BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Degree Programme

Student Handbook

Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
    School of Health Sciences, Division of Psychology and Mental Health

2023-24

 

Version 1, September 2023

This document contains important information, please read it carefully.

What is this handbook? It is produced by the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology programme in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health and provides general information essential to undergraduates reading Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology. This handbook should be read in conjunction with other documents produced by the Psychology programme, the Biosciences programme and the University. You will find it useful to refer to this handbook throughout your degree. You are advised to re-familiarise yourself with this information at the start of every year of study, and to make use of it as a first point of reference if you have questions about policies and procedures at any point in your degree. You are free to download or print copies of this handbook. However, as with all University documents, certain details may become out-of-date (e.g., changes in staff roles and contact addresses or aspects of assessment may change). As such, we advise that you always refer to the electronic version stored in the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology community space on Blackboard, which will always be current.

SECTION 1 – GENERAL INFORMATION

Welcome Statement from the Head of the School of Health Sciences, Professor Andrew Brass

Congratulations on securing your place to study at the University of Manchester. We know that you have worked very hard to achieve the standards needed to gain your place. We are delighted that you share our interest in the enormously varied and intellectually stimulating topic of cognitive neuroscience and psychology, and that you have chosen to study here with us at Manchester.

We are very pleased to welcome you to the School of Health Sciences, which is located within the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. You can read more about your degree’s place within the University in the next section. Our staff are committed to delivering excellent teaching that is informed by the latest research in the field of psychology and cognitive neuroscience including cutting-edge research carried out at Manchester itself. We want your time at university to be hugely enjoyable and to ensure that you  are stretched intellectually; it is our aim to support and guide you through this exciting phase of your life as you acquire both the knowledge base and the skills set to not just develop but thrive, both here and in the future.

We recognise that working in partnership with our students is the best way to ensure an outstanding learning experience. As an independent adult learner, you need to be aware that the success of your university experience is largely in your own hands. For our part, we will strive to offer the best possible learning experience for all our students; the feedback that you give us will help us to enhance the programme and we value opportunities to hear your views. We also understand that students sometimes encounter difficulties, and I am proud to say that we offer excellent student support within the School and University to cover any academic or personal issues that may arise.  Please remember that we do want to hear from you and to help whenever necessary, so please never hesitate to contact us.

Finally I would urge you to make the most of Manchester and all the exciting opportunities that being at a world leading and exciting University has to offer. I offer you a warm welcome to Manchester and our thriving School, and I wish you every success in this next stage of your academic life.

Professor Andrew Brass
Head of the School of Health Sciences

Our Place in the University

The University of Manchester is the largest single-site university in the UK, with the biggest student community and more than 11,000 staff. We are a leading research-intensive university and are committed to delivering an outstanding teaching and learning experience, whilst contributing to the social and economic success of the local, national and international community by using our expertise and knowledge to find solutions to the major challenges of the 21st century and by producing graduates who exercise social leadership and responsibility.

The Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology BSc sits in the School of Health Sciences. Drawing on the contribution of staff from a range of specialist groupings in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health ensures that your degree has input from experts spanning the range of our very diverse discipline.

British Psychological Society: Accreditation

The British Psychological Society (BPS) is the regulatory body for professional psychologists in the UK and is responsible for the accreditation of undergraduate degrees in Psychology. Our BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree is accredited by the BPS, where students undertake their Final Year Project in Psychology. This means we award degrees which confer eligibility to apply for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC). GBC is a prerequisite for further professional training in psychology which is accredited by the BPS. For example, GBC is an entry requirement for many BPS accredited Postgraduate training courses and is required for entry to all Doctoral programmes, as part of the route to becoming a Chartered Psychologist.

Please note that you must satisfy certain academic standards in order for your degree to confer the British Psychological Society’s Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) status (section 7.3.1).

As a student registered on our programme, you are eligible to apply for Student Membership of the BPS. Student members receive a range of benefits, including the monthly The Psychologist magazine, access to the Society’s Student Members Pages, and the opportunity to transfer to graduate membership free of charge following graduation. Please note that joining the Society is optional for students and, if you choose not to join, you will still be eligible to apply to join as a Graduate Member at the end of your degree.

Please see BPS website for further information: https://www.bps.org.uk/student-members

Health and Safety

Online health and safety course

We want to make sure that you stay safe during your studies. This is why we ask you to take a short online health and safety course. You must complete this course by the end of October of your First Year; it should take around one hour. If you have any queries or problems completing it, contact the Student Support Hub (shs.hub@manchester.ac.uk). The course will be available on Blackboard, your online learning environment, which can be accessed via www.portal.manchester.ac.uk

Health and safety is everyone’s responsibility. Members of staff, students, contractors, and visitors have a legal and moral obligation to assist the University to provide a healthy and safe working environment.

The University and the School have Health and Safety Policies in place and you can access these on the intranet.

University of Manchester Health and Safety Policy

http://www.healthandsafety.manchester.ac.uk/policy/

University information and guidelines on staying safe in relation to Covid-19 can be found here:

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/coronavirus/

Fire

If you discover a fire, raise the alarm by activating the fire alarm push buttons and leave the building as soon as possible. The alarm (a continuous electronic siren) will sound throughout the building. If you hear the alarm, leave the building by the nearest exit (signs will indicate the nearest emergency exit) and assemble outside at the sign-posted assembly point. Fire doors must not be wedged open. Corridors, stairs and access/escape routes should never be obstructed.

Accidents/Incidents

All accidents/incidents/near misses must be reported by means of an accident form. In case of minor accidents seek help from the School office, where first-aid boxes may be found. In more serious cases help may be summoned by phoning University Security on 0161 306 9966 or internal phone 69966, or the Emergency Services on (ext) 999 or (int) 9999. In an emergency you should ALWAYS telephone the appropriate emergency service Fire/Police/Ambulance by dialing (ext) 999 or (int) 9999.

The University has 24 hour security in place and in an emergency security can be contacted from any internal phone by dialing 69966 or 0161 306 9966. Further information can be found on Student Support | Taking care of your wellbeing | Help in a crisis | The University of Manchester

Health

You should register with a local GP. You can find useful information on Student Support | Taking care of your wellbeing | Support Services | Accessing Healthcare | The University of Manchester If you are under medication or treatment that may affect your work or attendance you must inform the Student Support Hub (shs.hub@manchester.ac.uk) who will take details in confidence.

Conduct and Discipline of Students

As a student of the University, you are required to behave in accordance with the University’s Code of Conduct. This code applies both when you are on campus, and when you are off campus for reasons linked to your studies (for example, working with an external organisation as part of a work placement which forms part of your degree).

Regulation XVII ‘Conduct and Discipline of Students’ outlines the code of conduct and the disciplinary procedures that will result where a student is found to be in breach of the code (https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=6530). As a student in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, you are also required to familiarise yourself and comply with the Faculty’s policies on communication and dress code (https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=46912) and drugs and alcohol (https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=29039). The Faculty also provides advice and guidance to its students relating to their use of social media Regulations | Non-academic regulations | Guidance on Social Media for Students | The University of Manchester

SECTION 2 – CONTACTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Key Contacts

Head of School of Health Sciences: Professor Andrew Brass

Head of School Administration: Mr Chris Bamford

BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Programme Director: Dr Donna Lloyd

Title	Name	E-mail Address
Programme Director 2023-4	Dr Donna Lloyd	donna.lloyd@manchester.ac.uk
Deputy Programme Director	Dr George Farmer	george.farmer@manchester.ac.uk
1st year Tutors	Dr Matthew Checketts and Dr Elizabeth McManus	psychyear1tutor@manchester.ac.uk
2nd year Tutors	Dr Ruth Ingram and Dr Amber Ruigrok	psychyear2tutor@manchester.ac.uk
Final Year Tutor and Project Coordinator	Dr Lee Wickham and Dr Rachel Ashworth	lee.h.wickham@manchester.ac.uk Rachel.ashworth@manchester.ac.uk
Examinations Officers	Dr Rachel Ashworth	Rachel.ashworth@manchester.ac.uk
Student Experience Leads	Dr Leone Buckle Dr Rebecca White	leone.buckle@manchester.ac.uk rebecca.white@manchester.ac.uk
Senior Academic Advisor	Dr Rebecca Champion	rebecca.champion@manchester.ac.uk
SEPS Administrators	Team	psycredits@manchester.ac.uk

School of Health Sciences Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Staff :

In order for staff to respond as quickly as possible to your request, and to ensure that your request reaches the correct member of staff, we have set-up dedicated email addresses that serve a different function.  If your query relates to any of the below, please email the relevant email address.

Email Address	Supports queries about:
shs.assessment@manchester.ac.uk	Examination queries Assessment queries Assessment submissions Resit/reassessment queries
shs.attendance@manchester.ac.uk	Attendance monitoring
shs.dc@manchester.ac.uk	Disability support
shs.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk	Mitigating circumstances
shs.placements@manchester.ac.uk	All placement queries
shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk	Registration advice and guidance Course unit selection and enrolment Timetable queries Programme content
shs.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk	Wellbeing student support, appointments and signposting
shs.hub@manchester.ac.uk	Student Support Hub – general queries and advice not covered by the above teams

As these inboxes are associated with staff supporting multiple programmes, please could you ensure that you always include the following details in your email, which will help us to ensure that your message is dealt with promptly:

Full Name

Student ID Number

Year of Study

Programme

Programme Director

Donna Lloyds’ role as Programme Director is to ensure the smooth running of the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree programme, and to oversee the welfare, conduct and progress of the students on it. She is supported in this role by the Deputy Programme Director George Farmer.

Administrative Staff

Student Support Hub

The Student Support Hub provides advice and guidance to students and staff in the school. Student Support offer assistance which complements and underpins the support provided by academic departments and can work with you to explore what options are available to you within the School and the wider University.

Student Support can talk through issues such as interrupting your studies and progression, financial issues, the submission of details of mitigating circumstances, work and attendance problems and any personal concerns that are affecting your ability to study and engage fully with your course. It is important to point out that Student Support is not a counselling service; it is a practical problem solving service.

You can come to the Student Support Hub located on the ground floor of the Jean MacFarlane Building, Monday– Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Alternatively, or outside of office hours, you can email shs.hub@manchester.ac.uk

Receiving Communications

At various times we will need to contact you with important information about your studies (for example; to tell you about opportunities or events which may be of interest, to announce last-minute timetable changes, to inform you of coursework submission instructions). You are provided with a University e-mail address and, in the majority of circumstances, this is how we will pass important information to you.

You must ensure that you regularly check your University e-mail and carefully read any messages or announcements sent from staff; failure to read e-mails will not be accepted as a reason for late work or non-attendance, where those messages were sent to students with reasonable notice.

