The university is less hard-line on first semester marks

Academic Board has resolved that due to the impact of COVID-19, first semester results will be excluded in the calculation of Weighted Average Marks, if they are lower than the WAM before this academic year and if students have not completed enough units to establish a benchmark. “Board has been considering this and has listened to the broad range of views shared with us and both acknowledge, and greatly appreciate, the diversity of perspectives of our student body,” a university statement announced yesterday.

However, all subject scores will appear on academic transcripts, with those not contributing to the WAM identified as COVID-19 exclusions.

“We believe this decision is in the best interests of all our students. We will continue to engage with our students as we navigate these challenging times together, the Academic Board states.

This is a biggish move from university management’s position a couple of weeks back, that; “the university will include percentage marks for subjects undertaken in Semester One in the calculation of WAMs using the existing method. We will closely monitor grade and percentage mark distributions after the completion of Semester 1 assessment and prior to the award of final grades,” (CMM April 9).