GEC Regulations for the

Assessment of Students

September 10
 1.0
Table of contents

Section Title Page

number

1.0
....................................................................................
Introduction...................................................................2

2.0................................................................................Rules of
Modularisation................................................................2

3.0................................................................................Rules of
Assessment....................................................................2

4.0................................................................................Rules for
the Conduct of Examinations............................................3

5.0
....................................................................................
Submission of Coursework...............................................4

6.0
....................................................................................
Examination Boards........................................................5

7.0................................................................................The Role
of the External Examiner.................................................6

8.0................................................................................Schedule
of Examination Activities..................................................7

9.0................................................................................Retrieval
of failure........................................................................8

10.0..............................................................................Exclusion
from the course..............................................................8

11.0..............................................................................Students
right of appeal................................................................9

GEC Assessment Regulations September 10 Page 2

2.0

3.0 Introduction

This document sets out the Rules of Assessment to be used by GEC and its
constituent and associated colleges. It covers all matters relating to
assessment of students including what students are expected to do in order
to receive an award and how they are able to redeem failure. It also covers
what a student is expected to do in the event of having a valid reason for
late submission of work or failure to attend an examination or laboratory
class.

In addition to these regulations students will also be required to adhere to

local College Regulations relating to their time spent at the College. Such
regulations are to be given to all students upon registration.

4.0 Rules of Modularisation

The GEC Rules of Modularisation are designed to give the student a discrete
package consisting of a number of modules which together constitute a
coherent and career enhancing course. Where appropriate the rules are
consistent with the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) with
120 credits awarded to the successful student at each level. Generally
speaking each module is rated at 20 credits. Apart from the International
Degree Foundation Programme (IDFP) where two modules are rated at 15
credit points and all others at 30 points and the Pre Masters programmes
where, because of the nature of the course, it is not possible to credit rate.
Other module sizes are permitted but normally in multiples of 10. The GEC
Rules of Modularisation apply to all courses offered by GEC.

The levels of study offered by GEC are in agreement with those offered by
UK universities;

Level 0 Study prior to obtaining a UK degree IDFP Certificate

Level 1 Equivalent to first year of a UK degree Certificate
Level 2 Equivalent to second year of a UK degree Diploma
Level 3 Equivalent to final year of a UK degree Advanced Diploma/Pre
Masters

Every level has modules which are appropriate in terms of their learning
outcomes. All students registered on a particular module, wherever they
study will take the same examinations. Coursework assessment may vary
from centre to centre.

All courses will consist of a mixture of compulsory and optional modules.

Compulsory modules are those which have been determined by the GEC
Quality Assurance Board to be essential in order to achieve the educational
aims of the course. Optional modules give the student, after appropriate
advice from their personal tutor the opportunity to tailor their course to
meet their personal interests and the requirements of their future University
course.

3.0 Rules of Assessment

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 The following statements of policy have been agreed by GEC’s Quality
Assurance Board.

3.1 GEC operates a double assessment board system. As its courses tend to be
spread worldwide, the first Board known as a “Local Assessment Board”
(LAB) will meet in the country concerned. The LAB will make
recommendations to a Central Examination Board “CEB” which will meet in
London to give due consideration to all the marks presented by the LABs.
This will help to ensure uniformity of standards across different countries.
Duties, membership and terms of reference for these boards can be found
in section 6.0.

3.2 As GEC is concerned to ensure that all of its courses meet the high standard
required by UK university partners, it has appointed External Examiners for
all of its courses. The role of the External Examiners is to be found in
section 7.0

3.3 Should a student fail to successfully complete the assessment of any

module they will be offered the opportunity to redeem the failure as laid
down in section 9.0

3.4 There will be one examination paper per module no matter where the
module is taught. The examination will take place at the same time across
the spectrum of GEC institutes. Coursework and laboratory practicals may
vary from institute to institute but the External Examiner shall ensure
uniformity across the institutes.

