NFAAR: Information for students commencing undergraduate programmes of study from 2008/09 onwards
In 2008/09 the University introduces a new academic framework of assessment regulations which will govern most undergraduate degree programmes. This framework - called the New Framework for Assessment: Assessment Regulations (NFAAR) - describes the rules for progression from one stage of a degree programme to the next (including supplementary assessment, and the extent of failure that can be condoned), as well as for the award of degrees. Students taking programmes which fall within the NFAAR will be assessed according to these rules.
These changes will not affect students who have started their programmes of study prior to the 2008/09 academic year (unless they are repeating or transferring into a year of study which falls within the NFAAR). Nor will they affect any postgraduate programmes or undergraduate programmes outside the scope of the NFAAR (such as those leading to Foundation Degrees).
The NFAAR has necessitated the introduction of new terminology which you may come across within the programme catalogues:
- Parts and Stages: these describe the breakdown of a programme for the purposes of the NFAAR.
- Designated Essential Units (DEUs): these are units which must be passed in order to qualify to proceed with a programme or to receive its normal award at the end; marginal failure in such units cannot be condoned.
- Designated Alternative Programmes (DAPs): these are programmes which are specified alternatives to a student's current programme of study.
The programme catalogues have been structured to help you understand the way in which the NFAAR has been applied to a specific programme of study. Years of programmes which fall within the NFAAR will have the relevant parts and stages described as well as any designated essential units (or designated essential optional units). Also, at the beginning of each year (or for some thin-sandwich programmes at the beginning of each stage) within the programme the catalogues include a paragraph of text providing further NFAAR information:
E.G. " NFAAR assessment regulations: This programme year does not have a DAP. Main assessment regulations: Appendix 11 
; Supplementary assessment regulations: Appendix 12 "
This text indicates whether there is a Designated Alternative Programme (DAP) for the year of study in question (NB. some programmes may have a DAP for some years and not for others), and gives links to NFAAR documentation which includes flowcharts describing how you can progress from one stage to another, either after main or supplementary assessment.
The text may also include additional information to tell you that you must achieve an average mark for assessment across a particular stage which is different to that given in the standard documentation. Any such additional information is provided because the programme has been granted an exemption to the NFAAR regulations. See page 52 of the NFAAR documentation which lists all the exemptions to currently approved.