40% in the Tutorial unit BIOL20000, Dissertation unit BIOL21090, the EDM unit appropriate to your Degree Programme, and in all designated non-compensatable units for your Degree Programme (see below)
- achieve marks of at least 40% in each of the units totalling 80 credits (including the tutorial, Dissertation BIOL21090, the EDM unit and non-compensatable units) and at least 30% in each of the remaining 40 credits worth of units
NB – failure of the Tutorial unit BIOL20000 will lead to loss of compensation and all unit assessments with marks less than 40% will have to be resat.
For most Degree Programmes, at least one core non-compensatable unit has been designated in which you must attain a mark of at least 40%. However, failure of these units will not result in overall loss of compensation. Please also note that referrals of these units cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not compensatable. A list of these units follows:
Level 2 Non-compensatable units
BSc Anatomical Sciences
BIOL21291 Human Anatomy and Histology
BIOL21402 Anatomy of the Special Sense Organs
BSc Biochemistry
BIOL21111 Proteins
BSc Cell Biology
BIOL21121 The Dynamic Cell
BSc Developmental Biology
BIOL21172 Principles of Developmental Biology
BSc Immunology
BIOL21242 Immunology
BSc Medical Biochemistry
BIOL21351 Molecules and Cells in Human Disease
BSc Microbiology
BIOL21181 Prokaryotic Microbiology
BIOL21192 Principles of Infectious Diseases
BSc Molecular Biology
BIOL21101 Genome Maintenance & Regulation
BSc Pharmacology
BIOL21412 Drugs: Models & Mechanisms
BSc Medical Physiology
BIOL20942 Physiology RSM
BSc Plant Sciences
BIOL21202 Plants for the Future
BSc Zoology
BIOL20552 Tropical Ecology & Conservation(RSM Field Course) *
BIOL20872 Urban Biodiversity & Conservation RSM*
BIOL21422 Alpine Biodiversity & Forest Ecology (RSM Field Course)*
* Students will take only one of these units
- Some field courses do not take place until after the date that we are required to hold the Examiners’ meeting. Therefore, marks for these field course units will be excluded and the compensation rules will be applied only to the units that have been taken. However, you should note that:
i) If you obtain a fail mark in a field course and no compensation is available after applying the compensation rules across ALL your units, you will be required to complete a substantial assignment in lieu of a referral of a field course.
ii) the field course marks WILL be included in the calculation of your mean year mark that will contribute towards your final degree mark.
- The University gives the Board of Examiners the right to refuse a referral to a student whose Work and Attendance has been unsatisfactory and who has received an official warning letter.
If after the application of the above compensation rules you are found to have failed overall, then you will be required to take referral examinations in August/September. If you have passed 40 or more credits at the first attempt the Board of Examiners will specify which unit assessments you are required to refer in order to gain at least a compensated pass in the August/September examinations.
Note the Board of Examiners may choose to exclude you from further study in the Faculty, if you are absent without explanation from all exams in a given examination period or if you fail on first attempt more than 80 credits worth of assessments.
ABSENCE FROM EXAMINATIONS/ASSESSMENTS: you must inform the Student Support Office if you are absent for any examinations or assessments BEFORE THE START OF THE EXAM (see Section Absence from examinations due to ill health). If you are absent for all exams within a given examination period, without prior notice and documentation to mitigate this absence, the School will assume that you have withdrawn from your programme of study and will not permit you to progress to the subsequent year.
Practical Assessments: Marks are awarded for completing the practical units, the end of unit examination (BIOL10401/10412/10422) and for completing written coursework.
Satisfactory attendance is also required. For both practical units BIOL10401 and BIOL10412/10422, this is defined as attending at least 80% of the practical sessions (which includes completing prelab work online). Penalties will be applied for unsatisfactory attendance (under 80%) and attendance of less than 50%, for any reason, will result in automatic failure of these units, resulting in a referral practical exam during the May/June exam period. For the EDM practical units, each unmitigated absence will incur a penalty of 10%. If you miss part of this assessment through illness (see Section Absence due to illness affecting attendance at compulsory classes/tutorials), the examiners may base your overall mark for the unit on the marks for the remaining pieces of work that you did complete.
