Faculty of Humanities FAQ for 2015 year-end exams
FAQ updated
Initial draft published
2.1, 5.2 and 5.3 updated, 3.4 added, Q10 and Q11 added
Date amended
05-Nov-2015
10-Nov-2015
Faculty of Humanities – undergraduate exam reschedule FAQ
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What deferred exam options exist if I can’t write the rescheduled November session?
How do I tell the university that I wish to defer all my exams to January?
What happens if I can write some of the November exams but not all?
What are the implications of deferring all my exams to January?
What happens if I can’t write during either the rescheduled November or the January deferred exam
sessions?
When will exam results be available?
What is happening with graduation?
What is happening with Summer Term courses?
What happens if I fail courses and am academically excluded?
What happens if I write in November but the exam is disrupted by protests?
Why can’t we simply cancel exams and use coursework marks?
What deferred exam options exist if I can’t write the rescheduled November session?
1.1
The rescheduled November session runs from Tuesday 10th November to Friday 27
November 2015, and has exactly the same timetable pattern as the original timetable;
exams will fall on the same day of the week as the original timetable.
1.2
Students are encouraged to try and write in November if they feel able and if their
travel arrangements can be changed.
Some airlines are reducing or waiving rebooking fees, so it’s worth checking if that’s
possible for you.
1.3
If choose not to write in November, or if your travel arrangements do not permit you to
write, you have the option of deferring your entire set of exams to the deferred exam
period which runs from Monday 11th January to Monday 25th January 2016.
This option is available for all undergraduate exams except Performing and Creative Arts
practical exams (i.e. Dance, Drama, Fine Art, Music).
1.4
The usual deferred exam process still applies if you are taken ill during the rescheduled
November exams.
How do I tell the university that I wish to defer all my exams to January?
2.1
You will have received a letter on your UCT email outlining the process for signalling your
exam reschedule via Peoplesoft self-service.
The online deferred application process has been extended from its original deadline, so
you may now apply to defer your (remaining) exams any time during the November exam
session, i.e. until 27th November. This is an automatic process: if you indicate via
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Faculty of Humanities FAQ for 2015 year-end exams
Peoplesoft your intention of writing in January, you will be automatically granted deferrals
of any courses for which you have DP.
2.2
If you want to defer your full set of exams, please go to Student Self Service portal:
http://studentsonline.uct.ac.za, log in with your UCT student number and password, and
click the Update hyperlink under “Your Future Meetings - Indicate whether you will attend”
header. Select your Status in the Status drop down list box and click the Save button.
What happens if I can write some of the November exams but not all?
3.1
If you do not defer your block (full set) of November exams but need or hope to defer
individual November exams to January 2016, you will need to apply for a deferment in
the usual way. See www.uct.ac.za/students/records/examrequests/.
3.2
This will require you to submit the usual form with substantiating documentation (this could
be evidence of travel arrangements or employment after the date of what would have been
the last exam in the original timetable).
3.3
The Deferred Examinations Committee receives all applications and will consider your
application with due regard for the disruption to the November exam session. It
understands there may be circumstances beyond your control to change but will want
evidence of this.
3.4
If a November exam is disrupted by protests, you may choose to defer that exam to
January. You must submit the usual deferred exam application form as in 3.1 above, but
will automatically be granted the deferral.
What are the implications of deferring all my exams to January?
4.1
You will only know the timetable for individual January exams after 18 th December, when
the university knows how many students wish to write in January.
4.2
Academic supps will not be offered on January exams, although the Humanities faculty
will offer the usual re-examination possibilities to students who narrowly fail; you will be reexamined during the January exam session.
4.3
You cannot apply for a deferred exam on a deferred exam, so if you are taken ill during the
January session you will need to repeat the course.
4.4
The university will open residences to students writing during the January session. It is not
yet clear what the cost implications will be but the provisional cost for accommodation in a
catering residence during the supplementary period is R80 per day.
