Quality Handbook Supplement CAR1: Common Assessment Regulations (Student Route Requirements)

1.1 The Student Route (formally Tier 4 (General) Student) rules for granting leave to study in the UK and the accompanying Sponsor Guidance are issued by UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI). Under these rules, NTU is licensed to sponsor Student Route students and must obey the obligations that flow from that status.

1.2 This CAR Supplement is concerned with the implications of these rules for the University’s Common Assessment Regulations (CAR).

1.3 While the Student Route rules do not necessitate changes to the letter of the CAR, the CAR’s inherent flexibility means that several clauses do require careful application to ensure that NTU and its Student Route sponsored students do not breach legal requirements.

1.4 This supplement does not attempt to explain the detailed provisions of UKVI Student Route rules or provide guidance on their wider application to such matters as admissions, funding or student support. Section 6 (below) sets out the key University contacts on all Student Route aspects and provides a link to source documents.

1.5 The applications that follow seek to satisfy the key obligation of the Student Route rules: universities must monitor the attendance of all its sponsored students.

2.1 Normally an NTU student has a right following initial failure of a module to be reassessed on one further occasion to achieve a pass.

2.2 The maximum number of attempts normally allowed for an NTU student to pass a module will be two: first attempt and referral or retake. At non-final award levels, a Board of Examiners may authorise a third attempt, with the exception of Level 7 where exceptional third attempts are permitted.

Student Route Commentary

The UKVI Sponsor Guidance for Student Route Sponsors states: “In exceptional circumstances we will allow students to re-sit examinations or repeat any part of their course more than twice for individual examinations or modules but we may ask you to justify this.”

2.3 For NTU, it is considered a student has exceptional circumstances when they have an approved consideration of personal circumstances (CPC) where an additional sit is the outcome.

2.4 If a student on a Student Route visa does not submit for a module assessment or has a failure for which there are no approved CPCs these would continue to be counted as one of their attempts.

2.5 Boards are reminded that the CAR allows a board to exercise academic discretion and apply compensation at first or subsequent attempts.

2.6 A Late Submission Pass counts as a single attempt not two attempts.

2.7 A deferral or break in studies beyond 60 days across a student’s studies (and would result in them studying less than sixty credits) will mean that the student can no longer be sponsored and must return to their home country. If the student must defer their studies, they will need to make a fresh visa application when they wish to return.

2.8 Some courses are regulated by a Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) which may not allow a student to undertake a second or third attempt: clearly those courses should continue to operate under those regulations and are not affected by this Student Route guidance.

3.1 If it is established that extenuating circumstances have impaired performance in an assessed task, an NTU student has the right to be reassessed as if for the first time in any or all of the modules or elements of assessment, as specified by the board.

Student Route Commentary

The UKVI Sponsor Guidance for Student Route sponsors does state that they will accept exceptional circumstances.. An exceptional circumstance would be where a student has submitted and been subsequently awarded a “first sit” under the Universities CPC process.

3.2 Boards are reminded that the CAR allows a board to exercise academic discretion and apply compensation at first or subsequent attempt.

3.3 If a student on a Student Route visa has an exceptional reason for not submitting their assessment (which is approved by a CPC) or has a CPC approval to re-sit an assessment as a first sit, this will meet the ground of ‘exceptional circumstance’ for UKVI.

3.4 If a student on a Student Route visa does not submit for a module assessment or has a failure for which there are no exceptional circumstances, these would continue to be counted as one of their three attempts.

4.1 A board may use its discretion to allow an NTU student to proceed to the next level with module failures (normally provided the failures do not amount to more than 20 credits). Reassessment in those failed module(s) should either be undertaken by a referral assessment in the referral period or by retaking the whole module in the following year (with or without attendance). If it is done with attendance, the student must be studying at least 60 credit points at any point in the academic year.

Student Route Commentary

There are no particular considerations to be taken into account. While there is a Student Route requirement to monitor students who are undertaking retakes in trailing modules without attendance, such students will be attending normally in respect of all other modules and de facto will be monitored.

It should be noted that no change in the University’s current referral timescales is required to meet the Student Route 60-day rule as vacation periods do not count in this calculation.

4.2 Boards are reminded that the CAR allow a board to exercise academic discretion and apply compensation at first, referral and retake or third attempt.

5.1 There is no standard model of postgraduate course design; therefore, progression within specific courses – and decisions about individual student progression – will take place in different ways, at different times and according to different nomenclature across NTU’s postgraduate portfolio.

5.2 While progression to the next level does not apply in a formal sense, at least one board will meet during the period of a course to take referral and retake decisions on whether a student may progress to the next module, to a series of modules, to the next stage, to the next term or however else a course is approved to operate.

5.3 Whatever the precise progression terminology and practices used within a postgraduate course, boards should operate within the explanations set out in this Supplement and the imperative of compliance with UKVI requirements.

Period of leave to study

5.4 For postgraduate courses of 12 months or more, the period of leave to study in the UK is the length of the course plus four months after the end of the course.

5.5 For postgraduate courses of more than 6 months but less than 12 months, the period of leave to study in the UK is the length of the course plus two months after the end of the course.

5.6 For postgraduate courses of less than 6 months, the period of leave to study in the UK is the length of the course plus seven days after the end of the course.

6.1 For general advice on issues relating to Student Route students and NTU’s procedures for managing its obligations under the legislation, please email REGTier4@ntu.ac.uk. Further information is also available on the Student Route/Tier 4 SharePoint site.

6.2 Student Route wording for use on Board of Examiners’ letters is located in the Student Route Re-sit and Repeat guidance on the Student Route/Tier 4 SharePoint site; or by contacting REGTier4@ntu.ac.uk.

6.3 For further advice on applying the CAR for Student Route/Tier 4 students, please contact CADQ.

6.4 For further advice on Academic Appeals, please contact REG.AcademicAppeals@ntu.ac.uk.

6.5 International students seeking guidance on how the visa regulations affect them personally should be referred to the International Student Support team in Student Support Services by emailing int.support@ntu.ac.uk.

6.6 The UKVI website https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration maintains guidance and updates on the latest regulations for both staff and students.

6.7 Colleagues are reminded that their School should also have useful contacts.