To set up access to University emails on your mobile devices, see: http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/email/student/. Under certain circumstances staff may contact you via your home address. For this reason it is important that you keep us informed if either your term-time or vacation-time addresses change.

Communicating with staff

The flowchart below outlines the channels through which you should direct questions, concerns or feedback regarding the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology. Issues can be addressed more efficiently if you initially seek help from the first point of contact outlined below. However, if you feel that the issue has not been resolved, please forward the matter to the next appointed contact. Please note, additional sources of support for students are outlined in Section 8.

Most staff will indicate how they prefer students to contact them during their first lecture (e.g. Online Discussion Board or e-mail). Where possible, staff will respond to queries within 3 working days. If you haven’t received a reply after this time please re-direct your query to the next point of contact indicated in the flow-chart below. Please note; there may occasionally be times when staff are not available, however, such absences will be indicated using auto-reply e-mails.

 

2.3.1 Requesting References

Your Academic Advisor is the most appropriate person to ask to provide you with an academic reference. If you need more than one reference, you should contact another member of staff who you feel you have had good opportunity to interact with. Please request permission from the member of staff before providing their details as a referee. This is important to ensure they feel able to provide a reference, to give them the opportunity to ask you for information about the position you are applying for, and to check their availability if the reference is required within a fixed time period.

2.3.2 E-mail Standards and Etiquette

When e-mailing staff you should always use your University of Manchester e-mail account. Many staff teach on multiple course units, and even across different degrees, so it is important to check that you have included all relevant information, such as your year of study or the course unit your email relates to (e.g., do not assume they will know which ‘essay’ you are talking about).

Please bear in mind that your e-mails to staff may need a different style and tone to those you would address to a friend. While some members of staff are comfortable communicating in an informal style, you should not assume that this will be the case for all staff. The following tips are intended to ensure your e-mails are positively received:

• Use a formal tone when you initially contact a member of staff, if they respond informally you can assume that your future e-mails to them can match this tone.
  • Pay attention to the spelling of the recipient’s name and their title (e.g. Prof, Dr, Mr, Miss / Ms; Mrs). These details are easy to check via the University website.
  • Don’t address someone by their first name unless you are on quite familiar terms with them. If they sign off with just their first name in their reply, they are probably inviting you to call them by their first name, but if in any doubt, use the more formal form of address.
  • Open with a polite address, i.e. ‘Dear Dr Smith’, ‘Dear John’, etc. and avoid overly familiar or bizarre-sounding openers, e.g. ‘Hey John’, ‘Hiya’, etc.
  • Similarly, don’t sign off in an overly familiar way, e.g. ‘Laters!, Jonno’, ‘Jonno xx’, etc.
• Be polite and respectful in your communications.
• Don’t send e-mails that sound curt, abusive, or demanding, or make unnecessarily personal remarks.
• Be patient and allow around three working days for a response (any urgent matters may well require a phone call to the SHS Hub); vacation periods may require more time, although staff continue to work full time during the vacations with their research and administrative commitments.
• When someone has responded to answer your question, address your concerns or provide guidance, it’s a good idea to send a quick mail to say thank-you. This helps build positive relationships and fosters a collaborative and supportive culture, meaning people will be more likely to help again in the future.

SECTION 3 – PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

3.1 Aims of the Programme

We operate within the mission of the University in its aim to provide international excellence in learning and teaching. In particular, the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology programme aims :

• To deliver a combined honours degree giving a comprehensive explanation of behaviour and mental experience plus the mechanics of the brain and the nervous system, informed by current research, which will equip students for careers within and outside science
• To produce graduates who are equipped for research in the pharmaceutical industry, clinical psychology, communication industry (journalism) as well as ergonomics
• To meet student requirements for diversity of provision and opportunity of transfer between disciplines within biological sciences by providing a structure of flexibility and choice within the undergraduate programmes
• To provide students with subject-specific knowledge and practical skills linked to generic transferable skills which are integrated within the curriculum
• To ensure students develop skills in independent learning
• To employ a variety of teaching methods and assessment strategies to meet programme aims and needs of students with high entry qualifications
• To provide students with effective induction information, and ongoing academic and pastoral support and advice in order to enhance their progress and academic development
• To equip students with the skills necessary to become proficient in a number of laboratory techniques that are carried out routinely in modern laboratories

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the undergraduate programme in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, it is expected that you will:

• Knowledge & Understanding
  • The primary functions of the nervous system, studied at molecular, cellular, and neuronal system levels, as exemplified by a selection of invertebrate and vertebrate (including man) species
  • The principles of the main approaches to Psychology: social, developmental, biological, and cognitive
  • The relationship between function and structure within the nervous system
  • The behaviour of both animals and man in terms of biological and psychological mechanisms and evolutionary principles
  • The basis of information processing and disease processes within the nervous system
  • The need for an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach in order to gain a knowledge and understanding of the processes and mechanisms of life, from molecular to cellular level, and from organism to community
  • The terminology, nomenclature and classification systems used in psychology and neuroscience
  • Methods of acquiring, interpreting, and analysing biological and psychological information
  • Ways in which psychology and neuroscience have contributed to the development of knowledge about the diversity of life and its evolution
  • Practical and presentational techniques and methodologies relevant to psychology and neuroscience, including the use of data analysis and the use of statistics

• Intellectual Skills
  • Acquire, assess, interpret and present information from literature
  • Plan, conduct and produce a written report on an area of research
  • Solve data (numerical/statistical) and subject related problems
  • Perform critical reasoning
  • Obtain and integrate several lines of evidence to formulate and test a hypothesis
  • Recognise the moral and ethical issues of investigations and appreciate the need for ethical standards and professional codes of conduct
  • Reason, organise, collate and apply data to solve problems logically
  • Assimilate, understand and research subject related material from/for lectures

• Practical Skills
  • Plan, observe and execute safely a variety of experiments including standard physiological, pharmacological and molecular laboratory techniques
  • Design, plan, conduct and report on investigations using primary or secondary data obtained through individual or group projects
  • Obtain, record, collate and analyse data using recognised psychological and neuroscientific techniques, individually or in a group setting
  • Apply scientific method through a range of classical and modern techniques
  • Use a range of laboratory techniques to investigates scientific questions related to psychology, neuroscience and biological science

• Transferable Skills and Personal Qualities
  • Communicate effectively in writing
  • Acquire, assess, interpret and present information
  • Manage time and work to deadlines
  • Use information technology
  • Produce written, verbal and IT presentations solve problems efficiently and innovatively
  • Develop the skills necessary for self- management and lifelong learning
  • Develop an adaptable, flexible and effective approach to study and work
  • Recognise and respect the views and opinions of team members; negotiating skills

 

3.2 Programme Structure

3.2.1 The Credit Rating System

Every course unit contributing to a degree is assigned a number of credits. A normal workload in one year for a full-time honours student involves the completion of course units totalling 120 credits; 10 credits represent a student workload of approximately 100 hours. This workload may include teaching time, group work, directed reading, independent study, assignment or presentation preparation, revision and examinations. Not only does the credit weighting of a course unit tell you how much work you are expected to do in completing it, it also tells you the weighting of the course unit in the calculation of your year average and degree classification. Course units are weighted in exact proportion to their credit rating so that, for example, course units of 20 credits are weighted twice as heavily as course units of 10 credits (see Student Progression for more detail about credits).

To meet the requirements of the honours degree programme, all students must complete course units totalling 120 credits in each year, totalling 360 credits over the three years of the degree.

OPTIONAL UNITS

In Years 1 and 2 you can take ONE BIOL optional unit (see details below), which includes external units from the University College of Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL). All other Year 1 and 2 units are compulsory.

In Year 3 most of your units are optional so you can choose whatever you would like to study in psychology and neuroscience.

SECTION 4 – TEACHING AND LEARNING

4.1. Staff and Students: A partnership

A crucial aspect of the University experience is that you, as an undergraduate student, are required to take responsibility for your own learning. Success on any university degree course requires a great deal of commitment and sustained effort on your part. You will become familiar with the term ‘independent learner’, which reflects the expectation that you will be the driving force behind your own learning. As an independent learner, you are expected to (i) be motivated to learn, (ii) manage your own learning, and (iii) reflect on your learning. As staff, our role is to act as sources of expert knowledge and academic support, which you can make use of to achieve your educational goals.

The Student Charter

Our Student Charter, developed jointly by the University and the Students’ Union, is an important part of how we establish and maintain clear mutual expectations for the experience of all students: undergraduate and postgraduate. It sets out what we can expect from each other as partners in a learning community. The Charter establishes staff and student commitments under the following headings:

• Our learning experience
• Personal and academic development
• Communicating and interacting with each other
• Respecting and valuing each other
• Being part of our community

Please familiarise yourself with the Student Charter, which is accessible here:

http://www.yoursay.manchester.ac.uk/student-charter/

4.2. Modes of Study

Lecture delivery

For most course units on the programme, lectures are the starting point for learning about a subject. The type of content will vary according to the topic area; some will provide a broad introduction, while others will have a narrower focus and present a more detailed overview. Lectures are primarily focused on providing information rather than interaction. As such, lectures may be provided through recorded content (giving you the opportunity for self-directed work through the materials at your own pace and allowing you to refer back to content at any time through the unit). Where materials are provided as recorded content for self-directed study, you will also have the opportunity to attend live sessions with teaching staff focusing on review or support of material to ensure understanding.

A copy of lecture slides will usually be provided on Blackboard in advance of all lectures. The level of detail provided in lecture slides varies between course units and you will usually want to make additional notes (note that effective note-taking does not mean transcribing the lecture content – effective note-taking is a skill you are expected to develop as an independent learner). Please do not be afraid to ask questions and do ask for clarification if you have found something difficult to understand or if you would like a point to be repeated or expanded upon. You can do this during a teaching session, or you can post questions on the online discussion board associated with each unit.

After the lecture you are expected to build your knowledge and understanding of the lecture content with independent reading and study. Alternatively, some students find it useful to attend lectures already having done relevant reading on the topic and, in some course units preparatory reading is a specific requirement. Recommended texts are usually listed in the course unit outlines, but individual lecturers will often direct you to extra, and usually more specific, reading. It is most important that you keep up with this reading, rather than leaving too much to do around coursework deadlines, or for the examination period.

Lab Classes

Lab classes enable you to gain practical experience of, and develop expertise in, the techniques of empirical work and report writing. In these classes you will learn how to develop research hypotheses/questions, design studies which can address those hypotheses/questions, gain an understanding of the practicalities of data collection, analyse your own data and draw inferences from them. You will also be given guidance on how to write up the results of empirical work in the form of research reports. Over the course of the degree you will produce a number of assessed research reports and will receive written feedback on this work. Additionally, you will participate in studies as a ‘participant’ (see Section 4.4: Student Experiment Participation Scheme).