4.5
Potential finalists who defer their exams to January will have to wait for the June
graduation ceremonies to have their award conferred and receive their final certificate.
What happens if I can’t write during either the rescheduled November or the January deferred exam
sessions?
5.1
Students who find it prohibitively expensive to rearrange travel costs for either of the exam
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Faculty of Humanities FAQ for 2015 year-end exams
sessions, may have the option of writing exams off-campus.
5.2
Exams taken elsewhere can be invigilated at another institution by arrangement. For the
January session only it may be possible to write remotely via online proctoring software
which requires a computer setup similar to Skype.
Details about online proctoring facilities will be released once they are available. It is
important to note that it may be the case that certain exams do not lend themselves to
online proctoring. In this instance, the only option available to students will be to take the
exam at the next available opportunity (i.e. during the 2016 academic session).
5.3
Online proctoring facilities are likely to be provided by ProctorU (www.proctoru.com) for
the January deferred exams only. Not all exams are supported by the software. This is
most likely to affect exams which cover mathematics, statistics or technical subjects or
questions.
As more details become available, we will include them here.
5.4
Students may apply to write remotely in either the November or the January session, but
must write at exactly the same time as the scheduled exam, regardless of time zone – i.e.
you may end up writing at odd hours of the night. Students should also be aware that the
approval process to write off campus takes about 10 working days, so in some cases it
may not be possible to write an early November exam elsewhere.
5.5
Students wishing to write in the deferred January session and in another country must
apply BOTH for deferment AND for off-campus examination as two separate processes.
5.6
SSA students should fill in form ACA039, Application Form Granting Semester Study
Abroad Students Permission To Write At Home Institution. This can be downloaded at
http://forms.uct.ac.za/studentadmin/aca39.docx. Completed forms should be submitted to
the Faculty Manager’s office for processing. Details of the remote writing requirements and
procedures are available on the form.
5.7
Full degree students should fill in form ACA040, Application to write an exam at a place
off campus. This is a special form applying ONLY to the November 2015/January 2016
exam sessions, as a response to the circumstances, and can be downloaded at
http://forms.uct.ac.za/studentforms.htm. Completed forms should be submitted to the
Faculty Manager’s office for processing. Fees for remote exam invigilation must be paid by
the student. Details of the remote writing requirements and procedures are available on
the form.
5.8
All exam policies and arrangements are approved by University committees. It is not at
the discretion of academic departments to offer students individual deferred or
supplementary exams (except where the exam type is individual e.g. in Music, Drama,
Dance, Fine Art). Exams must be taken during the official scheduled exam sessions in
either November or January.
If you have been offered an opportunity to write an individual deferred or supplementary
exam, please consult with the Faculty Office for guidance.
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Faculty of Humanities FAQ for 2015 year-end exams
When will exam results be available?
6.1
Results for the November examinations will be published on or before Sunday 20 th
December 2015.
6.2
Results for the January examinations will be published on or before Sunday 31 st January
2016.
What is happening with graduation?
7.1
Students who completed their degree requirements in June will be able to graduate in
December as planned. The ceremony will be on Saturday 19th December 2015.
Humanities undergraduate qualifiers will be accommodated in the 6pm ceremony.
7.2
Students who are writing final exams in the rescheduled November or January sessions
will not have a formal graduation ceremony in 2015, but their qualification status will be
processed in time to start postgraduate study in 2016. They will have the option of a formal
degree ceremony in June 2016. Graduands/ diplomates wishing to obtain transcripts for
employment purposes or for postgraduate study at another university will be able to do so.
7.3
Students writing the November exam session will show a December 2015 degree confer
date on their transcript, and will be able to collect transcripts and certificates from the
Student Records Office from Tuesday 29th December; alternatively, these will be mailed to
graduands/ diplomates.
7.4
Students writing the January exam session will show a June 2016 degree confer date on
their transcripts. Peoplesoft transcripts will be updated by the end of January to show a
qualified status where applicable, and such transcripts can be ordered from Student
Records, but formal degree certificates will only be issued at the June graduation
ceremonies, or mailed to students who did not attend the ceremonies.
