The Pro-Vice Chancellor has set out arrangements for examinations in Trinity Term. Residency requirements will not be in place, and measures will be taken to ensure all students receive “fair grades”.
In an email sent to all students, Martin Williams said that most exams will take place online via the Inspera platform. Students will be contacted by their department to confirm the format of their assessments. For students who are expecting to sit means in-person, departments will confirm any contingency arrangement incase the exam is moved online. The decision about whether to do this all happen in Week 8 of Hillary Term.
Whether students can return for in-person teaching in Trinity is subject to government guidance. However, Williams said he “hopes” students will be able to return for a mix of in-person and online learning. Residency requirements will not be in place for Trinity term, although students are “strongly encouraged” to return if regional and national restrictions permit doing so. Students who do not want to return to live in Oxford will not need to apply to do so.
In light of the continued disruption due to COVID-19, the University has put together an “academic support package” to ensure that students are “not disadvantaged relative to pre-pandemic years”. Exam boards will “make adjustments for papers that have been particularly impacted by the pandemic”, and review average and overall cohort results to bring them in line with previous years.
Individual students will be able to use and “enhanced” Mitigating Circumstances for Examiners process from Week 6 of Hilary. This can be submitted directly instead of via colleges. Students will also be able to submit a statement along with completed work to describe the impact that a lack of access to in-person teaching and resources has had on their work. They will also be able to self-certify for extensions and late submissions in recognition of how the pandemic has made it harder to access medical services for non-urgent reasons.
The University will publish a webpage detailing the formats for all examinations “in the near future”.
The Oxford University Student Union told Cherwell: It remains an incredibly tough time for students and we stand in solidarity with you in the challenges you face. We welcome the University’s update today which provide information on exams and Trinity term. We’re pleased to see further commitments on exams and assessment following our work on our fair outcomes for students campaign and we’d like to thank all the students who have been supporting the campaign so far. We’re still working with the university to finalise the details that will be going out about 2021 exams and assessment, and are working with the University to ensure that those details are communicated clearly and as soon as possible.
We welcome the news that the residency requirement will not be in place for Trinity Term providing clarity to students. We remain committed to actively lobbying and working closely with the University to ensure students get the best student experience possible next term whether they are in Oxford or studying remotely.”
