Boards of Examiners, progression and awards available

Degree and awards are determined by the programme’s Board of Examiners (BoE). The BoE is a committee consisting of internal and external academics that meets three times per year and have responsibility for:

• overseeing the assessment process according to the University’s regulations
• reviewing each student’s overall academic performance across the programme
• looking at outcomes for students across all elements of courses for which the Board has responsibility, and ratifying the provisional marks for these courses
• awarding the final degree outcomes.

Once the taught component of the degree is complete (i.e. once students have completed the 120 credits of study in Semester 1 and Semester 2 courses from September to May) the Progression Board will meet to decide if each student has met the progression requirements to allow them to continue onto the research project, or if they qualify for another award. The University Taught Assessment Regulation 56 states that in order for a student to progress onto the research project stage of the degree, students must:

1. Pass at least 80 credits (out of the 120 credits taken) with a mark of at least 50% in each of the courses studied; and
2. ​​Attain an average of at least 50% overall for the total 120 credits of study; and
3. Satisfy any other specific requirements for the masters degree programme, that are clearly stated in respective programme handbook.

Successful Progression

If a student has met the above progression requirements then they will continue on to do the project from May to August, and the Board will meet again in September/October to ratify the project results and award the degrees of either Diploma or MSc.

Failure to progress

If the student has NOT met the above progression requirements then the BoE may review their spread of marks and decide if they meet the requirements for an alternative award - see the 'Awards available' section below.

Boards of Examiners will consider students whose marks are borderline for progression, award or classification purposes. Borderline students are considered within the range of 2% of a boundary, i.e. 68.00 - 69.99% for the award of Distinction and within the range of 2% of a boundary, i.e. 58.00-59.99% for the award of Merit.

Borderline considerations

All MSc Boards of Examiners in the School of Biological Sciences will take the following factors into account when considering borderline cases:

• Individual student profiles of performance.
• For borderline classification decisions, whether the overall performance in the taught element has sufficiently compensated for the performance in the dissertation, or vice versa, for the Board to be satisfied that the performance of the student overall is sufficient for the higher classification to be awarded. Students will not be eligible for the award of MSc with Merit or Distinction if both taught element and dissertation marks are in the borderline range: at least one must be in the higher band in order to be eligible for the higher award, unless Exceptional Circumstances apply.
• Any additional criteria as specified by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Postgraduate Certificate 

To be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate you must meet the following criteria:

• Pass at least 40 credits with at least 40% in each course.

• Attain an average of at least 40% in the 60 credits of courses studied.

  The Certificate may be awarded after the Semester 1 BoE, for example if a student couldn't continue their studies and had to withdraw from the programme early. The award of Certificate would be at the discretion of the BoE. 

Postgraduate Diploma

To be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma you must meet the following criteria:

• Pass at least 80 credits with at least 40% in each course.

• Attain an average of at least 40% in the 120 credits of courses studied.

  The Diploma would usually be awarded at the Progression Board as an early exit award because the student has not met the progression requirements. However, it can also be awarded at the final BoE because the student has failed to achieve the MSc

MSc

To be awarded an MSc you must meet the following criteria:

• Pass at least 80 credits with at least 50% in each course.
• Attain an average of at least 50% in the 120 credits of courses studied.

• Achieve a mark of at least 50% in the research project.

  The only reason a student would not be awarded the MSc at this stage is if they fail to achieve a mark of 50% or above in the research project. A student with a mark between 45 and 49% may resubmit the dissertation once.

MSc with Merit 

To be awarded an MSc with Merit you must meet the following criteria:

• Achieve an average of at least 60% for the 120 credits studied as part of the taught component.

• Achieve a mark of at least 60% in the research project.

  The award of MSc with Merit is at the discretion of the appropriate programme BoE

MSc with Distinction

To be awarded an MSc with Distinction you must meet the following criteria:

• Have achieved an average of at least 70% for the 120 credits studied as part of the taught component.

• Achieve a mark of at least 70% in the research project.

  The award of MSc with Distinction is at the discretion of the appropriate programme BoE

You are entitled to one resubmission of the dissertation or research project if you achieve a mark of 45 to 49% for your first attempt. If the dissertation or research project consists of more than one assessment component, you are allowed to resubmit where the overall course result is 45% to 49%. Further details can be found in Regulation 58 of the Taught Assessment Regulations.