Hoozah! You can now fail a non-core module at UEA and not have to retake it

After months of talks with UEA’s Students’ Union, the university has finally agreed to allow its students the right to fail a module.

On Wednesday, Undergraduate Education Officer Theo Antoniou-Phillips announced UEA has finally put in a place a system that other universities like Birmingham, Exeter and Sussex have already put into practice.

Since the 2013/14 academic year, it has been the university’s policy that undergraduates must achieve a pass mark  of 40 per cent in all of their modules to get their degree. This rule doesn’t consider the grade the student gets for the entire year.

The new policy means that students can still progress to the next year or graduate if, for example, they achieved an average of 60 per cent for the entire year, despite only getting 38 per cent in a particular module.

In an explanatory blog post, Theo has written the university has now agreed on some very clear criteria on what rights students now have to fail a module. There’s a lot to consider, but the main things to know are that:

1. You still have to average a pass mark, above 40 per cent, every year.
2. The module cannot be considered ‘core’. (Schools will be releasing a list of core modules soon)
3. If in first or second year, the module cannot be worth more than 20 credits.
4. If in your final year, the module cannot be worth more than 30 credits.
5. If you fail a module, a note of this will remain permanently on your record.
6. The right to fail a module does not apply to professionally accredited courses.

Speaking to The Tab, Theo said: “Over the last few months, I have been fighting for UEA students to have the same rights over module failure as in other Universities, and I can now officially announce that the University has agreed with our campaign.

“This is a huge win for students, and brings us into line with sensible practice from across the HE sector”

It is important to reiterate that the changes in policy do come with very specific terms and conditions, which can vary from course to course. The SU strongly recommend contacting your HUB with any questions you may have about the new rules.