Failure to complete the Writing and Referencing Skills module BIOL10741 satisfactorily (>70%) will result in a failure of BIOL10000 and will require a re-sit assessment (online) to be completed during the summer vacation.
RSM Attendance guidelines
Students are expected to attend all scheduled RSM sessions on time (N.B. Health and safety information will be delivered at the start of practical sessions, and students who are not present at the start may be asked to leave the lab). Students who arrive late will be marked as absent for that session.
Failure to attend a session (an unauthorised absence) will result in a 10% (i.e. 10 mark) penalty being applied to the overall RSM mark (i.e. a student obtaining a mark of 65% overall will instead receive a mark of 55%). Furthermore, any students who miss a practical session will not receive a mark for any associated post-lab assessment (N.B. this mark will be removed before calculating the average post-lab mark to avoid a student being penalised twice).
Further absences will result in further penalties (i.e. 2 absences = a penalty of 20% (as described above)).
Mitigation for absences
If there is a good reason for not attending a session then students should contact the Student Support Office (and RSM coordinator) at the earliest opportunity (and ideally before the session has commenced). Please see Work and Attendance regulations in the Level 2 handbook (https://handbooks.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/2019-20/sbs/undergraduate/level-2/). Any permitted absences will NOT be subject to a penalty, but students who miss a practical session will not be expected to complete the post-lab assessment (this mark will be removed from their overall average mark).
N.B. An absence may be permitted in advance of the session if it has been agreed with the RSM coordinator. However, if an absence is not reported until after the session then it is up to the mitigating circumstances panel to decide whether or not it is permitted.
Tutorial Assessments: your tutorial work is usually assessed by marking several pieces of work. If you miss part of this assessment through properly documented illness (see Section Absence affecting submission of written work), the examiners may base your overall mark for the unit on the marks for the remaining pieces of work that you did complete.
Unit Examinations: absence from any of your Examinations, for whatever reason, will score 0% for that examination. If, however, the absence is mitigated (see section Mitigating Circumstances Committee), your referral in August/September may be counted as your first attempt at the examination (and the fee may be waived). See also Section Absence from examinations due to ill health.
Students on “with industrial/professional experience” or “with Language” degrees who are required to take deferral exams in August may be required to defer the start of their placement or make arrangements to return to Manchester to sit them even if their placement has already started.August/September referrals
If you pass a minimum 40 credits but have failed to meet the expected standard in up to 80 of the remaining credits, you will be able to have one more try at the assessment. This is known as 'referred assessment' and these assessments will normally take place over the summer period. This will all happen in good time for the examination board to make decisions on your progression for next year's enrolment.
- No more than 80 credits can be referred
- Please note that it will be the mark that you obtain in the referral examination that will determine whether you obtain a pass in a unit (we do NOT take the better of marks obtained on the first or second attempt). The mark will be derived solely from the referral examination and will not include any coursework/eLearning component carried over from the first sitting, unless the exam is being taken as a first attempt.
- To give credit for passing referral examinations, any passed referral mark will be capped at 30% for the purposes of progression and will be recorded on academic transcripts as 30R. It is the mark that will be used to calculate your final degree classification.
- Should you still not pass the Examination on this referral (when the compensation rules will again be applied) the following decisions by the Board of Examiners may be taken.
You may be
- permitted to carry forward up to 20 failed credits to the next year. This decision is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners and will be based on your academic standing and any mitigating circumstances. Whole units must be repeated in attendance, with assessment taken in full. Marks are capped to the lowest compensatable mark. Failed non-compensatable units cannot be carried over to subsequent levels. See Section Pass marks and compensation rules (Level 1) (Level 2)
- permitted to repeat the year on your current degree programme. This option is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners and can only be granted after the Board of Examiners meets in September to discuss the results of the referral examinations. It will normally only be available where you can demonstrate that your current academic performance is likely to improve in the following year and will be dependent on availability of places for the following year.