Seminars/ live online support classes/ reading groups

Some course units in Years 1 and 2, and the majority in Final Year, have a seminar/ live support class programme to accompany the lectures. The aim of these is to provide an opportunity for you to actively engage with the content of the lectures in different ways (for example, taking part in a variety of activities in seminars, designed to give you the chance to discuss, evaluate, apply and consolidate your understanding of the learning material. In some final year course units, reading groups support you to understand and evaluate journal articles that are particularly relevant to the related course unit. You will be provided with the references for the articles in advance and are expected to have located and read these articles before the group meets. Because these reading groups focus on key journal articles associated with the course lectures, they act as supported revision and are particularly useful preparation for Final Year assessments.

Tutorials

Tutorials are designed to support you in the transition to Higher Education and to encourage you to think about planning for your future beyond the degree. These small group sessions, supported by a tutor, focus on academic skill development throughout your degree.

Practical Classes

Statistics practical classes complement the lectures on statistics in Years 1 and 2 and provide opportunities to practice your skills while having staff and demonstrators on hand to answer questions and clarify difficulties.

4.3. Work and Attendance

Attendance at scheduled teaching sessions is not viewed by the University as a matter of choice and you are normally expected to attend all the classes for which you are enrolled. There is plenty of evidence to show that students who do not attend do not perform as well as those that do and the teaching and learning on each unit has been designed with your participation in mind.

How attendance is monitored

We are required to monitor attendance for students and registers may be taken/ attendance may be recorded in teaching sessions. If you are not present for a session where attendance is monitored you will be recorded as absent. If you have informed us of your absence, using the procedures set out below, this will be recorded as ‘notified absence’; if you have not informed us, this will be recorded as ‘unnotified absence’.

You will be invited for regular meetings with your academic advisor in years 1,2 and 3. In your final year, your project supervisor also acts as your academic advisor. If you do not respond when your advisor contacts you to attend a meeting or if you fail to attend the meeting, then this will be recorded and reported to and followed up by the year tutor/ Senior Academic Advisor.

Reporting absence

You must report all foreseeable absences in advance of the session(s) to be missed, by sending an email to the following address: shs.attendance@manchester.ac.uk. Your email must include your name, your student number, a list of the sessions you will miss (e.g. PSYC10421 Lecture Week 11) and the reason you are missing the session. If you are unable to inform us prior to your absence, you must email as soon as possible after it (to avoid the absence being recorded as unexcused).

• Absence for a single session: send one email containing the details of that session
• Absence for a full day (missing multiple sessions): send one email including the details of each session missed
• Absence lasting between 2 and 4 days: send a new email on each separate day of absence, detailing the sessions you will be missing that day
• Absence lasting 5 days or more: send one email detailing the period of absence and submit mitigating circumstances supported by appropriate evidence (see Section 6)

You may also want to contact your Academic Advisor if you are absent for an extended period, for guidance and advice. However, please be aware that it is your responsibility to catch up with any work you have missed as a result of absence.

Procedures for dealing with absence

If you are identified as having a high level of unnotified absences, you be contacted by the administration office in the first instance, to provide a justification. If you fail to respond, or are recorded as having further unnotified absences, your Academic Advisor will be informed. We will also inform your Academic Advisor if you accumulate multiple notified absences. Your Academic Advisor will contact you to establish the reasons for your poor attendance, to provide support if you are experiencing difficulties and to establish a strategy for improving your attendance. If this intervention is not successful (for example, if you do not engage with your Advisor, or if your attendance does not improve), they will refer you to the Support and Academic Progression Committee.

Unsatisfactory work

As an independent learner, you are responsible for monitoring your learning and achievement on the course. If you are concerned about your progress, you can contact your Academic Advisor or Year Tutor for support at any time. Your Academic Advisor will also prompt you to reflect on your achievement during one-to-one meetings, presenting a good opportunity to share any concerns you have. We review the performance of students after each examination period. If we identify that your performance puts you at risk of failing to meet the standards for progression, you will be invited to attend a meeting a Support and Academic Progression meeting.

The Support and Academic Progression Committee

The committee consists of the Year Tutors and the Teaching and Learning Manager. The aim of the meeting, which is compulsory, is to provide an opportunity to discuss your progress, the work you may or may not have submitted, and your general engagement with the programme. Through this discussion we hope to identify any factors which might be negatively affecting your performance and to establish a plan for ensuring your progression. During the meeting, we will consider the ‘big picture’ and we will outline the many ways that we can support students with the goal of helping you to feel confident about your progression to the next year of your studies.  The committee might be asked to make recommendations to the Exam Board which may impact on your progression. If your work and/or attendance remains unsatisfactory following this meeting, the committee can recommend that you are refused the right to resit failed assessments, which may prevent you from obtaining the credit necessary for progression and result in you being withdrawn from the programme (see Undergraduate Degree Regulations, section F22.).

If you are studying under a Tier 4 visa permission, you should note that once a withdrawal has been completed on the University’s Student System, you will be reported to the UKVI and will be required to leave the UK within 60 days of the withdrawal date.

Attendance at examinations

You are expected to sit ALL examinations and online assessments for your degree programme and to submit ALL coursework assignments by the deadline specified. Absence from examinations must be reported and will need to be supported by a Mitigating Circumstances Form and supporting evidence  will need to be emailed  to shs.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk.

Further information about work and attendance of students is given in Regulation XX – Work and Attendance of Students, which is available from the following website:

http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=1895

4.4. Student Experiment Participation Scheme (SEPS)

The Student Experiment Participation Scheme (SEPS) is well established in our programme and is similar to schemes adopted by Undergraduate Psychology courses in other universities. SEPS aims to provide an opportunity for students to gain first-hand experience of participating in psychological research. It is envisaged that students will apply what they have learnt to their own research during lab classes in 1st and 2nd year, and ultimately to their final year project. In addition, SEPS ensures that Final Year students have access to a pool of research participants, something that all students will benefit from upon reaching their final year.

SEPS is an assessed element of the Study Skills in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology unit in Year 1. Students are required to collect a specified number of SEPS credits to pass this assessment component (please refer to the relevant unit outline, which can be found on the unit Blackboard space).

Please note: SEPS credits are distinct from course credits (see section 7.1.1 for details about course credits).

SEPS credits are assigned to research studies run by Final Year students, research staff or postgraduate students. Each study is allocated SEPS credits based on the length of time required for participation, with 15 minutes of participation equating to 1 SEPS credit. All research studies have been scrutinised for adherence to the BPS ethical guidelines and will have an ‘ethics code’ showing that it has been deemed suitable. All studies will be advertised using the SONA system. You will receive guidance and a Participant Handbook, explaining how to use SONA. Please be aware that if you volunteer for a study without going through the SONA system, you will not receive SEPS credits for your participation.

If you are unable to attend a study which you have signed-up for, it is your responsibility to contact the researcher to cancel your participation (see the Participant Handbook for guidance). If you fail to attend or cancel a study which you have signed up for this will be classed as an unexcused no-show and you will receive a 4-credit penalty. This penalty can be applied even after you have collected the required number of credits from other studies. Following 4 unexcused no-shows you will be blocked from the SONA system, meaning that you will not be able to sign-up for further studies. Students who are blocked before collecting the required credits will fail this component of the associated course unit (see below for further details).

If you are unable to attend or cancel a pre-booked study for unavoidable reasons, or if you are experiencing circumstances that affect your ability to participate in SEPS, you should complete and submit a Mitigating Circumstances Form  and email supporting evidence to shs.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk. For further information, contact the SEPS academic lead (Ruth Ingram, ruth.ingram@manchester.ac.uk.)

An alternative coursework assignment will be available for students not wishing to participate in research studies. You must confirm your decision to opt-out and you will be told how to do this as part of the Study Skills in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology unit in Year 1. Please contact the unit lead Dr Ellen Poliakoff for further information.

Passing the SEPS scheme is a requirement of the relevant course units. If you fail to earn the required SEPS credits (or to pass the alternative assignment), you will fail the course unit. Students who fail the scheme, but who qualify for resit assessment (see section 5.7.3), will be given an opportunity to complete a ‘resit’ assignment during the summer examination period, in order to obtain the required course credits for progression to the next year of study.

The guidelines for SEPS will be outlined in the Study Skills in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology unit for 1st year students and instructions will be available on Blackboard. If you have any questions about SEPS or SONA, please email the SEPS admin team at psycredits@manchester.ac.uk. This inbox is monitored part-time, and the team aim to respond to queries within 2 working days.

SECTION 5 – ASSESSMENT

Please note that this section is a more accessible version of the various University Regulations governing assessment. Where there is a discrepancy, the University Regulations take precedence.

Your academic work will be graded using several different modes of assessment, including but not limited to: examinations (Multiple Choice Questions MCQ, short answer and essay questions), coursework essays, lab reports, short arguments, research proposals, posters and oral presentations. You will be given instructions for each piece of work via the relevant course unit.

5.1. Examinations

There are three examination periods each academic year. The dates for 2023/24 are:

Semester 1 Examinations	15 – 26 January 2024
Semester 2 Examinations	13 – 7 May 2024
Resit Examinations	19 – 30 August 2024

You must ensure that you are available during all examination periods. Exams can fall at any point within an examination period, so avoid booking holidays that overlap.

Information on the exact dates, times, and locations of your individual examinations is provided directly to students by the Examinations Office. You are responsible for checking your exam timetable and ensuring that you attend the correct exams.

5.1.1. Exam Timetable

The examination schedule is produced by a central University team using dedicated software for which the overarching factor is the production of a timetable with no, or as few as possible, unit clashes. While attempts are made to ensure that students have a spread of examination dates throughout the examination period, in many cases this is not possible given the institutional constraints on the numbers of examination venues that are available, the number of examinations that are scheduled to take place and the options available to students on any particular programme of study. Therefore, you should expect to have some exams on consecutive days where this is unavoidable.

Some of your exams may be remote (off campus open book) assessments which you are able to complete over a longer period (e.g. 24 hours/ 48 hours). These types of assessments allow you to decide when, over the period of time the exam is open, you complete the assessment but you are not expected to spend the entire time period (e.g. 24/48/72 hours) working on open book exams. It is usually advised that you spend no more than six hours on any exam (although note there may be specific advice on timings provided for individual exams or assessments which you should follow). Where the availability of these remote/ open book exams overlaps, the University do not consider this to constitute a clash.  This is because, as above, it simply is not possible to have all exams across the University spaced out where there is no availability window overlap between one another. As an independent learner, it is your responsibility to organise your time appropriately so that you are able to complete the assessments.

