Written Assignments (submission, presentation, word limits, extensions, extenuating circumstances)

The Course Handbook for your course sets out full details of the written assignment(s) that you have to submit. There is often extended information including e.g. guidelines to assist you in completing each assignment, whether this is an essay, report, case study or in some other format.

Each assignment is ‘set’ on a specific date during your course (see the Assessment Calendar for your course for a full schedule of dates). On the set date, a tutor (usually the person who will mark the assignment) will talk you through the requirements of the assignment, directing you to the assessment criteria and any further guidance. This is a great opportunity to ask questions to clarify your understanding before you embark on an assignment. You can best prepare to take advantage of this opportunity by reading the written material on each assignment within the relevant Module Descriptor in your Course Handbook prior to the ‘set’ date. Should you wish to seek further amplification of information on an assignment, you should contact the tutor who will be marking it, as listed in the Assessment Calendar.

In most modules there are formative assignments or activities designed to help you focus on the issues relevant to the summative assignments concerned.

Submission of Assignments

Written work should be submitted by the date specified in the assessment calendar published on the VLE at the start of each academic year. Submission dates are clearly listed for each assignment. In addition, your assessment calendar informs you how your work should be submitted. This will most commonly be electronically via Turnitin on the VLE and, exceptionally, for work that cannot be submitted electronically, such as some posters and portfolios, in person on the date specified to the tutor, who will record receipt of the work.

If late submission is unavoidable due to circumstances beyond your control, you should see section below for details of how to go about applying for a 7-day extension. If the adverse circumstances preventing completion of your work on time persist, or are likely to last longer than 7 days, you may be able to apply for a discussion of your support needs leading to a student support plan for you. Assignments submitted after the date given in the assessment calendar will be treated as late submissions.

Most assignments are submitted electronically. For late submissions via Turnitin you will find a submission box in Turnitin created for this purpose for each assessment. Late submissions of assignments which are required in hard copy must be given to the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for your course, who will record receipt of the work.

If you submit a hard copy of an assignment by post it is your responsibility to ensure that you use the correct postage and that the envelope is addressed to the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for your course. If it should ever be necessary to send an assignment to the College by post, proof of posting should always be obtained. This is provided free of charge by Post Offices if requested and serves as proof that your work was sent if it should go astray in the post. Alternatively, we recommend that you post your assignment ‘signed for’ so you can be more certain that it arrives at the college.

Where hard copy submission of written assignments is required (please refer to your assessment calendar), they must be submitted in duplicate using the correct assignment front sheet (available on the VLE). One copy is held at the College with a copy of the tutor’s assessment sheet, for reference by the external examiner, assessment boards and accrediting & validating bodies. The other copy is returned to you with your feedback from the tutor who marked the work.

Make sure you have retained in a safe place a copy of all the work you submit – whether submitted electronically or in paper form.

The College can take no responsibility if assignments are lost and you have not followed these guidelines.

Submission of assignments and portfolios

Your course is packaged into modules and each module comes complete with an expected amount of work – in reading, thinking, preparing for sessions and taking part in classroom discussions. Each module is also assessed. At the beginning of each module you will be given information about the assessments during the modules, guidance about completing the assignments, the name and location of your year leader or module leader and the submission deadline. Your assignment must be submitted no later than 23:55 on the due date (electronic submission via the VLE) or 12:00 midday on the due date (in cases where the assessment is to be submitted in person).

Your assignment / portfolio must be presented, referenced and submitted in accordance with the requirements specified above. You will need to read this information carefully and ensure you comply with the requirements.

Ensure you start with the front sheet

Each written assignment must start with the appropriate front sheet, which you will find on the VLE, in the Documents area for your course. It is good practice to start with the front sheet, complete the name of the assessment and your name, save it with a file name as specified in the Presentation of Assignments Guide, then start writing your assignment.

Presentation of Assignments

The “NCA Presentation of Assignments Guide” gives you detailed guidance on how to present your written assignments. The Guide is available on the Student Hub on SharePoint in the College Handbook section, and there is a link to this folder on the VLE, on the Documents tab – College Documents – College Handbook and Related Documents.

It is very important to follow this guidance or you will lose marks unnecessarily.

Unable to submit by the deadline?

If you are unable to submit by the deadline on the due date due to circumstances beyond your control you must apply for an extension before the due deadline. If you fail to submit by the due deadline without an authorised extension, this is a late submission. See the section on late submission below for details.

