Postgraduate Taught Exam Board Conventions from 21/22

Context

The award of degrees is made by the University Senate upon recommendations made by Boards of Examiners, which consists of WMG members of staff and an External Examiner (a senior academic from another institution). The Boards of Examiners meet twice a year, in November and May (with re-sits being considered at the subsequent Exam Board). These Boards will consider the coursework and project performance of all the candidates, together with any other information which is relevant to their decision-making process. They will then make recommendations to the University Senate regarding the following awards:

 

Conventions for Award of MSc and Sub-qualifications

The following regulations apply to candidates who registered for a WMG Postgraduate Taught course from the 21/22 academic year (i.e. on or after 1 August 2021). Conventions are also published for previous academic years where WMG will still have students who started in those years. Conventions from 19/20 are still applied to students who had any period of their registration between 1 August 2019 and 31 July 2020; these conventions remain published for the benefit of such students.

These conventions cover the programme-level requirements for each award. Each course will have its own specific module requirements which can be found on programme websites under 'Operations and Regs’ – ‘Course Regulations'. Note that many courses have core modules which must be passed above 50%; where a course has core modules listed in its regulations, these must be passed in addition to meeting the top-level requirements below, in order for any level of award to be made.

Level of award	Number of credits which must be passed (marks 50% or above)	Number of additional credits which may be failed with marks 40-49%	Project required (see also Project Details below)	Specific average and/or project requirements
MSc with Distinction	180	0	Yes	Project mark of 70% or above and overall average of 70% or above
MSc with Merit	180	0	Yes	Project mark of 60% or above and overall average of 60% or above
MSc	160	20	Yes	None
Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction	120	0	Only where MSc level of course uses 90 credit project	Overall average of 70% or above
Postgraduate Diploma with Merit	120	0	Only where MSc level of course uses 90 credit project	Overall average of 60% or above
Postgraduate Diploma	90	30	Only where MSc level of course uses 90 credit project	None
Postgraduate Certificate with Distinction	60	0	No	Overall average of 70% or above
Postgraduate Certificate with Merit	60	0	No	Overall average of 60% or above
Postgraduate Certificate	60	0	No	None
Postgraduate Award with Distinction	30	0	No	Overall average of 70% or above
Postgraduate Award with Merit	30	0	No	Overall average of 60% or above
Postgraduate Award	30	0	No	None

 

Project Details

WMG is in a transitional period with regards to projects. The following different projects are currently used across different WMG courses:

• 90 credit MSc project: a project worth 90 credits
  • Used on the majority of FTMSc courses (except where identified below)
  • Used on the majority of Part Time Open MSc courses (being phased out over time in favour of 60 credit MSc project)
  • Used on all Overseas Programmes MSc courses
• 60 credit MSc project: a project worth 60 credits
  • Used by some students on Part Time Open MSc courses
  • Used by all custom Part Time Programmes
  • Used on the following FTMSc courses:
    • Cyber Security Engineering
    • Cyber Security Management
    • e-Business Management
    • Healthcare Operational Management
    • Smart, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles
    • Sustainable Automotive Electrification
• 60 + 30 credit MSc project: a project worth 90 credits split into two effective modules; the 30 credit project focusses on Context and Method, and the 60 credit project focusses on Analysis and Discussion
  • Used on the following FTMSc courses:
    • International Technology Management
• 60 credit PgDip project: a 90 credit MSc project can be reassessed against PgDip project learning outcomes if it achieves a mark within 40-49%; this would be recoded as a PgDip project pass at 50%
  • Used only on courses which also use the 90 credit MSc project