5.2. Assessments

The University’s standard pass grade is 40. While grades are typically presented as percentages, the scale used is actually categorical (i.e. a pass grade of 40% does not indicate 40% correct).

5.2.1. Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) Examinations and Quizzes

Some examinations assess performance using multiple choice questions (MCQs). The raw score (percentage of points obtained) is converted to an exam grade using a standardised scale. This scaling provides a correction for guessing and is common practice in education. The standardised scale sets a 50% pass criterion for MCQ examinations, meaning that a raw score of 50% is converted to a grade of 40 (the University’s standard pass grade). The table below outlines the conversion of raw scores (percentage of points obtained) to exam grades. Please note the same scaling is applied to all Blackboard term time quizzes.

Raw score (Percentage of points obtained)	Grade awarded
0	0
10%	8
20%	16
30%	24
40%	32
50%	40
60%	48
70%	58
80%	68
90%	84
100%	100

5.2.2 Coursework

Different marking criteria exist for each type of coursework assessment you will be asked to complete on the degree (e.g., essays, lab reports, posters). Markers will refer to those criteria when deciding what grade your work should be awarded. The criteria outline the different elements that markers will be considering when assessing your work (e.g. structure, argument, style) and provide qualitative descriptors for the award of grades in each band. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these criteria before submitting assessed work. You can find the marking criteria via Blackboard on spaces linked to individual units. Please note: the marking schemes may be different for the Psychology and Biology units on your degree.

5.2.3. Coursework Submission

The main coursework deadlines are issued at the beginning of each semester and are published on Blackboard and reminders and instructions for submission are sent by e-mail. Unit leads will also make you aware of specific deadlines relating to the submission of smaller pieces of assessment (for example online quizzes). Please ensure that you make a note of these dates and times, as we have strict rules for the submission of all assessed coursework. The majority of coursework will be submitted electronically via the relevant course unit space on Blackboard.

Coursework must be submitted to Blackboard by 3pm on the day of the submission deadline. Instructions on how to submit your work on Blackboard will be available within each submission area. All work is submitted to Blackboard via Turnitin and once you have submitted your work, you should immediately receive a Turnitin electronic receipt. If you do not receive a receipt please follow the instructions within each submission area for downloading your Turnitin receipt manually. Please keep this receipt safe as it is the only valid form of proof of having successfully submitted your work, without this we will not be able to prove that you submitted your work. If you are certain that you have submitted your work, but you are unable to obtain a receipt, contact the Assessment and Progression team (shs.assessments@manchester.ac.uk) before the end of the submission deadline.

Electronically submitted coursework must be prepared using either Microsoft (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel) or Adobe software. Documents submitted using any other packages (including those created using Apple software) cannot be read once uploaded to Blackboard. Submitting work in any format other than Microsoft or Adobe will result in a mark of zero.

The title page or first page of your script must appear as follows (and should not contain any other info):

[top of page, flush right:]

Student ID

[Middle of page and centred:]

Title

YOUR NAME MUST NOT APPEAR ANYWHERE on the coursework, as it will be marked anonymously. Your Student ID is the number that appears on the front of your library card. All pages should be numbered, starting from this title page.

For some units, you may be asked to submit hard copies of coursework assignments. In such instances, you will be notified of the procedures for this in advance via e-mail.

Please be aware that we do not read drafts of assessed work. However, you will have opportunities to ask for guidance via dedicated Discussion Boards and/or Drop-In Sessions. You should also take the opportunity to raise any queries or concerns about specific assessments during class time, particularly seminars and lab classes.

5.2.4. Page Limits

All assessed coursework is subject to strict page limits, specified along with the individual assignment details.

A penalty of 20 marks will be applied for every page or part thereof that exceeds the page limit.

There are several reasons for this policy. (1) One of our objectives is to encourage you to acquire the skill of expressing ideas in clear and concise written prose. Writing within a page limit imposes a discipline on your work. (2) For any given type of work we can only apply fair and consistent marking standards when everyone is writing within the same constraints. If we were to allow over-length work then people who had kept to the page-limit would be disadvantaged. (3) Imposing page limits communicates clear expectations (4) page limits are commonly encountered in the world you enter following graduation, so this is preparation for real-world tasks.

To ensure page limits can be applied consistently and fairly, all assessed work MUST adhere to the following formatting rules:

• Page layout is A4 portrait with margins of at least 2.54 cm on all four sides of the text
• Arial text, 10 point in size
• 1.5 line spacing
• All supporting materials (figures, tables, text boxes, etc.) must be included in the main body of the text and be sufficient in size to allow for ease of reading. Any such materials are included in the page limit. The only items excluded from the page limit are the title page, the reference list (which should start on a new page), the abstract (for final year reports) and any appendices (e.g. for raw data, rough notes, transcripts, or similar), which are necessitated by the nature of the assignment.

The marker will alert the moderator if they suspect that any of these formatting rules have been breached and this will be investigated before the release of marks. The appropriate penalty (20 marks for every page or part thereof that exceeds the page limit) will be applied to your work, at this time, if it is found that using the correct formatting rules results in your work exceeding the set page limit.

There are no penalties for ‘under-length work’ (much shorter than the specified page limit). However, it is reasonable to expect that such work would be unlikely to gain high marks for other reasons.

For the final year project, you are expected to write a report that is of an appropriate length for the investigation reported and which is concise and well-focussed. The page-limit is 16 pages for both quantitative and qualitative reports. However, project reports may be significantly shorter than this, and writing a concise report is an important part of the marking criteria, so shorter reports can receive higher grades. You should discuss the appropriate length for your project report with your supervisor.

5.2.5. Late Submission

If mitigating circumstances prevent you from submitting a piece of coursework by the published deadline, you should follow the procedures for requesting an extension outlined in Section 6. Please allow adequate time to submit your work online: computer issues or problems getting online will not be accepted as grounds for mitigation. If you miss a deadline where mitigating circumstances do not apply, you should complete and submit the work at the earliest opportunity. However, please note that the latest possible time point for submission of coursework, even with mitigating circumstances, is 3pm on the coursework handback date (published along with submission deadlines). Work submitted after 3pm on the handback date will not be marked.

Late work will initially be assessed without regard to its lateness, receiving a grade and feedback which reflects the quality of the work. However, a note will be kept on file, recording the delay to submission, and the relevant penalties will be applied prior to the Exam Board (though please see section 6 regarding mitigating circumstances).

Penalties will be applied to late work as follows; your grade will be reduced by 10 marks for each day that it is late, for up to 10 days, after which a grade of zero will be awarded. For example, a piece of work which would have been awarded 100%, if submitted on time, would be reduced as follows:

Number of Days Late	Mark Awarded
1	90%
2	80%
3	70%
4	60%
5	50%
6	40%
7	30%
8	20%
9	10%
10	0%

Work submitted more than 10 calendar days late is considered as a non-submission and you will be deemed to have failed the assignment, in which case, normal rules for failing an assignment would apply.

Please note the above late penalties reduction scale table relates to first attempts/first sits only (including deferrals). Students who submit resit assignments at second attempt (including carried forward failed credit) after the deadline will be automatically subject to a mark of zero as there is no sliding scale in operations for resits/referrals and there are no further resit opportunities for referred assignments that are submitted late.

Please also note that the lateness of your submission is determined by the timestamp given by Blackboard (not the clock on your own computer). For a 3pm deadline, your submission is still on time when the timestamp reads 3:00PM. Your submission will be considered late when the timestamp reads 3:01PM. This means that even when you miss the deadline by 1 minute, your coursework will be considered 1 day late and your coursework will lose 10 points.

Please be aware that the consequences of late penalties on your grade for a course unit will depend on the weighting of the individual component of assessment within the unit: the higher the weighting of the assessment to the overall unit grade, the greater the impact of late penalties.

More crucially, it is important to realise that the impact of late penalties on your final degree result will vary according to your year of study. This is because Final Year units are typically worth more credits than units in Years 1 and 2, and because Final Year makes a larger contribution to your final degree grade calculation.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you allow yourself adequate time to complete and submit coursework. If you are aware of a future circumstance that will result in absence before a submission deadline, you should make plans to submit your coursework in advance of your absence.

5.2.6. Academic Malpractice, Including Plagiarism

As a student, you are expected to cooperate in the learning process throughout your programme of study by completing assignments, of various formats, that are the product of your own study or research. For most students this does not present a problem, but occasionally, whether unwittingly or otherwise, a student may commit what is known as plagiarism or some other form of academic malpractice when carrying out assessment. This may come about because students have been used to different conventions in their prior educational experience or through general ignorance of what is expected of them.

This section is designed to help you understand what we regard as academic malpractice and hence to help you to avoid committing it. You should read it carefully, because academic malpractice is regarded as a serious offence and students found to have committed it will be penalised.

What is academic malpractice?

Academic malpractice includes plagiarism, collusion, fabrication or falsification of results and anything else intended by those committing it to achieve credit that they do not properly deserve.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is presenting the ideas, work or words of other people without proper, clear and unambiguous acknowledgement. It also includes self-plagiarism (which occurs where, for example, you submit work that you have presented for assessment on a previous occasion), and the submission of material from ‘essay banks’ (even if the authors of such material appear to be giving you permission to use it in this way). Obviously, the most blatant example of plagiarism would be to copy another student’s work (see Collusion, below). Hence it is essential to make clear in your assignments the distinction between: the ideas and work of other people that you may have quite legitimately exploited and developed, and the ideas or material that you have personally contributed. The appropriate way to do this is to include a reference which clearly acknowledges the source of any material you have consulted to inform your points. Crucially, when drawing from source material, you are still expected to express the information conveyed or the ideas this has generated in your own words; paraphrasing too closely from source material, even when accompanied by a reference, can constitute plagiarism. On occasion, you may want to make use of a computer program, a diagram, a graph, an illustration, etc. taken from another source. Again, the use of this material must be appropriately acknowledged.

There are a number of referencing systems; for example, the BSc Psychology programme requires that students follow the American Psychological Association (APA) conventions; however, the biology part of your degree may use Harvard and it’s important you know which referencing system is required for the assessment. Further details about the different referencing systems are available from the library: https://subjects.library.manchester.ac.uk/referencing/referencing-guide

Year 1 students will be required to review online materials relating to academic malpractice and plagiarism as part of their tutorials unit. However, students in all years of study are encouraged to revisit this guide, accessible here: https://www.softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/u6aWQqKVHtzsUh/html. Students can also seek further support from staff on the programme, including their Academic Advisor.

Collusion

Collusion is any agreement to hide someone else’s individual input to collaborative work with the intention of securing a mark higher than either you or another student might deserve. Where proved, it will be subject to penalties similar to those for plagiarism. It is also collusion to allow someone to copy your work when you know that they intend to submit it as though it were their own, doing so will lay both you and the other student open to a charge of academic malpractice.