What is happening with Summer Term courses?
8.1
Summer Term courses have been rescheduled and will now start on Friday 27th November
2015, with the exams to be written on 23rd December 2015.
8.2
The following courses will be offered during Summer Term:
SLL 1002P Word Power
FAM 1001P Media and Society
HST 2034P Africa: Colonial and postcolonial
POL 1004P Introduction to politics
POL 1006P Introduction to Public Administration
POL 2038P Comparative Politics
8.3
You may sign up for a Summer Term course any time between now and the first day of the
course.
8.4
Students who are writing an exam on the 27th November should contact the Faculty
Manager for a concession to begin the summer term course one day late.
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Faculty of Humanities FAQ for 2015 year-end exams
What happens if I fail courses and am academically excluded?
9.1
The standard Readmission Appeals process will apply to results arising from both the
rescheduled November exams and the January deferred exams.
9.2
For students receiving their end-of-year progression coding on 20th December as a result
of November exams, the deadline for submitting appeals to the Readmission Appeals
Committee is 4th January 2016.
9.3
For students receiving their end-of-year progression coding on 31st January 2016 as a
result of January exams, the deadline for submitting appeals to the Readmission Appeals
Committee is 3rd February 2016.
What happens if I write in November but the exam is disrupted by protests?
10.1
The University is committed to proceeding with exams, and has reached agreements with
most major stakeholders in the protests: any further protest action represents a small
subset of protesters. The University will pursue disciplinary action against any student or
staff member engaged in protests which attempt to disrupt exams.
10.2
Additional security staff have been engaged who will be able to assist at examination
venues if protesters attempt disruption or intimidation. The police will not form part of this
response.
10.3
If an exam is disrupted it may, if the disruption is minor and quickly resolved, be continued
after a short break, with additional time allowed. Any exam which is seriously disrupted
and unable to continue will be rescheduled by the Exams Office to take place before 27 th
November.
10.4
The online deferral sign-up will remain active throughout exams, and any student
experiencing a disrupted exam will have the option of deferring their remaining exams
until January. They may also apply to defer the individual exam to January via the usual
deferred exam application, and continue with their remaining exams.
Why can’t we simply cancel exams and use coursework marks?
11.1
The Faculty remains committed to securing the integrity of the examinations process, and
to assuring the quality and academic standard of its awards. All efforts will be made to
ensure that awards conferred following the 2015 end-of-year exam session are of the
same quality and standard as those conferred in any other year.
11.2
The nature, structure and weighting of assessment for any course is the basis on which
students demonstrate that they have attained the learning objectives/ outcomes and thus
qualify for the award of NQF credit in recognition of successful learning. As such,
assessment is a key part of the framework which assures the academic standard of the
University’s awards.
The award of course marks without an exam component reflected would be a substantial
departure from normal assessment procedures, and would mean that the assessment of
students in this exam session would be in markedly different terms to previous years and
semesters. In addition, Humanities courses have widely differing coursework
requirements, and not all could be suitably reshaped to exclude the exam.
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Faculty of Humanities FAQ for 2015 year-end exams
11.3
Because assessment is so integral to assuring the nature and quality of UCT
qualifications, changes can only be made by Faculty Board in full consideration of the
effect on the quality and standard of both the individual course, and the qualification as a
whole.
Making changes to the nature and structure of assessment this late into the session
demands a departure from the standards approved for each course (as detailed in the
course outline) and could place students at a disadvantage academically.
For the time being, the assessment structure for courses remains unchanged to ensure
that the quality and standard of the Faculty’s awards, and the academic achievements of
students which they demonstrate, remain unaffected.
11.4
The various deferral mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that students
approach examinations under the best possible conditions given the circumstances.
Deferred exams will be entirely equivalent to the November session in requirements and
marking standard, and will be assessed by the usual external examination processes.
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