Postgraduate Taught Exam Board Conventions from 23/24
Postgraduate Taught Exam Board Conventions from 23/24 onwards
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 23/24 academic year (i.e. on or after 1 August 2023). Conventions are also published for previous academic years where WMG will still have students who started in those years.
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:
- 60 credit MSc project: a project worth 60 credits
- Used by all Part Time Open MSc courses since 22/23 (some courses from an earlier launch)
- Used by all custom Part Time Programmes
- Used on all FTMSc courses since 22/23
- Used on all Overseas Programmes courses delivered in Hong Kong and China with a 23/24 launch
- To be deployed in Thailand in a future academic year
- 90 credit MSc project: a project worth 90 credits
- Used on the Overseas Programmes MSc courses in Thailand
- 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