Please note that collaboration is a perfectly legitimate academic activity and you will be required to work in groups in the preparation of some assignments (e.g. joint research projects). If you are asked to carry out such group work and to collaborate in specified activities, it will always be made clear how your individual input to the joint work is to be assessed and graded. Sometimes, for example, all members of a team may receive the same mark for a joint piece of work, whereas on other occasions team members will receive individual marks that reflect their individual input. If it is not clear on what basis your work is to be assessed, to avoid any risk of unwitting collusion, you should always ask for clarification before submission.

Turnitin plagiarism detection software

The majority of your assessed coursework will be submitted via TurnitinUK, an electronic system for the purposes of detecting plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice. This system provides the first check for plagiarism, but further checks can be made where deemed necessary. The University also reserves the right to submit other work you have submitted 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 will be copied and stored in a database to allow appropriate checks to be made.

Fabrication or falsification of results

For many students, a major part of their studies involves laboratory or other forms of practical work, and they often find themselves undertaking such activity without close academic supervision. If you are in this situation, you are expected to behave in a responsible manner, as in other aspects of your academic life, and to show proper integrity in the reporting of results or other data. Hence you should ensure that you always document clearly and fully any research programme or survey that you undertake, whether working by yourself or as part of a group. Results or data that you or your group submit must be capable of verification, so that those assessing the work can follow the processes by which you obtained them. Under no circumstances should you seek to present results or data that were not properly obtained and documented as part of your practical learning experience. Otherwise, you lay yourself open to the charge of fabrication or falsification of results.

Open book online examinations

Some of your examinations may be online and ‘open book’ (i.e. you are able to access and use your teaching and other materials to complete these assessments). Please note that this still means you must complete these assessments independently: you must not work with anyone whilst you complete the exam, and you are not allowed to ask anyone for help, advice, or support with the content of the exam at any point during the period that the exam is open for. You are also not permitted to discuss questions or strategies, or communicate with anyone else about an exam during the time window in which the exam is open, and are not allowed to offer help to others. Giving or receiving any kind of help with an exam would be considered as collusion, which is a serious academic offence that carries significant academic penalties.

You are also not permitted to make or share copies of any material from exam papers. This applies to all types of copies, including written, digital, screen-shots, or photographs. Again, doing this would be considered a serious academic offence. Any students found to be in breach of these University regulations for any of their exams will be referred to the University Disciplinary Committee (http://www.regulations.manchester.ac.uk/guidance-to-students-on-plagiarism-and-other-forms-of-academic-malpractice/)

In the event of evidence that the integrity of any assessment had been compromised severely, it is possible that the assessment will be discounted, and the full year group be required to resit the assessment in the August resit exam period. When considering the extent to which an exam has been compromised, the programme will consider both what has been shared or colluded on, and the reach of that collusion. Please act conscientiously and with respect for other students on the course.

The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We urge students to be cautious when using a chatbot or AI tool within their learning. Chatbots and AI tools can be useful, but there are a number of risks associated with using them. Please ensure that you are aware of what is permissible use of AI for each assignment. You can utilise AI to generate ideas, key themes, and plan your assessment but not to write your assessment. Do not use AI to generate text, or partial text for use in your assessment unless the assignment brief explicitly states that this is permitted, otherwise use will be deemed academic malpractice. This is academic malpractice because the words and ideas generated are not your own and not an accurate reflection of your learning. Further to this, the words and ideas generated by the chatbot or AI tool may make use of other, human authors' ideas without referencing them, which is plagiarism. Where a chatbot or other form of AI has been used, make sure you acknowledge that use. Information on how to cite can be found here:

https://manchester-uk.libanswers.com/teaching-and-learning/faq/264824

Some units, for example those on AI and technology, permit the use of AI. However, they require you to sign a code of conduct which must be adhered to. Make sure you understand and follow these codes. If you are unclear on what is permissible, speak to the unit lead.

 

Penalties for plagiarism and academic malpractice

If you are found to have committed academic malpractice the penalties can be very severe. The most severe penalty will result in you being excluded from study at the university. The penalties differ according to the year of study, the extent of the malpractice and the number of offences. The University follows a very strict set of regulations to deal with accusations of academic malpractice and, if the accusation is upheld, a clear set of regulations governing the award of penalties is followed.

It is your responsibility to take steps to avoid plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice. As a starting place, you should read the University’s guidance to students:

http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=2870.

Understanding and avoiding academic malpractice will also be covered in the First Year Tutorials. You are also encouraged to seek advice from a member of staff, at any point in your degree, if you would like further guidance on this matter.

5.3. Marking and Return of Assessed Work

5.3.1. Responsibility for Marking

With the exception of MCQ examinations, which are marked automatically, all the work you submit for assessment will be marked by a member of staff. In Years 1 and 2, this may be a PhD student, employed as a Teaching Assistant. In Final Year, the marker will always be a Lecturer or Associate Lecturer. Given the large student numbers of students on some of your units, multiple markers will be involved in most pieces of assessment. In all cases, the member of staff responsible for setting the assessment (typically the Unit or Lab Lead) will coordinate and provide guidance to the markers, and has overall responsibility for marking. Staff new to the programme, including all Teaching Assistants, are also given general training on how to apply grades and provide high quality feedback.

5.3.2. Return of assessed work

Marked coursework will typically be returned to you via Blackboard. Dates for the return of marked work are published alongside coursework submission deadlines. However, coursework which is submitted late may be returned to students after this.

For most assessed coursework, you will receive written feedback in addition to your grade. Reading and reflecting on this feedback is crucial for your academic development. Although you will not be asked to submit the same coursework in the future, the feedback will provide guidance on more general elements of the work, which will be applicable to future assessments (for example, how to structure essays or present the results of research). If you do not understand your feedback, or struggle to see how to apply the advice in future assignments, you should contact the Unit Lead for further guidance.

Please note that individual marks are provisional and only become final after the Examination Boards, which are held twice a year (Semester 1: January/February; Semester 2: June/July). The Examination Boards may decide that the marks for a particular assessment or unit need to be increased or reduced to ensure the integrity of the marking process. Please also note that the June/July Examination Board holds a higher authority so, in exceptional cases, it might revisit decisions made in the January/February Board.

Finalised marks are published via the Student Self Service System in February for Semester 1 and June/July for Semester 2. If you are required to take any exams during the resit examination period, you will be notified via email, so please ensure you check your emails regularly.

In addition to your grade, you can request further feedback on your examination performance by contacting the Unit Lead, following the release of results. The feedback provided on written examination scripts will be less extensive than the feedback provided on your coursework, but you may still find it useful for planning your approach to future examinations.

Due to Data Protection requirements, Examination results will not be given by telephone or by e-mail.

5.3.3. Course Unit Grades

For some units, there will be a single component of assessment, weighted 100%, and the grade you receive for that assessment will be your unit grade. For other units, there will be multiple components of assessment and your unit grade will be calculated by combining the grades you achieved for each component, according to their weighted value.

Your course unit grades will be used to determine whether you can progress to the next year of study and to calculate your final degree result (see Section 7).

The pass mark for course units is 40%. If your grade on an individual piece of assessment falls below 40%, but your combined unit grade is higher than 40%, you will have passed the unit. That is, you do not need to pass each individual component of assessment in order to pass the course unit. The only exception to this rule relates to assessment marked on a pass/fail basis. For such assessments, you must pass that individual piece of work in order to pass the course unit. Further details about pass/fail assessments is provided in the relevant Unit Specifications.

5.3.4. What happens if I fail a course unit?

This section refers to situations where a student fails to pass a course unit (or units) and there are no mitigating circumstances (e.g. illness) which can account for this failure. Where students do not pass a course unit (or units) as a result of such mitigating circumstances, this is not considered a fail (see Section 6 on Mitigating Circumstances).

Please note that there are no resit opportunities for Final Year course units and so any reference below to resit assessment applies only to the 1^st and 2^nd years of the degree programme.

The pass mark for all course units is 40%. Where unit marks fall below 40%, the unit has been failed (though see Section 6 for details of the Mitigating Circumstances policy).

5.3.5. Compensation of Failed Units

If you fail an individual course unit, but the mark falls between 30-39%, the credits for this course unit may be compensated. This is referred to as a ‘compensatable fail’. A maximum of 40 credits can be compensated in any year of study. Compensated units will keep the original mark and this will be recorded on the transcript and used in the weighted average for the calculation of the final classification.

5.3.6. Qualifying for Resits

If you fail a course unit and the mark is not compensatable (either because the grade achieved was less than 30%, or because you have exceeded the compensation limit), you may be given an opportunity to resit the unit. Crucially, and irrespective of mitigating circumstances, you must pass course units worth a total of at least 40 credits, at first attempt and excluding compensated units, in order to be offered the opportunity to resit (i.e. you can resit a maximum of 80 credits in any year of study). If you fail to obtain the required 40 credits at first attempt, you will be withdrawn from the programme (see Section 7).

5.3.7. Resit Assessment

To pass a course unit on resit, you will need to obtain a mark of at least 40% for the unit. If your unit mark falls below 40%, the unit has been failed and no further resit opportunities will be available (though see Section 6 for details of the Mitigating Circumstances policy). Please note that the mark for a resit unit is capped at 30% (unless the original unit mark was between 30 and 39%, in which case the original mark will stand).

As noted above, some course units are made up of multiple components of assessment. If you fail such units (and qualify for a resit attempt), you will only be required to resit those individual assessment components where your original grade fell below 40%. In determining whether you have passed such units at resit, we recalculate your unit grade by combining the grades you have obtained for the individual assessment components (replacing grades for components which were originally failed with the grades you have achieved at resit).

You will be contacted after the July Examination Board with details of any resit assessments you are required to complete. If you have failed any course units, you should look out for the email communicating this information. Resit attempts for both coursework and examinations take place over the summer examination period, regardless of whether the course unit fell in Semester 1 or 2. It is your responsibility to ensure you are available to complete coursework or attend exams during this period.

5.4. Quality Assurance of the Assessment Process

5.4.1. Moderation

Moderation is a quality assurance process, which takes place at two points in the assessment process. An internal moderator is assigned to each course unit and is responsible for working with the unit lead to ensure that the assessment is appropriate and fair.

Before any coursework task or exam script is set as assessment, the moderator reviews it to ensure that it addresses the learning outcomes for the unit, allows students’ fair opportunity to meet the marking criteria and is free from error.

