Universities to lower the grading system for 20/21 student grades! · petition

What the petition asks

University students have been ignored and blamed throughout the pandemic. Struggling with mental health and online learning from March whilst still expecting to produce the same quality of work pre-covid. Essay feedback being received late or not at all.

Other students in A level and GCSE have received changes to their assessments to show for the disruption of the pandemic, uni students have received no such dispensation, are being expected to produce the same amount and quality of work whilst struggling gravely through covid. The grading systems ought to be changed dramatically to reflect this. Nobody is more upset than students that their work does not reflect what they can do, but they cannot change that. If action is not taken, these circumstances are going to reflect poorly on final grades and mental health. Students will leave uni with a degree they feel they did poorly on due unchanging expectations of work in profoundly changed circumstances around their teaching whilst having paid +£9,000 per year for little support.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

Decisions about the assessment of university courses are a matter for individual universities, not the UK Government or Parliament.

The Office for Students has published guidance for providers about quality and standards during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which sets out its expectations regarding teaching and assessments: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/guidance-for-providers-about-quality-and-standards-during-coronavirus-pandemic/.

If you have concerns about your university's arrangements for teaching and assessment you should raise these with your university or the Office for Students, which regulates the higher education sector.

Timeline

4 Jan 2021	Petition opened for signatures
12 Jan 2021	Rejected by the Petitions Committee