You are responsible for managing and planning your course work. No one else can plan this for you. If you have genuine difficulty in meeting the assignment submission date due to serious and exceptional circumstances beyond your control you should discuss this as soon as you are aware of the difficulty, with the Course Director or the person named in your Course Handbook. The Course Director or the person named in your Course Handbook may be able to grant an extension (see Requesting an Extension below). The extension must be applied for before the due date for work submission.

No extensions can be given on or after the due date. See below for details of penalties incurred for late submission.

All students on a course are set the same date for submission of work and all students are treated equally. You have personal responsibility for submitting your work on time, and this reflects on your personal ability to manage workloads, problem solve, manage time and make priority decisions.

The key to avoiding difficulty with course work and course submission is to inform your course director as soon as a problem arises. Students who do not do so usually fail modules.

Requesting an extension

Students should approach their course director, or the person named in your Course Handbook, who may be able to grant an extension for work submission where circumstances beyond your control mean that you will be unable to complete the work by the due deadline. This might be due to personal or close family illness or bereavement. An extension will not be granted automatically, however if you are able to show the Course Director (or the person named in your Course Handbook) the work you have completed so far and you are additionally able to demonstrate that through no fault or omission of yours you will have difficulty submitting on time, your request will be considered sympathetically. Extensions are normally granted for one week (7 days) and the work is due for submission 7 days after the original due date. Students with an agreed student support plan may be eligible for longer extensions (7 days+). You can ask your Course Director or Student Services at any time for a student support meeting and if a support plan is agreed it may include a longer extension for your assignment.

You can request an extension using an online form, available on your course VLE which will automatically alert the Course Director and Student Services.

The granting of an extension does not preclude you from submitting a claim for extenuating circumstances. However, if you are a student who has been provided with additional support, you cannot apply for extenuating circumstances unless these are for circumstances not covered in your request for support. For information on what may constitute an extenuating circumstance see the Section on Extenuating Circumstances below and also the section later in this Handbook – College Boards and Committees / Assessment Boards / Extenuating Circumstances.

Penalties for late submission

Late submission of an assignment / portfolio within 7 days after the published submission date, and without an authorised extension (see “Requesting an Extension” above), will obtain a maximum mark of the bare pass mark (BSc 40%; MScs 50%) for that element of assessment. All work submitted later than 7 days after the published due date and without an authorised extension will be awarded a mark of 0%.

If an extension has been authorised but the work is submitted after the extended submission date, 0% will be awarded.

If you are unable to submit within 7 days after the submission date due to verifiable extenuating circumstances which are serious and exceptional you may be able to submit a case for consideration in accordance with the College’s Extenuating Circumstances Procedure (see below). Or you may be eligible for a discussion of your needs leading to a student support plan.

Extenuating Circumstances

These are circumstances outside your control which may have negatively affected your performance in an assessment (an assignment or an examination). For these circumstances to be considered, a student must make an official claim via the Extenuating Circumstances form found on your course student SharePoint hub.

Most decisions regarding Extenuating Circumstances will be determined by the Course Director and subsequently reported to the assessment board. However, there may be occasions where the Course Director deems it appropriate for an assessment board to make the decision; in which instance a student may have to wait to hear the outcome.

If extenuating circumstances (ECs) are accepted you may be allowed to resit an exam or resubmit an assessment without the mark being capped, or in some circumstances the assessment board may compensate your result. However, it may be decided by the assessment board that, despite extenuating circumstances, it is necessary for you to retake a module or modules (this is especially likely if your attendance has also been affected).

For HSU students, the Board may also:

  • Consider the higher classification of degree if your final profile of grades shows two different classifications or a borderline

  • Agree to adjust a borderline mark in light of your performance in other assessments

  • Allow assessment where your attendance has been below the required minimum

Examples of ECs include:

  • serious personal illness;

  • a change in an existing health condition at the time of the assessment;

  • death or serious illness of a family member or other person with whom you had a close relationship;
  • missing part or all of an examination as a result of serious and unforeseeable disruption to public transport.

You may not claim ECs on grounds that you:

  • consider marks given to be too low;

  • did not understand or were unaware of the course regulations;

  • misread or missed the published examination timetable;

  • have family, work, financial or other general problems;

  • had problems with private transport, such as congestion or breakdown;

  • lost work because of a technical or other failure (e.g. computer failure);

  • did not check your College email account regularly for new messages.

If you have support needs, including a long-term medical condition or disability, the College provides support through our student support process (see the Student Support Section of this College Handbook). The Extenuating Circumstances Procedure is not intended to replace or to be invoked in lieu of the support provided by that process. We will not therefore normally consider a claim under this procedure based on such a condition/disability, unless the effects of the condition/disability have changed and there is a good reason why you have not sought additional appropriate support.

