Assessment Methods in Higher Education

At Orbital South Colleges Univesity Centre there are two types of Higher Education assessment regime, and this will vary according to whether you are studying for a Higher National or for a Degree.

Unistats expresses assessment methods under three categories:  written exams; coursework; practical exams.

Degree programmes will generally have a combination of all three methods, with a predominant emphasis on coursework, although some do not use written exams. The only practical exams that you will encounter on Degrees at the College are generally assessed presentations. Assessment regulations come from the host University, and are made available at the College.

Higher National qualifications do not use written exams at the College, although some will have a small practical exam element, again in the form of assessed presentations. They are therefore predominantly assessed through coursework. Assessment regulations come from Pearson, and are detailed in handbooks.

Specific details of individual assessment regimes are available within the course descriptions on this website.

Assessment deadlines are strictly applied in Higher Education, and students must seek official extensions if circumstances have disrupted their studies. If work is late on Degrees, it will be incur penalties. On Higher Nationals, students will find that they are unable to attempt Merit or Distinction tasks in an assessment if they miss its deadline.

Plagiarism (unattributed copying from any source) is an extremely serious academic offence. All written work by Higher Education students at the College is uploaded via sophisticated plagiarism detection software called Turnitin to test for this. Students found to be guilty of plagiarism will face disciplinary hearings and may be withdrawn from their course.