Marking takes place anonymously for both coursework and exams. The marker applies the marking criteria to assign a grade and as a guide to appropriate feedback. At this stage the scripts are moderated. The moderator reviews a sample of the marking, which includes scripts from each marker falling within every grade band, plus all scripts awarded a fail. The moderator’s responsibility is to ensure that:

• the level of assessment was appropriate
• the grades applied have resulted in an appropriate ranking of scripts
• the grade boundaries have been set in accordance with the marking criteria
• each individual marker has correctly applied the grade boundaries
• feedback is provided for each attribute set out in the marking criteria
• the level of feedback given is adequate

The moderator cannot change individual grades. If a problem with the marking is identified, the moderator can recommend one of two actions to the Unit Lead: where the ranking of scripts is appropriate but the grades applied are too high or too low, the grades can be ‘scaled’ (i.e. all scripts are given a higher/lower grade); where the ranking of scripts is not appropriate, the scripts must be re-marked.

Following the release of results to students, the Unit Lead will publish the mean and standard deviation of the grades awarded by each of the markers.

All assessment results remain provisional until ratified by an Examination Board. Although moderation typically takes place before scripts are released to students, in exceptional circumstances it may not be possible to complete moderation in time for the hand back deadline. In this situation, grades are subject to adjustment after release and to avoid this, it may on occasion be necessary to delay hand back if moderation has not been completed. Please note that Examination Board acts as moderator for the MCQ assessments and that the Examination Board may decide to adjust the marks for a particular MCQ assessment. In general, any grades should be considered provisional until they have been ratified by the Examination Boards which sit in January/February (Semester 1) and June/July (Semester 2). As mentioned before, in exceptional cases, the June/July Board may revisit the marks ratified by the January/February Board.

5.4.2. External Examination

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 comparable with those in equivalent higher education institutions.

The External Examiners for the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology are Dr Melanie Burke (University of Leeds) and Dr Kate Reid (University of Glasgow).

Please note that it is inappropriate for students to make direct contact with External Examiners under any circumstances, in particular with regards to a student’s individual performance in assessments.  Other appropriate mechanisms are available for students, including the University’s appeals or complaints procedures and the UMSU Advice Centre. In cases where a student does contact an External Examiner directly, External Examiners have been requested not to respond to direct queries. Instead, External Examiners should report the matter to the School contact who will then contact the student to remind them of the other methods available for students. If students have any queries concerning this, they should contact the SHS Hub.

External Examiners’ reports relating to the degree programme are shared with student Reps at the Staff Student Liaison Committee (SSLC), where details of any actions carried out by the programme team/School in response to the External Examiners’ comments will be discussed. Students should contact their student Reps if they require any further information about External Examiners’ reports or the process for considering them.

SECTION 7 – PROGRESSION, THE AWARD OF DEGREES AND APPEALS PROCEDURES

The following guidance is based on the University’s Undergraduate Degree Regulations. You can access a full copy of these regulations at the following link: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=13147

7. Progression

7.1. What is required to pass the year?

Each year of your degree consists of course units worth a total of 120 credits, with each course unit being associated with a certain number of course credits (as specified in your Academic Advisement sheets). To obtain the credits associated with each course unit, you must pass that course unit (i.e. obtain an overall pass based on grades for coursework and/or exam components; the weighting of these elements is specified in the course unit outline). You must obtain 120 credits to pass the year. That is, you must obtain pass marks in all your course units. Students who do not obtain the required 120 credits will have failed the year.

7.2. What happens if I fail the year?

Decisions about progression are taken during the Semester 2 examination board, held in June/ July, and the Resit examination board, held in September. If you do not pass the required 120 credits in a given year of study, following allowable compensation and resit attempts, you may not be permitted to progress to the next year of study and may be withdrawn from the degree programme. Students withdrawn before completion of the degree programme may qualify for an Exit Award (please see the Undergraduate Degree Regulations, linked above for further details).

7.3. Carrying forward failed credit to the subsequent year of study

If you pass a minimum of 100 of the required 120 credits, the examination board may permit you to carry forward failed credits to the next year of study. The decision to allow a student to carry forward credit, up to a maximum of 20 credits, is at the examination boards discretion. Carrying forward credits in this way results in a higher workload in the subsequent year of study. For example, if you carried 20 credits from Year 1 to Year 2, you would need to pass 140 rather than 120 credits in Year 2. In recognition of this additional burden, the decision would be based on your academic standing (judged by your performance in other units).

Grades for ‘carried credits’ are capped at 30% and students have only one attempt to regain credit which has been carried over to the next year of study. Failing carried credits would result in withdrawal from the programme, as the requirements for progression have not been satisfied.

7.4. Repeating the Year

In exceptional circumstances, where a student has failed the year and carrying forward credits is not appropriate, the examination board may permit the student to repeat the year. This decision is taken on academic grounds; a student who has failed to demonstrate the academic potential to pass the year (judged by assessment grades obtained) would not be permitted to repeat the year. If you were granted the opportunity to repeat the year, all grades for your first attempt at the year would be erased (i.e. you cannot carry forward any grades from your original attempt). Full course fees are payable for the repeated year.

Please note, students cannot opt to repeat the year if they have satisfied the progression requirements. For example, if you pass Year 2 but are unhappy with your grades, you cannot be permitted to re-take Year 2 in order to improve those grades.

7.5. Voluntary withdrawal from a programme of study

Occasionally, for a variety of reasons, a student may decide to withdraw from the degree before completing it. This is obviously a major decision and, if you are considering withdrawing from your degree programme, you should talk things over with your Academic Advisor or Year Tutor before coming to a final decision. If, on reflection, you do decide to withdraw, you will be asked to fill in a form to confirm your intention to withdraw. You will also be asked to state your reasons for withdrawing. This is not to make things difficult or unpleasant for you, but so that we can monitor whether or not there are problems with the degree programme that may induce some students to withdraw. If there are, we may be able to do something about it that will benefit future students. It is very important that, if you do decide to withdraw, you do so formally by going through the above procedures. Do not simply stop coming to University without letting us know that you are withdrawing. As far the University is concerned, you will still be registered as a student and will still be liable for tuition fees.

7.6. Failing the Year as a Result of Mitigating Circumstances

We recognise that, in rare cases, failure to pass the year may result from mitigating circumstances (e.g. significant illness which has resulted in extended periods of absence). If you find yourself in a situation where such circumstances threaten your ability to pass the year, you should contact your Year Tutor for support at the earliest opportunity. Your Year Tutor will work closely with you to devise an appropriate plan and to ensure you are receiving all available support. In most cases, such circumstances can be managed with support (see section 8), and/or by applying mitigating circumstances procedures at the level of individual pieces of assessment (see Section 6). Wherever possible, we seek to avoid a situation where a student gets to the end of the year without having reasonable opportunity to pass the required credits (i.e. after exhausting all opportunities to apply mitigating circumstances procedures). If it becomes apparent that your circumstances are likely to prevent you from passing the year, your Year Tutor will recommend an interruption to your studies.

If you do get to the end of the Year without meeting the requirements for progression, and have evidence of mitigating circumstances which can account for this, you would be offered the opportunity to repeat the year. As outlined in section 7.1.4, all grades from your affected attempt at the year would be erased (i.e. you cannot carry forward any grades from your original attempt). Where students repeat the year as a result of mitigating circumstances, course fees for the repeated year would not be payable, although all other costs associated with completing an additional year of study would apply.

7.7. Guidelines for the Award of Degree Classifications

At the end of each year of study, your ‘Year Average’ mark will be calculated. This mark is the average of the marks achieved for each of your course units (including both examination and coursework components), weighted by their credit ratings. Your final ‘Weighted Average’ mark is then calculated by combining the average of the first year, second year, and third year marks in the ratio 10:30:60.

To obtain an Honours degree, you must obtain 360 credits. This means that you must pass all course units (either by gaining a pass mark or by compensation).

In general terms, the degree class you are awarded corresponds to your Weighted Average mark as follows:

Class I 70 or above

Class II (I) 60-69.9

Class II (ii) 50-59.9

Class III 40-49.9

If a student has a Weighted Average mark that falls within the 2% ‘boundary zone’ below the higher classification threshold, they will be promoted to the higher degree classification IF two thirds of their unit credits in the Final Year are equal to or higher than the higher classification. For example if your Weighted Average mark was 69.3% (which falls within the 2% boundary zone below a 1^st Class), and 80 out of 120 of your Final Year Unit grades were 70% or higher, you would be awarded a 1^st Class degree.

The Examination Board can also apply a further stage of ‘Classification Review’ if a student’s Weighted Average mark falls within the 2% boundary zone of the higher classification threshold, but the student has not satisfied the rule that two thirds of their Final Year Unit credits fall within the higher classification. This review involves examining the assessed work of that student across the 2^nd and Final Year of the degree to determine whether promotion to the higher classification is warranted. The decision to promote a student in this way must be supported by an External Examiner.

Upon Graduation, final year students will be able to access an official transcript of their results online, via the Digitary core system. Digitary Core (previously called eDocs Digitary) provides digital access to your transcript and Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR). Transcripts are available from the day of your graduation ceremony. HEARs are usually available from the end of the month following your graduation ceremony. This service is free of charge. The Digitary core system can be accessed here: https://core.digitary.net/#/user/shibboleth

7.8. British Psychological Society: Accreditation Requirements

In order to gain a degree that confers the British Psychological Society’s Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) status, you must pass the Final Year Project* (achieving a minimum of 40% for this unit) and obtain an overall degree classification of lower second class honours (2.2) or higher. In the case of the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree, the BPS requirements stipulate that the Final Year Project is undertaken in Psychology. If students do not (and will not in the future) have any intention of applying for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), they need not take this constraint into consideration.

7.9. Academic Appeals

Academic Appeals Procedure: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=1872

A basic guide to Academic Appeals: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=23874

Students can appeal final decisions of the examination board (for example, the award of a particular degree classification, or the decision to withdraw the student from the degree). If you are thinking of submitting an appeal, you should first contact the Exams Officer who will attempt to resolve the matter informally. If you still wish to proceed to a formal appeal, it is strongly advised that you familiarise yourself with the Appeals Procedure (linked above). This sets out the possible grounds for appeal, the evidence you will be required to submit in support, how appeals will be considered and the possible outcomes. You are welcome to contact a member of staff (e.g. your Academic Advisor or Year Tutor) for support and guidance with this procedure. Advice on appeals is also available from the Students Union or from the Information, Advice and Guidance Service located in the Atrium.

Please be aware that appeals must be submitted within 20 working days of notification of the result or decision. Details are as follows:

E-mail: FBMHappealsandcomplaints@manchester.ac.uk

Postal Address: Room 3.21, Simon Building, University of Manchester, M13 9PL

You may seek advice and guidance in preparing the appeal from the Students’ Union Advice Service

(https://manchesterstudentsunion.com/advice), or from the School Office, or from the

Information, Advice and Guidance Service in the Atrium; (https://uomtheatrium.wordpress.com/).