- excluded from your Degree Programme
Dates for the August/September examination period are printed at the front of this handbook. Please bear this in mind when making plans for the summer. Should you be ill and be unable to take an examination in January or May/June you will need to be in Manchester for the referral opportunity. It is NOT possible to take referral examinations at another location or to reschedule them.
Note the referral examination is only provided to allow you to gain sufficient credits. The aggregate mark carried forward to your final degree mark is derived only from capped referral mark (see (c) above) or, if greater the original mark for that subject. However, it will be the mark that you obtain in the referral examination that will determine whether you obtain a pass in a referred unit (we do NOT take the better of marks obtained on the first or any subsequent attempt).
Progression rules for students on Integrated Masters (MSci) Degrees
In addition to the above progression criteria, you must also fulfil the following criteria to progress on the Integrated Masters (MSci) Degrees:
Year 1
- pass all year 1 mandatory units at the first attempt with a mark of at least 40% in both the January and May/June examination and obtain an overall mean mark of at least 60%
- obtain a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing skills (BIOL10741) that is attached to the tutorial unit (BIOL10000).
Year 2
- pass all year 2 units at the first attempt with a mark of at least 40% in both the January and May/June examination and obtain an overall mean mark of at least 60% (excluding marks obtained for tutorial assignments).
Year 3
- obtain an overall mean mark of at least 60% to progress to the final year project and marks of at least 40% in 2/3 of total credits including all non-compensated units and at least 30% in the remaining 1/3 of credits.
If you fail to meet any of these requirements, you will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and you will be unable to continue on the integrated masters programme. If after Year 3 your average is below 60%, then you will be considered for an award of the Degree of Bachelor of Science.
Note: you cannot continue on the integrated masters programmes if your year 3 average was initially below 60% but your final degree mark was within the viva range (58.0 – 59.9%) and following a successful viva you were raised to a final degree classification of a 2i.
If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on an integrated masters programme and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic Tutor. A completed Degree Programme Change Form should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the programme but must be submitted by the publicised deadlines.
Degrees with industrial/professional experience
To continue on a programme with industrial/professional experience you must:
- pass all year 1 mandatory units at the first attempt with a mark of at least 40% in both the January and May/June examination and obtain an overall mean mark of at least 60%
- obtain a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing Skills (BIOL10741) that is attached to the tutorial unit (BIOL10000).
- attend the compulsory meeting for prospective students (see key dates and deadlines for details of date/time of this meeting). Details about the venue for this meeting will be circulated via email early in Semester 2. Information will also be published on the Placement Student Area on Blackboard.
- submit your CV to the placement office by 1st September prior to commencing your second year.
- attend the two compulsory meetings for prospective students in Welcome Week of Semester 3 (Yr 2).
- obtain a least a pass mark (40%) in each of your second year examinations at the first attempt in both the January and May/June examination periods and in the practical and tutorial units.
- not divulge information about the placements offered to any other students in this School, Faculty, other Faculties or other Universities.
If you fail to meet any of these requirements will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and will be unable to undertake a placement.
Any student unable to obtain a placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the second year.
If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with industrial/professional experience and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic Advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Form should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the placement programme (see key dates and deadlines for details of the programme change deadlines).
Language degrees
Satisfactory performance in both the biological science and the language components of the first year examinations is essential for you to continue on a biological sciences ‘with language’ programme. To continue on a programme with a language you must:
- Pass all year 1 mandatory units at the first attempt with a mark of at least 40% in both the January and May/June examination and obtain an overall mark mean mark of at least 60% (including a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing Skills (BIOL10741) that is attached to the tutorial unit (BIOL10000).
- students with a mark of <40% in beginners’ language semester 1 units will be removed from the “with language” programme at the start of semester 2 and must select non-language units to replace the language units in semester 2.
- obtain at least a pass mark (40%) in each of your Second Year Examinations at the first attempt in both the January and May/June examination periods and in the practical and tutorial units.
