The University continuously monitors your attendance and engagement with your studies to ensure that you remain on track with your studies. The University will contact you by email if either is deemed to be unsatisfactory. This is to make you aware of what needs to be done, and also to make you aware of support which is available.
You can view the email template.
What the University will do
- Monitor your attendance and coursework submission weekly to ensure you remain on track with your studies
- Undertake mid-year and summer progress checks for undergraduate students on the tab below
- Implement a postgraduate research monitoring framework for postgraduate research students on the tab below.
- Monitor the progress of postgraduate taught students at each stage of the degree programme. You can see the details of this in the tab below.
- Ensure our Student Visa Holders meet the monitoring requirements of their student visa. For information on monitoring while under a student visa please contact the Student Immigration Compliance Team
Related information
- Undergraduate Progression Exercises
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In addition to the weekly C6, C7 student monitoring, the University checks on how well undergraduate students are progressing with their studies twice each year via the Mid-Year and Summer Progress exercises. This is to ensure you are given appropriate and timely advice on how to keep on track for progressing to the next level of study and successful completion of your programme.
Mid-year Progress Exercise Once the December exam results have been published, the Registry Officer for your degree looks at the number of credits you have achieved to check that your studies are progressing on track as expected. If you are deemed no longer to be in attendance or if you appear to be at risk of academic failure at this point in the year, you will be emailed by the Registry Officer for your Degree offering you advice, and advising of any action you should take. Summer Progress Exercise At the end of the academic year, once you have a full set of exam results for the year, the Registry Officer for your degree looks at your record of results again to check that you have enough credits to continue into the next academic year.
Following the May exams, you will be sent an email and asked to work through the Credit Point Calculator to obtain information on your status with regard to continuing with your studies as well as registration arrangements in September. In order to determine your status in regard to returning to study next year, you will need to know what degree you’re doing, what programme year you’re in, and the number of credit points you’ve achieved. All this information can be found in your Student Hub. Please note that this is the only way to access instructions for returning to study each September.
Following the publication of both the May and Summer resit (if applicable) exam results you MUST access the Credit Point Calculator to determine your status. It is YOUR responsibility to access this information as no further communication will be sent from Registry.
If your progress is deemed to be unsatisfactory, you will be contacted directly by Registry by email advising you of any steps you can take to remedy your situation.
Credit Point Shortfall - Honours Level
This section contains information for undergraduate students in Arts & Social Sciences, Divinity, Education, Engineering, Law and Science who have failed a course at Honours Level (Level 3 or 4).
I have failed a course at Level 3 or 4. What should I do? You must satisfactorily complete a course (i.e. achieve an overall CGS mark of D3 or above) to obtain the associated credit points. If you achieve a CGS mark of E1 or less, or do not take the assessment, whatever the reason for this, you will not obtain the credit points. The majority of students who fail, or fail to complete an assessment, will need to resit and pass that course to qualify for their degree.
Please note that Level 4 resit exams are not always available and vary across Schools. Please check the Catalogue of Courses for further information on whether a Level 4 resit is available or not.
Please read more information below that applies to you. If you still have questions, please contact the Registry Officer for your degree.
- Candidates for Non-Honours Degrees (e.g. Designated Degrees) who:
- have failed a Level 3 or Level 4 course or have not taken the assessment due to medical or other personal circumstances
- have failed a Level 3 or Level 4 course or have not taken the assessment due to medical or other personal circumstances
- Candidates for Honours Degrees who:
- have failed a Level 3 course or have not taken the assessment due to medical or other personal circumstances
- have failed a Level 4 course with a CGS mark of E1, E2 or E3
- have failed a Level 4 course with a CGS mark of F1 or below or NP
- were unable to complete a Level 4 assessment due to medical or other personal circumstances
You should also familiarise yourself with the following information:
- CAS/CGS Marks and Honours Classification
- Minimum Credit Requirement
Candidates for Non-Honours degrees If you have failed a Level 3 or Level 4 course or have not taken the assessment due to medical or other personal circumstances.
You will normally be required:
- to resit the course OR
- to register for and pass an alternative course
Remember, for the award of a non-Honours, Designated degree, you must achieve 90 credits from prescribed courses at Level 3 or above and must achieve a total of 360 credits. (Please refer to the Minimum Credit Requirements for Degrees).