A quick guide to Academic Appeals is also available online;

(http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=23874).

The Formal Appeals document can be found at the following link:

http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=1872

 

SECTION 8 – STUDENT SUPPORT

8. 1. Support from the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Programme

8.1.1. Academic Advisors 

What is an Academic Advisor?

Your Academic Advisor is a member of academic staff who will be assigned to you as a source of support for your academic and personal development. You will be appointed an Academic Advisor in your first year of study and this person will typically be your advisor in your first, second and third year (with the exception of staff leaving/illness etc.). In your final year you will be allocated to a project supervisor who will also be your Academic Advisor.

Why do I have an Advisor?

Our aim is that by engaging with their advisor, students:

• will know that their advisor cares about their progression, academic success and future plans
• will feel that they belong and are valued regardless of their background, personal strengths and weaknesses
• will know who to contact if they experience difficulties either personally or academically
• will achieve positive changes in their academic and personal confidence as a result of setting & achieving goals and reflecting on their experiences
• will gain and grow in confidence and skills in developing professional relationships

Our model of Advising

Advisors are here for the routine, the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ times. Most students are at least ‘OK’ or ‘good’ most of their time at university, but we are still here to support you. We want you to flourish and that is why we adopt a coaching model of advising. That might mean working out where you can push yourself to do something outside of your comfort zone, or to improve your performance on something you’re not quite happy with. We recognise that ‘people’ in general set themselves goals but often fail to do the things required to achieve those goals so your advisor will be there to give you that nudge to act and to help you reflect when you have done something.

Advisors are also here if you have ‘not so good’ and ‘bad’ times. Your advisor is there to meet with you and to listen in order to identify the best avenue for further support. We have many sources of expert support across the University and your advisor will help you to find the best place to turn if you need it.

We refer to the advisor-advisee relationship as a ‘professional’ one: this does not mean that they cannot be friendly in tone and approach, and equally it does not mean that you should not share personal issues if you want to. In the world of work for example, employees have professional relationships with colleagues and managers, and often, managers in particular will need to know and understand an individual’s personal circumstances to support them in the workplace: university life is no different.

How often do I meet my Advisor?

Each semester you will have some compulsory individual meetings with your Advisor, and they will also keep regular email contact. Most crucially, you can request additional, one-to-one meetings at any time if you would like further support or guidance.

Good conduct in advisor-advisee communication

The advisor-advisee relationship is a professional relationship. Most students respond promptly and appropriately to their advisor and of course staff appreciate this and find it easier to establish a good relationship with those students. However, a few students do ignore some or all emails and attempts at contact. We worry about those students but we also, as normal human beings, can’t help finding being ignored unprofessional and discourteous. It is our policy as academic staff to respond to you within 48 hours (during the working week) and it is therefore good practice to take the same approach to reciprocal contact. If you can’t make a meeting time that is offered please inform them of this and arrange an alternative time. When your advisor emails to ‘check-in’ with you mid-semester to ask how things are going – it is good practice to respond – even if only briefly.

Please let us know if you feel that this good conduct is not typically followed by your Advisor. We all need to have the same standards.

What will happen if I miss my meetings or I don’t respond to my Advisor?

If your advisor is unable to make contact with you, they will ask the Year Lead/ Senior Academic Advisor to ensure that everything is ok and you are engaging with the programme. This may involve you being required to attend a Work & Attendance meeting.

What will happen in the Advisor meetings?

You and your Advisor will work together to prioritise actions that will help you make the most of your time at university.

In the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree, we adopt a ‘coaching’ style model of academic advising. Your advisor will not have a standardised set of questions that they ask you, because you are all individuals and bring your own set of expectations, ways of working and challenges. Your advisor will help you to identify what you want to talk about and what is important for you. They will help you to work out your priorities for a period of time and will support you in setting your goals (however big or small) and finding ways to implement them.

If you think that this sounds terrifying or awkward, that’s ok, many students do at first. Give it a go and try to help your advisor get to know you. For example, if they get to know that you are quite shy and find the process difficult, that’s fine! They will find a way to work with you (some might even tell you they are quite shy too).

What if things are not going well with my advisor or I have questions or concerns about advising more generally?

Your Senior Academic Advisor is Dr Rebecca Champion (rebecca.champion@manchester.ac.uk). If you have any issues with your Academic Advisor you should email Becky and she will meet with you to discuss it. It is our policy to help you to engage effectively with your advisor, but should you feel, for any reason, that you would like to be allocated to a different person, please email her.

8.1.2. Student Support Hub

The Student Support Hub can talk through with you issues such as interrupting your studies and progression, financial issues, the submission of details of mitigating circumstances, work and attendance problems and any personal concerns that are affecting your ability to study and engage fully with your course. It is important to point out that Student Support is not a counselling service; it is a practical problem-solving service.

The Student Support Hub is based on the Ground Floor of Jean McFarlane Building.

Contact details: shs.hub@manchester.ac.uk

8.1.3. Peer Mentoring

The Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology programme has a mentoring scheme in place which ensures that all Year 1 students are assigned a mentor. Mentors are 2^nd and Final Year students who provide support and guidance to new students on personal and social issues, or issues related to study. Year 1 students will be assigned to a mentor during Welcome Week, and will have an opportunity to meet their mentor and raise any questions or concerns. Following that, there will be regular opportunities to meet which are organised by the mentoring team throughout the academic year. At the end of the 1^st year of study, students will have the opportunity to train as a mentor, and use their experiences to support new students and further develop the scheme.

http://www.peersupport.manchester.ac.uk/

8.1.4. Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Society

Students on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree run their own Society, which arranges social events and is a great way to make links with your peers on the course. The Society will be in touch to tell you about their activities in the first few weeks of the year.

8.2 Content Warning  

Psychology is a broad discipline covering many fascinating areas. It is possible that some of the areas you cover as part of your Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree might be emotional, potentially difficult and/or controversial – or perhaps they might feel a little ‘close to home’ for some people. It may also be the case that while the content being discussed may not itself be difficult, these topics could be closely related to topics that some students may struggle with.

This is the nature of our subject area.  Psychology is about the study of the human mind and behaviour – about people like all of us!  For some people, lived experience of some of the issues we might cover is how their interest in Psychology first began. Many people who are experts in this field have their own lived experience of challenging areas – and this can be an asset rather than any type of barrier. In common with lots of other subject areas, some of the historical work undertaken by psychologists seems far from acceptable to us nowadays. But covering this content is not intended for shock value, but in order to enhance understanding in the belief that knowledge of this history is helpful in creating a better future for our discipline.

Although you should be aware that by choosing to study Psychology it is possible that you may cover some material that is challenging, you certainly shouldn’t feel that being challenged by content is going to be a barrier to you studying on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology programme. We are committed to ensuring that our teaching and learning environments are safe spaces for exploring and discussing a range of content.

For this reason, where topics are more obviously going to involve content that is distressing, teaching staff will let you know in advance by flagging up the nature of the material they will be covering – this allows you as an independent learner to prepare yourself however you might need to. For example, if you think that some content is likely to cause you distress, you could decide to review the slides in advance of the session so you have a better sense of what to expect and what is likely to be covered. You may also decide to leave the teaching session at any point and get some fresh air, or in exceptional cases, opt-out of the teaching session entirely and work through any materials (including the podcast where this is provided) in a safe environment.

There might, though, be some content which isn’t highlighted in this way but that you find more difficult to deal with, perhaps for example because of something personal that you have experienced or something that is important to you. You should always do what works best for you in terms of managing your wellbeing. You are the best expert on what works for you so please use whatever strategy helps. You can always talk to your academic advisor or year leads about your studies. If you are struggling with particular difficulties and need more support, then the University offers lots of support for students – https://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk/ and we would strongly advise that you consider seeking out some of this support.

Importantly, while we can provide warnings in advance of sessions that might have the potential for distress and while we can sign-post you to support services within the University to help you to engage in the material, there are some topics and coursework that are compulsory and which we cannot allow students to opt-out of. This is because they are necessary for achieving the learning outcomes of the programme and the professional competencies required for careers in Psychology. However, we will always work with you to find the best way to support you in engaging with this material, so please reach out to us if you are struggling A safe learning space means allowing critical engagement with ideas, whilst ensuring that all students and staff are respected. If you are concerned about how particular topics are being discussed, or how other people are expressing their views, you can approach the lecturer in the first instance, confidentially, either at the time or afterwards. If you feel that you cannot approach the lecturer, or that the lecturer has not taken your concerns seriously, you can contact your year leads team or Programme Director.

Please also make sure as well that your own communication of your ideas and views to your peers and to teaching staff is done courteously and respectfully at all times. We try our best to build a respectful and supportive psychology community at Manchester that is inclusive of everyone.

 

SECTION 9 –STUDENT FEEDBACK AND REPRESENTATION

As students of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology at Manchester, we invite you to act as partners in your educational experience and to input to the development of our shared degree programme. At the most basic level this will involve providing feedback on your course units, but it can also involve representing your peers on committees, meeting with external agencies who visit to evaluate the standards of the programme or working alongside staff to design parts of the curriculum.

9.1 Student Experience Director

The Student Experience Director is the member of staff with responsibility for ensuring that the student voice is heard and valued. They review student feedback provided via all channels and are responsible for ensuring that the programme responds. They input to the strategic development of the programme, ensuring that student feedback informs decisions made about the programme. Their role involves overseeing the development and implementation of the Student Experience Action Plan (SEAP), which sets actions the programme commits to taking to enhance student experience. The Student Experience Director is available to you throughout the year and will be happy to meet to talk about your experience of the degree (if not available, you can contact the Programme Director/ Deputy Programme Director).

9.2 Providing Feedback

Your feedback allows us to identify areas of strength and weakness in our programme. We take it very seriously and use it to guide changes to the degree. By giving us feedback, you can ensure that your voice is heard.

9.2.1 Unit Surveys

You will be asked to provide anonymous feedback on your course units at the end of each semester. This involves completing online unit surveys which ask you to rate various aspects of the unit and to provide comments about what worked well and what could be improved.

9.2.2 National Student Survey (NSS)

Undergraduate students from all publicly funded Universities in the UK are asked to complete the NSS in their Final Year. This independently administered survey asks for your feedback on the whole degree, as well as your broader University experience. The results are published to help prospective students make informed decisions about where and what to study. The NSS also provides us with useful data for benchmarking ourselves against other universities.

9.2.3 Informal Feedback Opportunities

While Unit Surveys and the NSS provide formal and structured opportunities for student feedback, you are welcome to give us feedback at any point during your studies. You can do so via your lecturers, your Academic Advisor, your Year Tutor, the Student Experience Director, the Programme Director/Deputy Programme Director or your Student Reps (see below).