3.5 Grades A, B,C ,D and F will be awarded for each module according to the
following table:

A Over 70%
B 60%- 69.9%
C 50%-59.9%
D 40%-49.9%
F Less than 40%

4.0 Rules for the conduct of Examinations

The following general principles shall apply in all GEC institutes.

4.1 At the start of any examination all candidates will be asked to provide proof
of identity. If a student cannot do so then they may be asked to leave the
examination hall and not sit the examination

4.2 Candidates must observe all instructions given by an invigilator.

4.3 If a candidate wishes to attract the attention of an invigilator they should

raise a hand and remain seated.

4.4 During the examination shall not communicate with each other and may
only contact the invigilator as in 4.3 above. Any breach of this regulation
may mean disqualification from the examination.

4.5 No candidate shall bring into the examination hall any material that would
be of value in answering examination questions unless previously agreed by

GEC Assessment Regulations September 10 Page 4

 the invigilator. Invigilators are required to carry out periodic checks on the
material on candidate’s desks.

4.6 Candidates will be admitted into the examination hall 15 minutes prior to
the commencement of the examination. Students who are late will be
permitted to enter the examination up to 30 minutes from the start of the
examination. However if a candidate has left the examination within the first
30 minutes no candidate will be permitted to enter the examination
thereafter.

No candidate will be permitted to leave an examination less than 30

minutes from the conclusion of the examination. Any candidate wishing to
leave the examination will do so by raising their hand and making the
request to the invigilator. They will then leave the room quietly and without
disturbing other candidates. At the conclusion of the examination candidates
shall stop writing when told to do so by the invigilator and remain seated
until instructed to leave by the invigilator.

4.7 If a candidate wishes to leave the examination temporarily for whatever

reason they must be accompanied at all times by an invigilator.

4.8 Prior to the commencement of the examination an invigilator must ensure

the on each candidates table there is the appropriate examination paper, an
answer book and any other material that the examiner deems to be
necessary. At the start of the examination an invigilator must announce the
title of the paper and the start and finish times. They must also tell the
candidates the “The examination is held under GEC Assessment
Regulations, copies of which have been made available to you”.

During the examination the invigilator must remain vigilant at all times
carrying out random checks on the material on candidates tables without
causing undue disturbance to the candidate. If the invigilator suspects a
candidate of malpractice they will remove the answer paper from the
candidate and write on the paper “malpractice suspected”, date and time it
and sign. The candidate will then be given a fresh paper and allowed to
continue. The invigilator will inform the college principal of what has
occurred and appropriate action will be taken under section 6.4.

At the conclusion of the examination the invigilator will inform candidates to

stop writing. Failure by the candidate to do so will be treated as
malpractice.

As a general rule there must always one invigilator for every 15 candidates
but in any case there must be at least three present. At no time will there
be no invigilators present.

5.0 Submission of coursework

In the context of what follows coursework is any piece of assessed work not
treated as a written examination.

5.1 During the first lesson of any module the tutor will issue the students with
a timetable of when they can expect to be given coursework and when it
will be required to be handed in, and when they will receive the marked
work back.

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5.2 Should a student fail to hand in a piece of coursework by the due date
then the following will apply:

If the work is submitted less than one week late then it will be marked but a
maximum of 40% will be awarded.

If the work is late by one week or more then the work will not be marked
and a mark of zero awarded.

5.3 If the student feels that they have a valid reason for late submission then
they must write to the College Principal, within one week of the submission
date, stating their reasons and supplying written evidence of their case. In
conjunction with the tutor, the Course Director and the Principal are
authorised to either uphold the penalty or require the work to be marked
and the mark obtained awarded. In all such cases the Examination boards,
section 6.0, must be notified.

5.4 Students should expect to receive feedback on submitted coursework within

14 working days of such submission.

6.0 Examination boards

As stated in 3.1 GEC operates a double assessment board system. The first
board known as the LAB will meet in the country where the GIC college is
situated.