If you hope to transfer to an Honours degree programme at a later stage, please refer to the information on CAS/CGS Marks and Honours Classification.
Please note that you are not automatically entered for resits. You must apply to resit a particular course and pay the associated fee via the Online Store.
If you have not taken the assessment for a course due to medical or other personal circumstances, notified the School(s) of those circumstances, and had MC or GC entered on your record, you will not be charged the resit application fee but still have to apply to resit the course.
Further information is available on the Reassessment section of the Infohub website.
Honours Classification For Honours courses it is your result from the first opportunity of assessment only that counts towards your final classification. If you 'no paper' a course the first time that you are supposed to take the related assessment your record will show 'NP'. This is equivalent to failing the course. You will normally be required to resit the course to obtain the credit points necessary for the award of your degree but the grade obtained will not alter or improve your final degree classification.
If the course concerned is not compulsory for your degree programme and you choose to register for an alternative course, the grade obtained in the alternative course will not alter or improve your final degree classification.
If you are unable to complete an Honours assessment for medical or other good cause and notify the School(s) of this, your record will show MC or GC. You will be required to resit the assessment and the mark obtained will count towards your degree classification.
REMINDER
Honours candidates who fail to meet the requirements for the award of an Honours degree will be considered for the award of a non-Honours degree if they already have sufficient credit points and passes in the required courses for a non-Honours degree.
- Review these minimum credit requirements for Honours degree.
- The University's procedures in relation to degree classification.
Minimum Credit Requirement for Degrees All degrees awarded by the University of Aberdeen must comply with credit point requirements set out in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, or SCQF. (See http://www.scqf.org.uk for more information.) These requirements are:
MINIMUM Credit Requirement for University of Aberdeen degrees In total At Level 3 At Level 4 At Level 5 Ordinary (non-Honours) Degree
360
60
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Designated (non-Honours) Degree
360
90
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Honours Degree
480
180 with at least 90 at Level 4
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MChem, MEng, MGeol or MPhys
600
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120
Candidates must also take a combination of courses consistent with the Supplementary Regulations for their Degree, and, for individual Designated and Honours Degree programmes, the appropriate programme prescription. See the University Calendar for details.
- Candidates for Non-Honours Degrees (e.g. Designated Degrees) who:
- Postgraduate Research Monitoring
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Framework for monitoring progress
In order to assist with completing your programme, research students must undergo monitoring assessments every six months. Progress during your research degree will depend on the successful completion of these assessments.
The University also has a generic monitoring framework. Schools adapt the framework to suit their needs.
The framework consists of:
- the development of a strong interactive relationship between the research student and the supervisor(s);
- monitoring of the research student’s progress and performance at the School level by the Head of School;
- ensuring the quality assurance of postgraduate progress, education, training and development across Schools by a University-wide monitoring system.
While each Schools uses different methods and forms for monitoring assessment, all Schools will inform how they monitor research students.
You should also keep in mind that your eligibility to submit your thesis is based on you also having satisfied the attendance monitoring requirements.
Guidelines for dealing with unsatisfactory progress
If your progress is unsatisfactory,you will be contact your School to arrange a meeting between you and the Head of School.
You can find more information on the responsibilities of your supervisors in the Postgraduate Research Code of Practice.
- Postgraduate Taught Monitoring
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Postgraduate taught programmes consist of stages, with each stage usually worth 60 credits. To progress from one stage to another, you normally need to pass all assessments at that stage.
You should also keep in mind that your eligibility for progression is based on you also having satisfied the attendance monitoring requirements.
In order to achieve either a Certificate, Diploma, or Masters, you need the following:
- For a Postgraduate Certificate, you need to achieve 60 credits with normally grade of D3 or better.
- For a Postgraduate Diploma, you need to achieve 120 credits with normally grade of D3 or better.
- For a Master’s Degree, you need to achieve 180 credits with normally grade of D3 or better.
Guidelines for dealing with unsatisfactory progress
Your progress is examined at the end of each stage of the programme. If you have not met the criteria for progression, the School will inform you in writing.
If you do not achieve the award you are registered for (e.g. Master’s Degree or Postgraduate Diploma), and if you are qualified for a lower award, your can be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.
You can find more information in the Code of Practice for Postgraduate Taught Students in the section entitled 'Assessment and Progression'.