9.3 Student Representation

9.3.1 Student Representatives (Reps)

You will nominate fellow students to represent your Year group on various programme and University level groups. The Reps act as a formal channel of communication between you and the teaching and administrative staff. Reps make a crucial contribution to the quality assurance and enhancement procedures for the Programme, School and greater University.

We hope you will consider taking on the role of Rep during your studies. You will be invited to nominate yourself as a Rep for your year group at the start of each academic year by submitting a brief manifesto. The manifestos are posted online and all students have the opportunity to review these and vote for their year’s Rep. The Reps (typically 2-3 for each year group) are expected to act as spokespersons, collecting the views and opinions of students in their year and representing them at meetings where student’s opinions are represented (see below).

9.3.2 Staff-Student Liaison Committee (SSLC)

SSLC provides a forum for staff and students to discuss any issues or problems relating to the degree, and to consider proposed changes. It forms the basis for the representation of students’ views within the School and is a formal means of gauging student opinion on academic matters, including degree programmes and syllabuses. The SSLC meets to discuss day-to-day problems concerning degree programmes and course units, and to advise the School Board on student-related matters. It usually meets twice each Semester.

One job of the SSLC is to review the Student Experience Action Plan (see section 9.1). Together, staff and students agree to the actions set out in this plan and monitor progress towards those actions.

9.3.3 Programme Committee

A Final Year student Rep may be invited to participate in the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Programme Committee. This committee oversees the organisation and implementation of the degree and acts as its decision-making body. The Programme Committee meets every month to review the programme and plan its development. The Programme Committee reports to the Faculty Quality Assurance Committee.

9.3.4 School Board

The School Board is the official body for monitoring academic activities. It is responsible for advising the Head of School on academic matters such as changes to degree programmes. A range of other matters affecting life in the School are also discussed. The School Board usually meets four times a year and student Reps may be invited to participate.

9.3.5 Student Representation at Quality Assurance Meetings

The degree programme is reviewed under processes internal and external to the University. Some of these will involve a group of reviewers visiting the programme to talk to its staff and students. One example is British Psychological Society partnership visits, which take place as part of the BPS accreditation process. You may be invited to contribute to such process by attending meetings to talk to reviewers.

9.4 Complaints

As outlined above, there are various routes for raising complaints about the degree. The majority of issues are resolved at programme level. However, if you are unhappy with the outcome you can pursue this further by submitting a formal complaint. The details of this procedure are set out in The University’s Student Complaints Procedure (Regulation XVIII) and associated documents can be found at:

https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=1893

Formal complaints should be sent, along with relevant evidence, to the Faculty Appeals and Complaints Team, Room 3.21, Simon Building, University of Manchester, M13 9PL (e-mail: FBMHappealsandcomplaints@manchester.ac.uk). Complaints must be submitted within 40 working days from the issue that prompted the complaint.

SECTION 10 – LEARNING RESOURCES

10.1 BSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Resources

10.1.1 Blackboard (VLE)

Blackboard is a web-based system that complements and builds upon traditional learning methods used at The University of Manchester. Every course unit you study on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree has a dedicated Blackboard space where, depending on the nature of the course, you will be able to download lecture notes, enter discussions, view lecture podcasts, access additional course-relevant resources and submit assessments.

It is important that you log-on and view the blackboard pages for the course units you are taking on a regular basis in order to keep up to date with announcements, discussions and newly uploaded content.

For further information and help with accessing Bb you should go to:

http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/blackboard/

10.1.2 Coupland PC Cluster

A small number of computers are available in the Coupland 1 building which are exclusively for use by Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology students.

10.1.3 Student Hub

The School has a student hub/common room situated in the Zochonis Building, where you can socialise, relax, or work. This room has vending machines.

10.2 University-wide learning resources

In addition to the support and resources provided on the Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology degree, you have access to the range of resources provided by the wider university. For details, please see:

http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/crucial-guide/

10.2.1 University of Manchester Library

You have access to excellent resources, including the University of Manchester Library (UML), which has the most extensive range of electronic resources of any UK higher education library:

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/

10.2.2 Alan Gilbert Learning Commons

The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons is a state-of-the-art study and learning centre in the heart of the Oxford Road campus boasting an onsite café, an impressive atrium providing a social meeting space with WiFi access and flexible study spaces and environments throughout the building.

10.2.3 Central PC Clusters

Students can access PCs in ‘central’ clusters provided by IT Services. You can check the availability of PCs in these spaces at the following site:

http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/clusteravailability/

10.3 IT Services

Students can access support for any IT issue via the IT Services website, or by visiting an IT Service HelpDesk.

http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/

10.3.1 Using University Computers

Students must abide by the following Code of Practice when using University computers:

1. The software provided for your use on the computers in the university are commercial products which we use under licence. It is illegal to make copies of these programs to take away and use on other machines. The University regards unauthorised copying (and other illegal activities such as hacking) as a serious breach of its regulations, and any student who copies programs or tries to gain unauthorised access to a computer will automatically be reported to the Registrar. It is usually possible for students to obtain legitimate copies of programs either free or at very low cost; please ask any member of the Computer Users Committee, or view the ITS webpages at http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/

2. Keeping the computer facilities working properly is a complex and expensive job and it is very important that only authorised programs are installed. You are not allowed to install your own programs on the computers under any circumstances. If you know of programs which might be generally useful, please let a member of the Computer Users Committee know. The playing of games, even when run off disks or sticks, is forbidden.

3. Computer viruses, as you may know, are destructive programs which are generally transmitted from infected machines by file transfers. Once a machine is infected it can cause serious problems for users, including the destruction of data files. It is usually very difficult to know if a disk or memory stick carries a virus and although our computers have some protection this is never 100% effective. To minimise problems with viruses, take these sensible precautions:

(a) Don’t borrow other people’s disks or memory sticks, buy your own.

(b) As far as possible use them only on the University machines, or your own computer. Avoid passing them from one strange computer to another!

(c) Use the virus scanning program on the fileserver regularly to ensure that your disk or memory stick hasn’t picked up something nasty.

(d) Indiscriminate printing causes a very great waste of paper, so please try to follow these suggestions:

• Before you send a file to be printed, check how busy the printers are. Don’t print a file if you can’t wait until it is finished. Save the file, and come back when you have more time.
• When you are writing essays, don’t print out more draft copies than is necessary.
• When using the word processors, use the ‘print preview’ facility to check that everything looks right before you print.

If you realise that you have sent a large job to the printer, but you don’t want it, or cannot wait until it is printed, please delete the job from the print queue. Instructions on how to do this are displayed on the noticeboard. DO NOT walk away leaving matters to take their course.

4. There is always a demand for computers, especially around the times of deadlines for assessed work. It is very selfish to leave a machine for more than a minute or two with your books scattered around and your work on the screen as though once you have logged on it is ‘yours’. Users who do this will be logged off by a member of staff if they are absent for more than five minutes and there are people waiting.

5. We try to keep the computer rooms as pleasant places to work, but if the people who use it don’t keep it tidy it rapidly looks like a pigsty. When you finish your work please clear up any rubbish and put it in the bins. Computer keyboards react very badly to having things spilt on them, or getting crumbs between the keys – think what happens when they go mouldy! So we ask that you don’t eat anything while working at a computer, and please keep drinks at a safe distance.

6. It is very important that you logoff when you have finished using a computer. If you fail to do this then the next person to sit down may inadvertently or even deliberately alter or delete your files. There have even been recent cases of abusive and obscene messages sent as ‘practical jokes’ by people finding a computer that was still logged on, these messages of course appear to originate from the person who failed to logoff.

The following link outlines a number of regulations and guidelines covering the use of University IT systems and services: http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/our-services/security/policy/

10.3.2 Working with your own computer

Many students may have their own computer, laptop or tablet, or have access to one at home during the vacation. If you have such facilities then you should check that your system is compatible with the university system. This will help avoid problems when you try to transfer documents from your machine to ours.

If you are thinking of buying a computer or computer related peripherals and would like advice of any sort please see the IT Services website:

http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/

Please note mitigating circumstances will not cover computer failures so please remember to save a backup version of all work.

10.4 Photocopying

There are strict rules about the photocopying of copyright material, and you should make sure you understand these and abide by them. Certain copiers within the University are licensed for such copying, and there is an explanatory notice about the rules next to each of them. Much of your photocopying will probably be done in the library.

Appendix 1  Key Dates

Key Dates: Structure of your Academic Year 2023-24

Semester One
Welcome Week	18 – 22 September 2023
Teaching week 1	25 – 29 September 2023
Teaching week 2	2 – 6 October 2023
Teaching week 3	9 – 13 October 2023
Teaching week 4	16 – 20 October 2023
Teaching week 5	23 – 27 October 2023
Teaching week 6	30 October – 3 November 2023
Teaching week 7	6 – 10 November 2023
Teaching week 8	14 – 18 November 2023
Teaching week 9	20 – 24 November 2023
Teaching week 10	27 November – 1 December 2023
Teaching week 11	4 – 8 December 2023
Teaching Week 12	11 – 15 December 2023
Christmas/New Year vacation	18 December – 12 January 2024	No teaching
Semester One examination period	15 – 26 January 2024	Exam period (no teaching)
Semester Two
Teaching week 1	29 January – 2 February 2024
Teaching week 2	5 – 9 February 2024
Teaching week 3	12 – 16 February 2024
Teaching week 4	19 – 23 February 2024
Teaching week 5	26 February – 1 March 2024
Teaching week 6	4 – 8 March 2024
Teaching week 7	11 – 15 March 2024
Easter Vacation	18 March – 5 April 2024	No teaching
Teaching week 8	8 April – 12 April 2024
Teaching week 9	15 – 19 April 2024
Teaching Week 10	22 – 26 April 2024
Teaching Week 11	29 April – 3 May 2024
Teaching Week 12	6 – 10 May 2024	6th May Bank Holiday: no teaching
Semester Two examination period	13 May – 7 June 2024	Exam period (no teaching)
Re-sit examination period, for assessments falling in both the January and May-June examination period	19 August – 30 August 2024 (note that re-sit coursework may have hand-in dates before this)

Semester dates for future years are available on the internet if you need them: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/dates/

Appendix 2  Programme Specification

What are Programme Specifications?

Programme specifications focus on single programmes of study (or courses), and outline the intended knowledge, understanding, skills and attributes of a student completing that course. A programme specification also gives details of teaching and assessment methods as well as linking the course to the framework for HE qualifications and any subsequent professional qualification and career path. The University of Manchester has programme specifications for the courses that it offers.

You can find the Programme Specifications on the BSc Cognitive Neuroscience’s community space on Blackboard.