Passed Policies and Progress

The following suggestions were arrived at after speaking with UWS Students and researching other Universities approaches to their response to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic. A) Proactive Student Support; Students should receive at least one call (at a time of their convenience) from the University to determine what support they might need and signpost them to the relevant support services. B) Improved Communications; Students should have access to a 24hr helpline that addresses all enquiries that the hub normally deals with. Students are needing support out with the normal business hours currently on offer. C) Adjusted Degree Algorithm; Students should be permitted to substitute up to 40 credits worth of their best module scores from level 9 for their worst 40 credits in level 10. This will allow students to potentially use work from level 9 that was unaffected by the Pandemic. D) Reverse Academic Penalties; Students should have penalties that were applied in T1 for late submission reversed, bringing T1 in line with T2 when automatic 3-week extensions will apply. See section 4.5 of the UWS Assessment Handbook https://www.uws.ac.uk/media/6628/uws-assessment-handbook-v2-2020-21.pdf E) Recognition of Concurrent Learning; Universities routinely recognise prior learning when deciding at what level a student can undertake their studies. Coronavirus has presented students with extraordinary challenges for them to overcome. The university should look at these challenges as opportunities to award credits. Particular attention should be given to Healthcare Workers and Carers who have faced the Pandemic head on, Parents who have homeschooled, Key Workers in Retail and Logistics and other key sectors who have kept our country going. These students have already demonstrated the UWS Graduate Attributes of being ‘Universal, Work-Ready and Successful’. F) Establish a Key Resources Fund; Students should be able to apply for funding for key resources that they would normally be able to access. Students might need books, journal access, laptop chargers, specialised software etc. Things that they wouldn’t normally need if they had access to campus.

See above

The universities current approach is here for reference. https://www.uws.ac.uk/about-uws/academic-year-202021/covid-19-information/coronavirus-student-updates/