Key policy and regulations changes

We regularly review our policies and regulations to make sure that these continue to be in the best interests of our students and safeguard our academic standards. The changes you see here, will have been considered in detail at one or more of the University's sub-committees before being approved by the University's senior academic committee, Academic Council, which is constituted by elected academic staff and has student union representation.

Further advice: Please contact the Union of Kingston Students, or your Personal Tutor in the first instance if you would like to discuss the University's policies and regulations and how they impact you in any more detail.

Changes for 2023/24

Summary of all changes to the regulations for 23/24

This table provides the full detail of all changes to the University's suite of General and Academic Regulations, Policies and Guidance for 2023/24:

Academic Integrity

The following amendments have been made to strengthen the messaging around academic integrity, particularly in relation to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by students in assessment:

  • The statement on Academic Integrity has been updated to specify that students must acknowledge the use of contributions by AI tools in their work.
  • The definition of plagiarism has been broadened to include presenting work generated by AI tools as one's own without proper acknowledgement.
  • A statement has been added to indicate that the University will not accept a lack of understanding regarding the need to acknowledge the work of others and/or content generated by AI tools as a legitimate defence for academic misconduct.

Award Regulations (AR2 Undergraduate, AR3 Postgraduate, AR10 Degree Apprenticeship)

For students starting their courses at Level 3 or Level 4 in 2023-2024, we will not round up or down your final classification calculation mark which is used to determine the classification of your award. This means that if your final mark is 59.65, it will remain as 59.65 and will not be rounded up to 60.00. The borderline zone has been extended from 1% of the classification boundary to 1.5% of the classification boundary. For more information on the borderline zone regulations see AR2 Undergraduate Regulations, AR3 Postgraduate Regulations or AR10 Degree Apprenticeship Regulations for 2023/24.

For all other students, the Undergraduate, Postgraduate or Degree Apprenticeship Regulations for the academic year you first enrolled on your course will explain the rounding and borderline zone regulations that we will apply when working out your award classification. For example, if you first enrolled on an undergraduate degree in 2021/22, you can refer to the undergraduate regulations for that year to learn more about the award regulations that will apply to you.

Direct entrants to higher levels in 2023/2024 will fall under the same regulations as the rest of their cohort.

Undergraduate Professional Placements

New regulation formalising the academic criteria for progression to a professional placement:

‘To progress to the professional placement stage of a course, a student must have successfully achieved at least 90 taught module credits in the preceding academic year. This is known as "trailing credit". Where progression with 90 credits is not permitted, for example due to an approved variant to the Regulations, this will be stated in the programme specification.'

New regulations confirming the reassessment principles for professional placement modules:

Para 65. ‘Following failure at the first attempt, students may be permitted a reassessment by retake in the professional placement module, reassessment by repeat or replace is not permitted.'

Para 66. ‘Failure of the professional placement module at second attempt will normally result in students being assessed for a non-placement award.'

Changes for 2022/23

International Students on Student Visas who are suspended due to poor financial standing

The GR1 General Student Regulations have been updated with a new process for dealing with international students on Student Visas who are suspended due to poor financial standing. The new process will ensure that the University complies with the duties laid down by the government.

If you are an international student on a Student Visa and you are suspended due to poor financial standing, you will be considered as being non-compliant with UKVI requirements and we will therefore contact you to agree whether you wish to:

  • Interrupt your studies
  • Withdraw from your course

Following this, the University will withdraw your sponsorship and inform UKVI within 10 working days.

If you are withdrawn, we will also issue you with any credit or intermediate award that you are eligible for.

Further information:

See paragraphs 54 and 55 of GR1 General Student Regulations for further details of this process and paragraphs 10 to 15 for further information about unpaid fees.

You can also access further information on what it means to interrupt your studies or withdraw.

University Attendance Policy

The University has published a new attendance policy which changes the way that we will contact you if we see that you aren't attending classes or engaging with your studies. From 2022-23 we will expect you to attend all of your timetabled teaching activities and to register your attendance at these activities by checking in via SEAtS either by tapping your ID card onto the reader located in the room where the activity is taking place, or by logging into the system via the SEAtS Apps using your mobile device. If you are unable to attend your timetabled session, you should report this as soon as possible, with an explanation, via the SEAtS App.

If you are experiencing any difficulties which are impacting your ability to attend classes, whatever they may be, including but not limited to difficulties surrounding disabilities and mental health, finance etc., please get in touch with the Student Engagement Team via email at: engagement@kingston.ac.uk.

Read the full Attendance Policy (AP15) for more information.

Refresh of the Kingston University Student Code of Conduct

We have reviewed and refreshed our Student Code of Conduct (GR1 – Appendix 1) to ensure that this fully aligns with our key values, principles and pedagogies. As a member of our community, we expect you to behave in ways that support our institutional values of being inclusive, ambitious, enterprising, and empathetic. We also expect you to ensure that the rights of others (including but not exclusive to staff, other students, members of the community) are respected and that you treat others with respect and courtesy at all times.

Kingston University has a range of support and report routes available to you. If you have experienced or witnessed any behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable please report it to us.

Mitigating Circumstances and Student Assessment (AR5)

It is now possible to apply for mitigation using the self-certification route for in-class tests as well as for examinations as long as the in-class test is validated as a major element of assessment and is not one of a portfolio of tasks that together form a major element of assessment. If you are not sure if whether an in-class test is eligible for self-certification, you should ask your module leader.

