Safety net

The University of Brighton recognises the difficulties and hardships faced by students as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We have listened to student concerns, and to ensure that you are not disadvantaged in your studies, we’ve introduced a second phase of measures known as our ‘Safety Net’ which provides flexibility and choice.

The measures detailed on this page relate to the 2020-2021 academic year. More information on the measures being put in place for the 2021-2022 academic year will be published soon.

Glossary

Extension to deadline: a process that enables you to request a revised deadline, usually beforehand or retrospectively, up to two weeks after the deadline has passed (in exceptional circumstances). If you experience an unexpected issue that you believe can be rectified quickly so that you are eventually able to submit your work, you can apply for an extension through your course leader and you do not need to provide any supporting evidence.

Late submission: a penalty is applied to work that is submitted after the deadline set and where an extension request has not been submitted. To avoid this, you must request an extension through your course leader, as detailed above.

Generic mitigation: mitigating circumstances are applied by the Examination Board without individual claims or evidence to cover failed/ non-submitted/ missed assessment.

Resit: a further assessment attempt.

Deferral: the assessment is deferred if the Course Examination Board deems that the assessment should be taken again and that the student should suffer no detriment. Accordingly, first attempts will remain as a first attempt and not be capped; deferrals of subsequent capped attempts remain capped but the attempt number does not increase.

Referral: a further attempt at an assessment or a new assessment in place of it, which is capped at the pass mark and uses up an assessment attempt.

Pass mark: 40% for an undergraduate assessment or 50% for a postgraduate assessment, any exceptions to this are detailed in individual Programme Specifications.

Capped: the maximum mark you will receive is the pass mark, even if you achieve a higher mark.

Uncapped: you will be awarded a mark within the full range of marks available (i.e. 0 – 100).

Mitigating circumstances: serious circumstances which are unforeseen and unavoidable, which negatively impact on your ability to complete assessment.

Progression: an Examination Board decision on whether you can proceed to the next stage of your course. Where you have been told you are unable to progress to the next level, you may be asked to repeat modules the following year or leave the University.

Compensation: an Examination Board may allow credit to be awarded at the end of your stage of study for failed modules where assessment threshold marks have been met (up to 40 credits per 120 credits studied). The Examination Board must be assured that the course learning outcomes can still be met. Compensation cannot be applied to mandatory modules or be used to change module marks.

Intermission: a student led decision to take an official, extended period of absence from studying at the University. You must submit a written application to your course leader which explains your reasons.

What is the university’s Safety Net?

The term ‘Safety Net’ refers to a range of measures which go beyond the ‘No Detriment Policy’ which was in place in the last academic year:

Comparison between No Detriment Policy and university Safety Net
No Detriment Policy	Safety Net
5 March 2020 – 3 January 2021	4 January – 26 September 2021
Adjustment to teaching and learning delivery methods and assessment tasks to ensure that course learning outcomes can continue to be met.	Adjustment to teaching and learning delivery methods and assessment tasks to ensure that course learning outcomes can continue to be met.
You may request an extension to deadline without the need for evidence.	You may request an extension to deadline without the need for evidence.
Generic mitigation for assessment which has been failed, not submitted or missed. Normally a further assessment attempt will be granted without penalty. No evidence or claim form required.	Generic mitigation for assessment which has been failed, not submitted or missed. Normally a further assessment attempt will be granted without penalty. No evidence or claim form required.
No route to claim mitigating circumstances for unrepresentative performance.	Mitigating circumstances for unrepresentative performance may be claimed when despite an assessment being passed, you feel that you could have done better if not for the impact of the pandemic or other circumstances. Normally you will be able to apply to have the opportunity to complete an assessment/ piece of work without detriment (a deferral).
In-Year Module Retrieval (IYMR) available for level 4 modules flagged with the IYMR logo, but maximum mark for the retrieval piece of work capped at 40%.	In-Year Module Retrieval (IYMR) is available for level 4 modules flagged with the IYMR logo. The maximum mark for the retrieval piece of work will no longer be capped at 40%.
Volume of compensation that can be applied by an Examination Board increased to 40 credits per 120 credits (subject to PSRB requirements).	Volume of compensation that can be applied by an Examination Board increased to 40 credits per 120 credits (subject to PSRB requirements).
Calculation of Individual Performance Benchmark (IPB) of weighted average semester 1 marks achieved prior to 5 March 2020. Applied to module marks which fall below your IPB mark.	Adjustment to the way we calculate degree classification. As in previous years you will still need to acquire the usual amount of credit for each stage of your course. However, we recognise the continued impact of the pandemic and therefore the modules in which you achieve your lowest pass marks will be discounted when calculating your award.