Making a claim

Your extenuating circumstances claim must be submitted as soon as you are aware of the

extenuating circumstances and no later than 5 days after the assignment deadline or exam date. If you submit your claim later than this, you will also need to provide evidence and/or have a good and clear reason that shows why you could not have submitted your claim within the 5 day time limit. The Course Director shall decide in his/her absolute discretion what constitutes “a good and clear reason”.

If you are unable to provide the required evidence within the above timescale you should apply for ECs anyway and request extra time to provide evidence. You must provide a good reason for the delay.

To submit a claim use the extenuating circumstances form which is on the VLE in College Documents/Forms/ EC form to be completed by student.

In making your claim you need to explain the specific circumstances that you want to be considered and specify how these circumstances have affected your performance or ability to attend an assessment.

For an extenuating circumstances claim to be successful it will normally be based on evidence of circumstances that are:

  • non-academic;

  • unexpected;

  • significantly disruptive;

  • arising from matters beyond your control;

  • likely to have affected your academic (including clinical) performance (or ability to attend) to an extent that is significant.

To submit an extenuating circumstances claim you need to provide supporting evidence that is relevant and objective (for example, provided by an independent and reliable third party). Self-certification, or statements from personal tutors or course directors will not generally be accepted.

Decisions are made by the Course Director. Appeals should be sent to the Principal.

For details of how the Assessment Boards deal with extenuating circumstances see – College Boards and Committees / Assessment Boards / Extenuating Circumstances in this Handbook.

Please follow the guidelines carefully. It is a student’s responsibility to submit a claim and provide supporting written evidence to substantiate a claim.

The process for making a case for extenuating circumstances is as follows:

  • The student downloads the form, or in case of difficulty the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for the course issues the form by e-mail.

  • Student completes a written claim for consideration by completing the extenuating circumstances form and includes evidence to support their claim.

  • Students are strongly advised to discuss their claim with their Personal Tutor or another tutor/supervisor who knows about the situation.

  • Student submits form following the instructions on the form.

  • Please note: if students wish their claim to be seen only by the Course Director and/or Chair of the Assessment Board they are advised to state this on the form.

  • the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for the course issues an e-mail acknowledgement of receipt to the student.

  • the Student Services Manager/Officer responsible for the course logs receipt of the form and refers for decision to the Course Director.

  • If no evidence is included, or parts of the form are not completed, the appropriate administrator will contact the student using a standard e-mail and request supporting evidence and/or further information. All required information and evidence must be provided as stipulated in the procedure above.

  • For extenuating circumstances leading to re-submission or re-sit of an exam, the Course Director will make a decision on the timing of the re-submission or resit and inform the student.

  • The outcome of a decision where a claim for extenuating circumstances has been approved will be communicated by the appropriate administrator or Course Director to the Assessment Boards.

  • All decisions made are recorded by the appropriate administrator within the Extenuating Circumstances Log.

Extenuating Circumstances – Review of Decision (HSU Students)

If you wish to appeal against a decision your Course Director has made as to whether we accept your claim for extenuating circumstances to be taken into account (in relation to resubmission, resit, and/or decisions of an assessment board), you should in the first instance send your appeal in writing to the Principal.

If you are not satisfied once the Principal has reviewed your appeal, you have the right to ask HSU to review the outcome, if:

a)      The NCA’s procedures were not followed properly.

b)     The outcome was not reasonable.

c)      You have new material evidence which, for valid reasons, you were unable to provide earlier in the process.

d)     There is bias or reasonable perception of bias during the procedure.

You may refer the matter to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the Health Sciences University (HSU) for review within 21 days from receiving the outcome of your appeal to the NCA’s Principal. To request a review of the outcome, you should write to the Registrar at the HSU () providing a copy of the outcome and an explanation of why you are requesting a review, in addition to any evidence to support your request.

Further to the review, the HSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) may either uphold the original outcome or refer the case back for reconsideration by the NCA.

Where the case is referred back, reconsideration of the case will be undertaken as soon as possible by the NCA, and where practicable within 30 calendar days.

The decision of the HSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) will be final and a Completion of Procedures Letter shall be provided to you as soon as possible and within 28 days confirming the review decision outcome and reasons for the review decision.

Thereafter you have the right to refer the matter to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (the OIA) (http://www.oiahe.org.uk/). You must refer the matter to the OIA within 12 months of the date of your Completion of Procedures letter.

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