Academic quality
Programme or module amendments
Guidance and processes for making amendments to academic programmes or modules.
York St John University has an amendment process that is based on a level structure. We classify amendments as low level, minor or major.
Module amendments are localised to a single module and can be minor or major. Programme amendments affect programme structure and can be minor, major or potential re-validation triggers.
Minor module and minor programme amendments are considered by School Quality Panels (SQP). Major module and programme amendments and potential revalidation triggers are considered by the Programme Amendment Scrutiny Panel (PASP). If the proposed changes have a mix of SQP and PASP considerations, they will be considered by PASP. If the proposed changes have a mix of minor and major amendments consideration will follow the process for major modifications.
For more information on amendment levels, use the drop-down below.
Minor module amendments for consideration by the School Quality Panel are amendments limited to changing:
- Indicative content
- Balance of learning and teaching hours
- Number of teaching weeks
- Module Rationale
- Changes to word counts
- Programme Learning Outcome (PLO) mapping
Major module amendments for consideration by the Programme Amendment Scrutiny Panel are amendments limited to changing:
- Module Title
- Assessment weighting
- Types of of assessment/assessment description
- Module regulations (for example, qualified fail statement)
Minor programme amendments for consideration by the School Quality panel include:
- Deletion of option module(s)
- Addition of option module(s) - if module is new, this will be a major amendment
- Altering the schedule of module delivery outside the University norm for semesters/terms
- Amended entry requirements
- Change to the semester of delivery
Major programme amendments for consideration by the Programme Amendment Scrutiny Panel include:
- New module
- Deletion of compulsory module(s)
- Addition of compulsory module(s)
- Programme regulations (i.e. progression, eligibility for award/graduation)
- Adding a new study pathway (but not impacting on award title)
- Changing the balance of theory to practical elements
- Change to the overall balance of learning and teaching hours
- Change of module status
- Amended programme aims
- Change to the Learning and Teaching delivery structure or strategy
Potential revalidation triggers for programmes include:
- Changes to the Programme Learning Outcomes
- A change to the overall programme assessment strategy
- Replacing more than 33% of the curriculum
Programme title changes are considered by the Strategic Portfolio Committee using the Programme Title Change Request form:
Proposals should be submitted to approvals@yorksj.ac.uk.
Requesting amendments
To request an amendment to a module or programme, you must provide the appropriate forms and details.
Use the drop-down below for information on what must be provided for each type of amendment.
To request a minor module amendment, please provide:
- Module Amendment Request form (docx, 30.62B)
- Revised Module Specification with track changes highlighted (do not delete the original information)
- Evidence of notification to or approval by students (see guidance below)
SQP approvals must be reported to Registry: Quality (quality@yorksj.ac.uk) with evidence of SQP consideration.
To request a major module amendment, please provide:
- Module Amendment Request form (docx, 30.62B)
- Revised Module Specification with track changes highlighted (do not delete the original information)
- Comment and endorsement from the external examiner
- Evidence of notification to or approval by students (see guidance below)
- Evidence of discussion and endorsement by SQP
To request a programme amendment, please provide:
- Programme Amendment (inc new module) Request form (docx 37.3 kB)
- A rationale for and description of the proposed change
- Revised programme specification (do not delete the original information)
- Comment and endorsement from the external examiner
- Evidence of notification to or approval by students (see guidance below)
- Endorsement from PSRB (where applicable)
- Evidence of discussion and endorsement by SQP
In the case of a potential revalidation trigger for a programme, please provide:
- Programme Amendment (inc new module) Request form (docx 37.3 kB)
- Revised Programme Specification (do not delete the original information)
- Details of any resource implications
- Details of the change to be made and the effect on the overall programme
- Comment and endorsement from the external examiner
- Endorsement from PSRB (where applicable)
- Evidence of notification to or approval by students (see guidance below)
- Evidence of discussion and endorsement by SQP
AQS will maintain a programme amendment log which will be monitored at scheduled meetings of the Programme Amendment Scrutiny Panel.
Students must be consulted on major amendments to programmes they are enrolled on and amendments to compulsory or option modules that they are currently studying or have chosen to study.
Amendments to option modules that are proposed before students have been asked to make their choices do not require student consultation. Amendments to these modules can be notified to students.
Programme Amendment Scrutiny Panel (PASP) consideration of amendments
Changes are expected to be made in response to student or external examiner feedback, and this is typically received by the end of the semester in which the module has been delivered. The deadlines set out in the drop-down below provide sufficient time for this feedback to be considered before the module is due for delivery again, essentially giving a semester for module leaders to design their amended module and submit it for approval.
- Amendment proposals must be submitted to PASP by the final Friday in May, prior to delivery in the following September.
- A PASP meeting will be scheduled early in June, in order to allow the Panel to consider all amendment requests, leaving time for operational considerations associated with the change(s) to be carried out in a timely fashion before delivery in the following September.
- Amendment proposals must be submitted to PASP by the final Friday in November, prior to the delivery in the following January.
- A PASP meeting will be scheduled early in December, in order to allow the Panel to consider all amendment requests, leaving time for operational considerations associated with the change(s) to be carried out in a timely fashion before delivery in the following January.
SQPs are scheduled to have meetings in November and May, which align to these deadlines and allow Schools to have scrutiny over module and programme amendments going forward for PASP approval.
With these guidelines in place, there should not be any amendments that need to miss the deadline, as there is time to consider and act upon student feedback for the next running of the module. If the late amendment is not exceptional (i.e. it does not have any impact on quality and standards and could have been submitted earlier), then it will be returned to the proposing team and asked to be put forward for the following deadline.
Any late amendments that are critical to quality or standards will require exceptional approval by the Chair of PASP, the Chair of Quality and Standards Committee or their delegates.
The scheduled meetings allow PASP to have an overview of all changes being made to modules and programmes in one semester, as well as facilitating a standing item on the agenda of what and how many changes have been made by programme and School.
Anonymous marking exemption request
There are University-wide exemptions to the anonymous marking policy, namely for tasks where it would prove impractical to conceal the student's identity.
Additional exemptions may be agreed on a case by case basis either through the validation process or by submitting a request to PASP using the form below.
Further information is available in our Code of Practice for Assessment.
Fixed marking exemption requests
We use a fixed-scale marking across all our provision except where an exemption is approved on the basis of:
- Assessments that have been granted an exemption due to evidenced Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements prohibiting the use of fixed-scale marking
- Assessments that are scored following a numeric calculation
- Assessment that are only given a pass / fail result
To request an exemption, use our fixed marking exemption form:
