Postgraduate Taught Degree Regulations for Students

Postgraduate Taught degrees at the University of Manchester are based on the National Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). This framework requires students to achieve credit at Masters level in order to get an award. For a standard postgraduate taught Masters programme this will normally mean passing 180 credits. A standard Postgraduate Diploma will normally have 120 credits and a Postgraduate Certificate 60 credits. The way in which you study these credits will be defined later in the programme handbook and the programme specification.

The University sets standards relating to your performance on every unit but also on your progression through the programme. Your programme and course unit specifications will set out the requirements for passing the credit on individual units.

Please find below the link to the degree regulations:

http://www.regulations.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate-degree-regulations/

Exemptions to the PGT Degree Regulations:

The College of Optometrist’s Professional Certificates are non compensatable.

Compensation

Masters Degree

Students may be awarded compensated credit if they receive fail marks in the range 40-49% in no more than 30 credits in the taught component.

Postgraduate Diploma

Students may be awarded compensated credit if they receive fail marks in the range 30-39% in no more than 30 credits in the taught component.

Postgraduate Certificate

Students may be awarded compensated credit if they receive fail marks in the range 30-39% in no more than 15 credits in the taught component.

The combined total number of credits compensated and referred cannot exceed half the taught credits.

Compensated credit retains the original failed mark for the course unit and this is used in the weighted average for the calculation of the final classification/award.

Please note that some programmes do not allow compensation. Please refer to the ‘Programme Exemptions to PGT Degree Regulations’ section of the handbook where specific exemptions applicable to the programme will be listed.

Reassessment

Where the overall unit mark is below the compensation zone (40% for Masters and 30% for Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate) OR the number of compensatable fails (30 credits for Masters/Diploma and 15 credits for Postgraduate Certificate) has been exceeded, reassessment may be taken.

Reassessment as a result of a fail is known as a “Referral”. Reassessment as a result of approved and verified mitigating circumstances is known as “Deferral” and may be permitted where students are reassessed as a first attempt, for which no penalty applies.

Students may be referred in up to half of the total taught credits. The combined total number of credits referred and compensated cannot exceed half the taught credits. Decisions with regard to which components should be reassessed are made by the Examination Board. When a student is referred they will normally be permitted to retake the assessment/exam on one further occasion.

At the recommendation of the Board of Examiners, students will normally be allowed one resubmission of a failed dissertation or project and this will normally be within four months of the date of the publication of the result.

The pass mark for a reassessment is the same as the first attempt (i.e. 50% for masters and 40% for Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate). When a reassessment is passed, the mark is capped at the lowest compensatable fail mark (i.e. 40R for Masters and 30R for Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate), unless the previous mark was within the compensation zone, in which case the original mark will stand with a suffix ‘R’. This mark is used in the weighted average/total mark for the final award. The capped mark is applied to the whole unit and not the failed component.

Referrals may also be compensated providing the number of quota of compensations has not been exceeded. When a student’s referral mark is in the compensation zone (and the student/unit is eligible for compensation), the student’s mark will be capped at the lowest compensatable fail mark (i.e. 40R for Masters and 30R for Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate).

Attendance

Unauthorised Absence

Students are not permitted to be absent from their course without the knowledge or prior agreement of their Programme Director. Unauthorised absence will be treated very seriously.

Absence Due to Ill-Health

The guidelines for non-attendance due to ill health must be followed as described in this handbook. You must notify the Programme Administrator no later than the first day of absence if you are absent due to illness. A self-certification form should be submitted to the Programme Administrator if you are absent for between 1-7 days. Please ask your programme administrator for details on how to access the self-certification form.

Thereafter a medical note should be obtained from your GP or a hospital consultant.

All medical certificates or other documentary evidence explaining absence from tutorials, lectures and examinations must be submitted to your iovs@manchester.ac.uk within one week of the illness or as soon as possible due to other circumstances. A failure to submit a medical certificate or other appropriate documentation to explain absence may result in loss of any claim that mitigating circumstances be taken into consideration when academic performance is assessed.