6.1 Its membership shall consist of the following:

• The College Principal who shall chair the meeting.

• The College Registrar who shall act as the minute secretary
• The Course Director.
• All teachers involved in the delivery of the course under
consideration
• All Personal Tutors

6.2 The terms of reference of the LAB shall be as follows:

• The LAB shall produce a spreadsheet of marks for all modules

with both marks and grades awarded as indicated by 3.5. It shall also
produce grades of R1 and R2, resit 1 or resit 2, as in 9.1 for all
modules.
• Consideration of all marks awarded by the college on each of the
modules of the courses it offers. These marks shall have been agreed
by the External Examiners.

6.3 The CEB will meet in London. Representatives of each centre will be
members of the board and will be invited to participate via computer
conferencing.

Membership of the CEB shall consist of:

• The GEC Academic Director who shall Chair the meeting
• The GEC Registrar who shall act as minutes secretary
• All local GIC college principals by invitation or conference
communication.
• One external examiner for each subject area involved

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 • The Board shall also co-opt any other member of the GEC
Quality Assurance Board as it sees fit.

6.4 The terms of reference for the CEB shall be as follows:

The objectives of the Board are to monitor and maintain standards, ensure
uniformity of teaching and examining across the various centres, produce
annual statistics showing distributions of marks, respond to problems
identified by the external examiners, and in general to ensure that the GEC
course under consideration has the respect of its partner.

The Board shall consider the recommendations made by each of the LAB’s
and, in conjunction with the External Examiners, shall ensure uniformity
across all GIC colleges delivering the courses. The Board shall have the
authority to alter marks where it deems fit and make decisions relating to
candidates progression to the next stage of their educational development,
this shall include decisions relating to candidates opportunities to redeem a
failure as in section 9.0

The Board shall also consider actions taken under 4.8 above.

6.5 The CEB shall meet once a year in London.

6.6 The minutes of the Board will be available to GEC partner universities and
will provide them with all the information they need to assess and recognise
the value of GEC courses.

7.0 The role of the External Examiner

The role of a GEC External Examiner is to ensure that an unbiased element

is brought to bear on the assessment of all GEC courses for which the
aforementioned examiner has been given responsibility.

The role of the external examiner is to consider the outcomes of assessment

and their relationship to the assessment strategies and marking criteria and
report on the effectiveness of the assessment process in this context. The
endorsement of the external examiner on the final marksheet agreed by the
Central Board of Examiners signifies that the external examiner is satisfied
with the procedures that GEC have in place but does not necessarily
indicate agreement with every individual mark confirmed by the board.

7.1 The following is a brief summary of your duties as an external examiner,

• Lecturers from GIC colleges worldwide may submit potential

assessments for each subject module. One of the duties of the
external examiner will be to produce and moderate a single final
assessment for each of their respective modules.
• All such assessments shall be viewed by the external examiner.
• They have the right to amend, as they see fit, all assessments
which they may view.
• They shall sample a cross section of students work. This shall
include the examination scripts of all failed modules. A cross section of
20% of examination scripts to include high, middle and low marks and
borderline cases.
• Attend the Central Examination Board meeting

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7.2 GEC external examiners are required to submit a written report in relation
to the GEC processes and the way in which the Central Board of Examiners
is conducted.

8.0 Schedule of Examination Activities

What follows is a guide to GIC colleges as to how the GEC examination

process will normally be followed:

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 Draft Examination papers are set by each local GIC college for Start date
each module on the courses they run. These are sent to and set annually
approved by the local Director of Studies

The local Director of Studies sends the exam. Week 1

papers to the GEC Registrar in London

GEC Registrar sends all papers Week 2

received to the External Examiners

Week 4
The External Examiners produce a definitive set
of examination papers for each module

Papers returned to Course

Director at each centre

Students sit examination papers Week 5

Papers marked and double Week 6

marked at each centre

Course Directors produce mark sheets which are sent to the Week 7
Registrar for onward transmission to the External Examiners

External examiners look at LABs meet & Week 8

mark sheets and a sample of make
examination papers from each recommendations
centre by Week 9 to CEB

CEB meets in London and determines results, Week 10

marks published to students

Week 12
Graduation

GEC Assessment Regulations September 10 Page 9

9.0 Retrieval of failure

In order to obtain a GEC award, students must obtain an aggregate pass

mark of 40% on every module. In many cases students may be required to
obtain more than this for onward progression to a GEC partner institute,
students should be instructed to look at the student handbook for further
details.

