Photo Ben Mullins on Unsplash That is one of the results of a survey among teachers. The survey was organized by the Student Staff Council (SSC).
The Executive Board’s proposal reduces the number of times a student can sit an exam in a given course from three to two. This means that if the student doesn’t pass the exam first time, they will only have one resit opportunity in that academic year (as opposed to two now). If that same student fails the resit exam as well, they will get two more chances the following year (as opposed to three now).
In the proposal, the number of resit periods will increase from two to three: one in January for period 1; one in May for periods 2, 3 and 4; and one in July for period 5. The idea behind the proposal is that staff will only have to compile one resit exam a year, which will reduce the workload. Students’ pass rates are also expected to increase, as that is what happened at other universities.
Survey
A total of 445 teachers filled in the SSC survey questionnaire. 85 per cent are in favour of reducing the number of resits (4 per cent are against this and 11 per cent don’t know). Over two thirds (68 per cent) expect the change in policy to reduce the workload for teachers (14 per cent do not expect this and 18 per cent don’t know). The idea of spreading the resit weeks over the year also gets a positive reception: 69 per cent of the teachers are in favour; 9 per cent are opposed; 22 per cent don’t know.
The Student Council previously organized an event for students to have a say on the proposed resit policy. It seems the students will also agree to the new resit policy as long as certain concerns are dealt with. One such concern is the need to be able to make exceptions for special cases, for example if a student is about to finish their degree and only has to resit one course, but the next resit opportunity is six months away. There are also calendar issues, for example a wish to move the resit week in January to February.