See the Mitigating Circumstances page for further information on what self-certification means and for advice on what you should do if you are experiencing difficult circumstances.

We have also made some minor changes to the acceptable criteria and evidence to permit third party verification as evidence in support of a claim in some instances, for example where it may not be appropriate to share personal data (see rows 5 and 6 of Appendix 1 of the Mitigating Circumstances regulations).

Academic Integrity Regulations (Taught Courses) – AR6 (formerly known as Academic Misconduct) and Academic Guidance AG03a and AG03b Plagiarism

The regulations have been refreshed into a new document with a new title of Academic Integrity in order to recognise that the focus of our community is, among other things, to foster a culture of academic integrity.

Academic misconduct is, in essence, a breach of this norm and this regulation also sets out the procedure that will be used to investigate such allegations. There have been no major changes to the procedure previously articulated in Academic Misconduct Regulations (Taught Courses).

The opportunity has also been taken to streamline and embed the guidance note AG03a 'Plagiarism: A Staff Guide' in the Support for Academic Staff Canvas module and AG03b 'Plagiarism: A Student Guide' into a new student-facing landing page which houses the Academic Integrity Regulations.

NEW Regulations – Degree Apprenticeship Regulations (AR10)

These apply to all our Degree Apprentices and include regulatory information about admissions requirements, student registration, programme structures, assessment and award regulations.

AP1 Admissions Policy

The University's Admissions Policy has been through full periodic review and has been refreshed into a more accessible and streamlined document. The Policy now incorporates policies that were previously presented as standalone document (AP1b – Checking of Criminal Records, AP07 – Fraudulent Applications and AP09 – Under 18s Policy).

Refreshed University Level and Outcome Classification Descriptors

The academic guidance documents: AG2 University Level Descriptors and AG7 University Grade Descriptors have been through a full periodic review and updated into one new document AG1 University Level and Outcome Classification Descriptors.

The descriptors have been aligned to the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) and the Outcome classification descriptions for FHEQ Level 6 (annex D), published by the QAA in 2019.

The University Level and Outcome Classification Descriptors have been revised and are published under Academic Guidance – Academic Guidance 1. This guidance replaces the previously separate documents University Level Descriptors (Academic Guidance 2) and University Grade Descriptors (Academic Guidance 7).

University Level Descriptors should be used as a reference point in the development of courses and modules, informing the development of learning outcomes at the specified level in programme specifications and module descriptors and used to set the expectations for curriculum and assessment design and for the determination of local marking criteria.

The Outcome Classification Descriptors set out descriptions of the main outcome classifications for awarding level related qualifications. Together with level descriptors, Outcome Classification Descriptors should be used as a reference point in the development of assessment criteria and marking standards to facilitate the award of appropriate and consistent marks. They are also an essential tool in helping students to understand the marks that they have been awarded and why they have been awarded them.

Student Staff Consultative Committee (SSCC) becomes Student Voice Committee

The University has established a new Student Voice Committee which replaces what was previously known as the Student Staff Consultative Committee (SSCC).

Summary of all changes to the regulations for 22/23

This table provides the full detail of all changes to the University's suite of General and Academic Regulations, Policies and Guidance for 2022/23.

Changes for 2021/22

Summary of changes 2021/22

This table provides the full detail of all changes to the University's suite of General and Academic Regulations, Policies and Guidance for 2021/22.

A reminder of the update to capping rules for retakes which was implemented in 2021/2022

There will be a change to how modules will be capped for retake assessments. Instead of capping the element of assessment, the element of assessment itself will remain uncapped and if the module is passed overall on aggregate, the module will be capped at the minimum pass mark. This means that your true mark for the element of assessment will display on your Record of Progress (RoP).

This will apply to modules starting from September 2021 onwards, including retakes for modules that are repeated in 2021/22. If you are trailing a module from 2020/2021 this will continue under the 2020/21 regulations meaning that retakes will still be capped at the element of assessment.

Example of how capping might be applied to a retake from 2021/2022

Undergraduate Module – First attempt

1st attemptAssessment typeWeightingMarkFail /Pass
Element 1 Coursework  50%  20  Fail
Element 2 Coursework  30%  45  Pass
Element 3 Examination  20%  55  Pass

The overall module mark is calculated as follows:

  • 20 x 0.5 = 4
  • 45 x 0.3 = 13.5
  • 55 x 0.2 = 11
  • Overall module mark at first attempt = 28.5

The Assessment Board agrees the module can be retaken. Only the failed element is retaken (element 1).

Undergraduate Module – Retake attempt

2nd attemptAssessment typeWeightingMarkFail /Pass
Element 1 Coursework  50%  50  Pass

The overall module mark is calculated as follows:

  • 50 x 0.5 = 25
  • 45 x 0.3 = 13.5
  • 55 x 0.2 = 11
  • Overall module mark at first attempt = 49.5
  • The overall module mark will be capped at 40%

This change to regulation was agreed by the University's senior academic Committee (Senate) after significant evaluation and analysis and following sector research and consultation with the Union of Kingston Students.

The University has determined that this new regulation will offer our students the best chance of success and progression, allowing your actual mark achieved at element level to contribute to the overall calculation of the module, and will enable the actual marks that you have achieved to be accurately reflected on your Record of Progress (RoP).

Please contact the Union of Kingston Students, or your Personal Tutor in the first instance if you would like to understand this change and how it might impact you in any more detail.

Policies and regulations