The provision for students to be able to vary how they are able to redeem a
failed module may vary from course to course.

9.1 Failure on the GEC course can be redeemed as follows:

On the IDFP students are required to offer three compulsory modules

Should a student achieve less than 40% on up to any two of the modules
which they take then they will be offered the opportunity to repeat the
assessment between weeks 6 and 12. The form of the reassessment will
normally be the same as the failed elements of the module i.e. if the
examination has been failed the student will be required to sit another
examination paper, whereas if the failed element is coursework then the
student will be required to submit further coursework. If successful they will
be permitted to attend graduation and proceed to their chosen university.

NOTE: Students should check to ensure that their chosen university course
does permit them to be able to redeem failure in this way.

Should a student fail more than two modules they will be deemed to have
failed the GEC course and will not be permitted to progress to their chosen
University programme.

10.0 Exclusion from the course

A student may be excluded from any of GEC’s programmes for two types of
reason one academic and two any other, normally poor attendance.

10.1 If the College Principal, guided by the knowledge of the appropriate tutor,
feels that a student is not achieving the academic aims of the course,
through lack of submission of work at an appropriate standard at any time
throughout the year without good and proper reason, see 5.3 above, then
that student may be excluded from the course, without remittance of fees,
by the college Principal. This shall be conveyed to the student in writing by
the Principal.

The student shall have the right to appeal against this decision, see section
11.0.

10.2 A student may also be excluded from the course for poor attendance.
Students are required to attend lectures, tutorials etc. at least 90% of the
time. Should a student’s attendance fall below this figure without good and
proper reason they will be given a verbal warning by their personal tutor as
to their future behaviour. Should the student continue to fall below 90%
attendance they will be given a written formal warning by the College
Principal. Any further transgression by the student will result in immediate
expulsion from the course and the college without remittance of fees.

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 The student shall have the right to appeal against this decision, see section
11.0.

10.3 In addition to 10.1 and 10.2 should a student be in breach of any of the
College Regulations, see section 1.0, then that student may be expelled
from the College.

11.0 Students right of appeal

11.1 The student shall have the right to appeal against any decision relating to
exclusion in section 10.0 by writing to the GEC Registrar within 7 days of
the exclusion giving reasons as to why they should not be excluded. The
matter shall be dealt with by the GEC Quality Assurance Board.

11.2 Students also have the right to appeal against any decision taken by either
the LAB or the CEB provided:

11.2.1 The appeal is lodged, in writing, with the College Principal within one
week of the decision taking place.

11.2.2 The appeal must be signed and dated by the appellant.

11.2.3 The only grounds on which an appeal may be considered are as

follows:

• There has been an administrative error on the part of GEC which

has adversely affected the student’s performance in the assessment under
consideration.

• That the assessment has not been conducted within the precepts
of the Assessment Regulations

• That the student’s performance was affected by illness that, at

the time of its deliberation, the LAB/CEB was not aware of.

Each of the above appeals shall be consider by the GEC Quality Assurance
Board.

11.3 If the student feels that they have a valid reason for poor performance in an
examination then they must write to the College Principal, within one week
of the date of the examination, stating their reasons and supplying written
evidence of their case. In conjunction with the personal tutor, the Course
Director and the Principal must inform the Examination boards, section 6.0,
of the circumstance.

The student shall have no right of appeal against any decision of the GEC
Quality Assurance Board.

GEC Assessment Regulations September 10 Page 11