Positive News for Postgraduate Students: No Detriment Framework

Tuesday 16-06-2020 - 14:11

Some Positive News for Postgraduate Students on the No Detriment Framework

Hello everyone,

It has been a while since we talked about this one, hasn’t it? We just thought we’d update you as to the conversations we have been having on the No Detriment Framework recently and what has come about since the start of our conversations. Sophie and I have been continuing conversations internally on the Framework and how best we can support you. Whilst we’re not done yet, we thought we would share some of the positive news we have seen and let you know what we are doing next.

A few weeks ago we sent a letter to the University outlining the concerns of PG students and lobbying them to improve their position. Here is the summary of our concerns but you can see the full responses below:

In our letter, concluded by summarising what we are asking for:
- Postgraduate grade boundaries lowered in line with undergraduate boundaries
- A grade average safety net & - Greater accountability of the grades taken into account during COVID-19
- Increased support from tutors

The university responded to each point in summary saying:
- The university have now lowered the grade boundaries by 2% for postgraduate taught students’ final award classifications
- Taken as a whole the No Detriment Framework provides postgraduates with extensions, experiential credit, 20 credit discount, and now a lower grade boundary (more below).
- They also stated their plans to review the academic calendar to see if an additional Board of Examiners can be scheduled so that deadlines could be extended into late 2020
- They stated that academic registry would reach out to postgraduate tutor to strengthen the current support through use of more collaborative online approaches

We are delighted to see that as a result of our feedback, the University has agreed to extend the grade boundary not only to match but exceed the Undergraduate position on the award safety net. This means that if you are on Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Masters programme, the University will award a Merit grade if you obtain an award mark of 58 (57.5) to 67, and a distinction grade if you obtain an award mark of 68 (67.5) or more.

This was not in place in the Framework before we lobbied and had conversations with the University.

Summary

We concluded the letter by summarising what we are asking for:

- Postgraduate grade boundaries lowered in line with undergraduate boundaries
- A grade average safety net &
- Greater accountability of the grades taken into account during COVID-19
- Increased support from tutors

The university responded to each point in summary saying:
- The university have now lowered the grade boundaries by 2% for postgraduate taught students’ final award classifications
- Taken as a whole the No Detriment Framework provides postgraduates with extensions, experiential credit, 20 credit discount, and a lower grade boundary
- They also stated their plans to review the academic calendar to see if an additional Board of Examiners can be scheduled so that deadlines could be extended into late 2020
- They stated that academic registry would reach out to postgraduate tutor to strengthen the current support through use of more collaborative online approaches

Please see more details of our letter and the response below. We are still having conversations internally and so will continue to share any updates with you.

If you have any questions, concerns or feedback, please email our advice service at jmsuadvice@ljmu.ac.uk

Best wishes,

Lila Tamea (VP Academic Quality)

Sophie Brook (Postgraduate Students’ Officer)

 

Assessment Deferral

We expressed in the letter that, due to a lack of support from the university and in the Framework, many students have felt that deferring assessments is their only option to be able to achieve grades that are reflective of their usual abilities. The University responded by saying that, in exceptional circumstances, Experiential Credit is available to all taught students – both PG and UG – and that they believe this will be well-suited in particular to address concerns regarding dissertations. They also mentioned they are exploring options to have an additional assessment later in 2020 facilitating alternative data collection methods.

 

Inequity Between PG and UG Provision

We highlighted to the university that COVID-19 will affect 60 out of 360 credits (1/6th) of LJMU undergraduate programmes and 60 out of 120 credits (1/3rd) of postgraduate programmes. However, the university is only allowing 20 credits to be discounted from postgraduate programmes, yet 40 credits to be discounted from undergraduate programmes. We expressed that we don’t believe this is an equitable comparison to make. The University responded by saying that the additional 20 credits for undergraduate students would only be discounted where there is evidenced significant under performance from the previous semester. The University said that such a scheme is not suitable for postgraduate taught students due to insufficient credits being accumulated so far to offer a realistic picture of student performance. They have said they believe it is therefore more appropriate to provide additional support for PG students using other elements of the No Detriment Framework.

 

International Students

We expressed our concerns that we believe international students will be suffering most as a result of the lack of provision, many of whom are postgraduate students. Some international students have travelled back to their home countries, with limited or no access to university resources. These students may rely on in-person delivery, without which they may be particularly at risk. The university responded that they are aware of the significant challenges for international students and will pass our comments onto the International Office to ensure these students are receiving support. They also mentioned that Academic Registry is in touch with all our overseas communities. On top of this, as an SU we have developed a series of International Student Zoom Drop-ins with our International Students’ Officer, and invited an International Student Adviser from the University to support the calls.

 

Support From Teaching Staff

We expressed concerns regarding a previous discussion via Zoom in which it was suggested that due to postgraduate students having access to their dissertation supervisors’ support, they had an advantage over undergraduate students. We highlighted that both PG students and final year UG students have access to this same support when writing dissertations, and often the quality of this support is not the same for all students. We urged the university to re-consider the No Detriment Framework to better reflect the reality. The University said that they have also taken steps to ensure that postgraduate tutors are aware of the TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) support available so that they can make more use of collaborative tools when working with postgraduates.

 

Students Entering the Workplace

We explained to the university that LJMU students feel they will be significantly disadvantaged when competing for jobs against other students from other institutions once they graduate. This is because they feel that some provisions in the No Detriment Policies of other institutions, such as grade average safety nets, will provide those students with a competitive advantage in the job market. The university responded by stating that they have secured approval to provide a 2% lower grade borderline for postgraduate grade boundaries. The university noted that the borderline has been lowered by 2% for postgraduates, whereas it has only been lowered by 1% for undergraduates.

 

Student Wellbeing

We expressed our belief that provisions in the Framework have a huge part to play in students’ wellbeing and the lack of perceived equitable provision for Postgraduate students has led to these students in particular feeling increasingly anxious and unable to cope with demands. We stated that we feel that some of this can be alleviated with increased support from tutors and an equitable No Detriment Framework. The university responded and concluded saying that they hope the amendments outlined in their response will address the anxiety felt by postgraduates.

 

 

Related Tags :

More Liverpool John Moores University Students' Union Articles

More Articles...