- attend a compulsory meeting for prospective students in Welcome Week of Semester 3 (Yr 2).
If you fail to meet any of these requirements will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and will be unable to undertake a placement.
There is no compensation between the language and biological components - both must be passed independently.
Any student unable to obtain a language placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the second year.
If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with a language and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic Tutor. A completed Degree Programme Change form should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the language programme (see key dates and deadlines for details of the programme change deadlines).
Disclosure of marks and record of academic performance
Marks for practical assessments and unit examinations will be made available to you via My Manchester Student Portal; details on how to access them can be found at http://www.exams.manchester.ac.uk. Please see section Key Dates and Deadlines (Level 1) (Level 2) for the dates the examination results will be published. Practical assessment and other coursework marks may be published on an ongoing basis.
Decisions on progression to the next year will be communicated to you via My Manchester Portal during the summer vacation - In some circumstances a letter will also be sent to you at your home address.
It is entirely your responsibility to ensure that you learn the contents of these important messages in a timely manner.
Any queries about your marks should be made to the Unit Coordinator or your Academic Tutor, NOT the Student Support Office.
Turnitin
The University uses electronic systems for the purposes of detecting plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice and for marking. Such systems include TurnitinUK, the plagiarism detection service used by the University.
As part of the formative and/or summative assessment process, you may be asked to submit electronic versions of your work to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University (this requirement may be in addition to a requirement to submit a paper copy of your work). If you are asked to do this, you must do so within the required timescales.
The School also reserves the right to submit work handed in by you for formative or summative assessment to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University.
Please note that when work is submitted to the relevant electronic systems, it may be copied and then stored in a database to allow appropriate checks to be made.
External Examiners
External Examiners are individuals from another institution or organisation who monitor the assessment processes of the University to ensure fairness and academic standards. They ensure that assessment and examination procedures have been fairly and properly implemented and that decisions have been made after appropriate deliberation. They also ensure that standards of awards and levels of student performance are at least comparable with those in equivalent higher education institutions.
External Examiners’ reports relating to programmes within the School of Biological Sciences will be shared with student representatives at the Student/Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC), where details of any actions carried out by the School in response to the External Examiners’ comments will be discussed. You should contact your student representatives if you require any further information about External Examiners’ reports or the process for considering them. External Examiners’ reports and the School’s responses to them can be found here.
The External Examiners for each programme are as follows:
| Programme | External Examiner | Institution |
| Anatomical Sciences | Dr Clare Lamb | University of Dundee |
| Biochemistry | Dr Stuart Knight | King's College London |
| Biology | TBC | TBD |
| Biology with Science & Society | TBC | TBC |
| Biomedical Sciences | Dr Gordon McEwan | University of Aberdeen |
| Biomedical Sciences | Dr Steve Christmas | University of Liverpool |
| Biotechnology | Dr Karen Robinson | University of Nottingham |
| Cell Biology | Dr Kristin Braun | Barts and London School of Medicine & Dentistry |
| Cognitive Neuroscience & Psychology | Dr Allison Fulford | University of Bristol |
| Developmental Biology | Dr Sinead Drea | University of Leicester |
| Genetics | Dr Henry Roehl | University of Sheffield |
| Immunology | Dr Martin Stacey | University of Leeds |
| Medical Biochemistry | Dr Stuart Knight | King's College London |
| Microbiology | Dr Karen Robinson | University of Nottingham |
| Molecular Biology | Dr Kristin Braun | Barts and London School of Medicine & Dentistry |
| Neuroscience | Dr Allison Fulford | University of Bristol |
| Pharmacology | Dr Lesley MacVinish | University of Cambridge |
| Pharmacology & Physiology | Dr Lesley MacVinish | University of Cambridge |
| Physiology | Dr Lesley MacVinish | University of Cambridge |
| Plant Sciences | Dr Sinead Drea | University of Leicester |
| Zoology | Dr Steve Portugal | Royal Holloway University of London |