Definition of Terms
The following list defines some of the terms used throughout these regulations:
Admission: the acceptance of a student onto a programme of study, usually with conditions such as proof of prior qualifications (see also Registration and Enrolment)
Assessment: the means by which the student’s achievement against the learning outcomes outlined in each module specification is measured, e.g. coursework and examination requirements for each module.
Associate Student: a student who is enrolled for one or more modules at the College but is not registered on a programme of study.
Award: a named qualification made by the College, in line with the QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications.
Classification: the category of award made upon completion of the programme, e.g. award of a first class honours degree or a foundation degree with distinction.
College: Reference to “the College” should be taken to refer to Birkbeck, University of London
Coursework: coursework can consist of essays, assignments, in-class tests, laboratory tests, projects, dissertations, practical work, presentations, placement or field trip reports, designs, theses, artefacts, digital photographic media, and computer based analysis. This is not an exhaustive list.
Credit: According to “Academic Credit in Higher Education in England” published by Universities UK, GuildHE and the QAA, “Credit is used in HE to summarise and describe an amount of learning; it can help to identify 'how much' learning was involved and 'how hard' it was.”
Degrees Committee: A sub-committee of the College Teaching Committee, which is in turn a Committee of Academic Board. The College currently operates 3 Degrees Committee, for Arts, Science & Social Science and the Faculty of Lifelong Learning Awards Committee
Enrolment: the annual procedure by which it is confirmed that students have progressed adequately, confirmed their mode of study and have made arrangements for the payment of fees for that academic year.
Examination: an element of the assessment of a module taken outside of the normal contact time, normally during the period of the academic year defined by the College as the “examination period”. It will normally be time limited and consist of defined questions, either unseen or seen by the student prior to the examination, that are designed to test all of the learning outcomes of the module in question, and will normally constitute the major part of the assessment of that module.
Examination Board: the body that is responsible for recommending awards to the Degrees Committees for an individual programme of study; examination boards and sub-boards have a range of other responsibilities as defined in these regulations. Each approved programme of study is either allocated to an existing examination sub-board, or has a new examination sub-board constituted for it.
Internal student: a student whose programme of study is operated by the College, and is not part of the University of London external system – see http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/ for further details
Master’s: Unless otherwise stated Master’s degrees shall refer to all postgraduate taught degrees: LLM, MA, MSc, MFA and MRes.
Module: A discrete, self-contained unit of assessed learning at a defined level to which a module credit-value has been assigned.
Module Specification: The approved format, aims, objectives, learning outcomes and assessment of a module as published by the College.
Open Enrolment programmes: Programme for which registration is on a module-by-module basis. This would normally be a Certificate of Higher Education programme offered by the Faculty of Lifelong Learning.
Programme Specification: The approved format and content of a programme, as published by the College (see http://www.bbk.ac.uk/qa/programme/ for further details)
Programme of Study: An academically coherent grouping of modules leading to a named award
Reassessment: the procedure by which students who have not passed a module may attempt the assessment of the module again without attending lectures and classes.
Registration: the act of confirming that the student has met the conditions of admission and commenced a programme of study. Registration occurs once at the beginning of the relevant programme of study.
Research Student: Research students are students studying for the award of MPhil or PhD at the College, for whom the College’s MPhil / PhD regulations apply.
Re-take: A “re-taken module” is a module for which a student is required to re-attend all classes and lectures and re-do all assessments for.
Student: For the purposes of these regulations “Student” means any person enrolled on a programme of study covered by these regulations or an individual module of one of these programmes of study.
Supplementary Module: a module taken by a registered student that is not part of their programme of study and will not count towards their award.