Policies and Procedures

Assignments will normally be handed out during lessons. Students who are not present when the assignment is given out are responsible for collecting it from the appropriate lecturer at a later date. Failure to collect an assignment is not valid grounds for a late submission. All assignments should be submitted with the appropriate frontispiece. They have to be handed in to either the Resource Centre in The Link, if you are based in that building, or in the Learning and Resource Centre of the Richmond House Campus on or before the hand-in date.

YOU MUST OBTAIN A RECEIPT FOR YOUR WORK. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU KEEP THIS RECEIPT AS PROOF OF SUBMISSION.

YOU MUST KEEP A COPY OF ALL SUBMITTED WORK.

IT IS ALSO ADVISABLE TO KEEP COPIES OF SUBMITTED FRONTISPIECES.

Do ensure that you are given a receipt.

If there are circumstances that have prevented you from submitting a piece of course work on time, you may be required to complete a Late Submission of Work Form and provide appropriate written evidence to support your claim. These forms can be obtained from your Group Tutor and should be returned when completed to your Group Tutor together with the written evidence supporting the claim.

NB: For full information please refer to the relevant assessment regulations for your own programme.

It may be that, as part of your course, you will need to sit an exam or a number of exams.  You will be notified of the dates and venues of your examinations in writing and details will also be published on Canvas. Students must check Canvas regularly for all current examination information. These are the only official sources of information - DO NOT LISTEN TO RUMOURS.

Sometimes, you may have to sit an exam at a location which is not one of University College Birmingham's three main sites. For venues outside of University College Birmingham, maps are available from your tutor or from the Examinations Unit, based in the Academic Registry on the Third Floor of The Link.

DO NOT LEAVE University College Birmingham UNTIL THE END OF TERM or you may miss revision sessions, resits and the opportunity to resubmit referred coursework.

Plagiarism is CHEATING.

Plagiarism happens when one person claims another’s work as their own. It is regarded by UCB as a very serious offence as it brings into disrepute the good name of the Institution, cheats the true owner of the work and cheats other students in the same group.

Allowing another person to copy one’s work is just as serious and equally damages the academic reputation of University College Birmingham.

If it can be reasonably assumed that you have claimed or inferred that someone else’s work is your own, you will be deemed to have plagiarised and will be subject to serious disciplinary measures which in certain circumstances may even result in expulsion from University College Birmingham.

It is, of course, perfectly valid (and even encouraged) to quote or paraphrase another author or publication in a student’s own work, but you must clearly show that you are quoting, and not claiming that it is your ideas or words. To prevent any doubt you must make sure that you accurately reference your work, noting any source from which you have quoted and taken ideas.

If you are in any doubt as to how you should do this, then you should speak to your tutors.

If you feel that your work or others’ has been plagiarised, you should write to the appropriate tutor or Programme Manager, who will investigate.

For the Code of Practice on Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct, please click below.

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

It is the responsibility of all students to observe the UK and EU Copyright law currently in force.

This means that you must be careful about copying computer disks and excessive use of the photocopier to copy from books and magazines, etc.

If you are in any doubt you should ask staff in the Library or Resource Centre who will be pleased to advise you. Failure to observe these regulations is regarded as a serious disciplinary offence. In addition, all students will be liable to indemnify University College Birmingham in respect of damages, costs and other charges should University College Birmingham be held liable for any breach.

If you are unhappy with the outcomes of an assessment and believe your mark is unfair, or if there are serious reasons, which you did not previously tell your Tutor, which you think may have caused your performance to be limited, then you should speak to your Tutor. For other complaints of a service-related nature, then the Student Complaints Procedure is the most appropriate way to resolve your concern.

For more information about the best way to make a complaint or appeal and which procedure may be more appropriate, you may refer to the Registry, Student Services or the Guild of Students for advice. A key principle is to identify what you are seeking as an outcome to your complaint; if you are seeking a reconsideration of a mark for a particular assessment then this Assessment Appeals Procedure should be used.

The definition of an assessment (or academic) appeal for the purposes of the Assessment Appeals Procedure is:

"A request for a review of a decision of an academic body charged with making decision on student progress, assessment and awards (2014 QAA)."

The Assessment Appeals Procedure is available to all students enrolled at University College Birmingham in the General Student Regulations and also applies for up to six months after you have left University College Birmingham.

Student Regulations