Dear Students,
Greetings for the week ahead and today we would like to update you on changes to the Assessment policy. As a Higher Education Provider, the College will periodically review policies within the College to ensure that these are updated and benchmarked to other Univerisity providers that operate in the Higher Education Framework.
When a policy is reviewed it is required to go through the full governance cycle of the College which entails, the Academic Board, the College Council and Compliance. Once the policy has been reviewed, amended and approved by governance committees it is then updated and released as the major version on the website.
Please see an announcement below of changes and release of the Assessment Policy:
- The Assessment Policy has undergone substantial benchmarking to other Higher Education providers, this benchmarking has resulted in an update and changes to the grading system.
- The Policy has undergone the Endeavour governance cycle and all changes and implementation has been approved by the College Council.
- The major points to note in the policy:
- The College will still follow the standard 7 point grading system
- As no subjects contain pass level 70% hurdle the grading system is the same for all subjects
- The grade bands have been adjusted to align with other Higher Education providers (refer to page 11 of the Assessment Policy)
- All overall grades that fall between 48% and 49.9% will be moderated PRIOR to marks release
- The change is ONLY effective for cohorts:
- with a start date from 19th February, 2018 and onwards (this includes Semester 1, 2018 and March online 2018)
- Cohorts commencing prior to 19th February, 2018 will be graded using the previous grading system (includes cohorts February Online 2018, Summer School 2018, and prior)
- NO retrospective changes will be applied to the marks released for the cohorts commencing prior to 19th February, 2018
The changes outlined above allow the College’s grading system and the resulting student’s GPA alignment with other education providers and will have positive outcomes on any further education our graduates undertake, allowing students to pathway into honours, medical and other degrees of choice benchmarked within the University GPA graded system.
- The College also recognises that for some students the change will also be a point of frustration as it will not be retroactively applied. While the College understands the frustration, the amendments and implementation have been processed through the full governance cycle which has included consultations with relevant departments and industry and has been approved by the College Council in consultation with all relevant departments.
To maintain the integrity of the marks already released and January and February online 2018 cohorts, the implementation of the new grading system required a specific time and no retrospective changes can or will be applied. All further released academic transcripts that include cohorts Semester 1, 2018 and March online 2018 onwards will include both grading scale tables relevant to marks released prior and post implementation of the Assessment Policy changes outlined above.
- For further elaboration on grade changes link to the Assessment Policy on the website and all feedback can be placed in writing through the student portal feedback options and will be responded to.
We request that you read and digest the changes made with the view that this allows the College to align with University grading systems opening opportunities to all students who may find themselves going into further study and research careers in the future.
Should you require further support the Access SAP( website link) and the contact number is 1800 33 62 07. This is a free service and a great confidential support line whether it be to develop resilience to change or to support the stress and anxiety associated with study or personal related circumstances.
Thought for the week ahead…. it's not the load that breaks you down it's the way you carry it .......