Policies and Resources

* Attendance
* Submission of Assignments
* Special Consideration
* Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
* Review of Results
* Occupational Health & Safety
* Student Support Services
* Continual Improvement
* Library Research
* Forms & Guides

The University of New South Wales and the School of Social Sciences and International Studies have policies regarding the conduct of courses and dealing with special course-related situations. These are outlined below. All students are expected to know these policies - ignorance is no excuse.

Attendance

Students are expected to attend all tutorials/seminars. A satisfactory attendance record of at least 80% of scheduled classes must be met to pass the course. Tutors will keep attendance records for their classes. Students are expected to be punctual; lateness of more than 15 minutes will be considered absence, and students must attend the whole duration of the tutorial to be considered present.

If illness or misadventure causes you to miss a tutorial, you should try to attend an alternative tutorial group during that week. It is your responsibility to inform your regular tutor of this by completing the Alternative Workshop/Tutorial Attendance Form, available on the door of the School Office. The form must be signed by the host tutor and given to your regular tutor the following week. No more than two such forms will be accepted per semester, and the host tutor is free to refuse such permission.

If illness or misadventure will cause you to miss an excessive number of tutorials (usually 3 or more), you MAY apply for Discontinuation Without Failure from the course by filling out the appropriate form available at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Office. For more details about the University's policy on attendance, please consult: https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/AttendanceAbsence.html

Submission of Assignments and Extension

Assignments are to be submitted to the School Office, usually by being placed in the appropriate box. These will be stamped by the School Office with the receipt date.

On most courses, students are also required to submit an electronic copy of the assignment on WebVista or through other ways as instructed by the Course Coordinator. (a) Receipt of the hard copy of the assignment will be acknowledged through MyGrades on WebVista. If online submission is required, the student will be notified by email that their assignments have been received if they tick this option on WebVista. (b) If webVista is not used, the lower portion of the Assignment Declaration Form will be returned to students. It is the student's responsibility to check that their assignments have been received, and, if not, to notify the Course Coordinator immediately. It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of their work in case of loss.

All assignments must be submitted with an Assignment Declaration form signed by the student (required for all assignments) and an Assignment Cover Sheet (if blind marking is done). These are available from the School Office. Students must read the rules on Student Academic Misconduct relevant to assignment submission (further information given below).

All assignments must be submitted by the due date unless an extension of time has been granted. The penalty for late submission without permission is 3% (of the perfect mark) per day late, including weekends. Late work will not be accepted once the marked assignments have been returned or after two weeks past the due date, whichever is earliest, whether an extension has been granted or not.

Marked Assignments will either be returned through the tutors or picked up from the School office. Notice for pickup times will be posted outside the office. Students can only pick up their own assignments. IDENTIFICATION MUST BE SHOWN.

Special Consideration

The University's policy on Special Consideration - Illness and Misadventure is as follows:
The purpose of Special Consideration is to enable the University to assess and address the impact on students of short term events, beyond the control of the student, that affect performance in a specific assessment task or tasks. Students with a disability, and those with ongoing medical conditions, who require consideration of their circumstances and support, are advised to register with the Equity and Diversity Unit. Registration is advisable but not obligatory. - Code of Practice - Students with Disabilities: http://www.studentequity.unsw.edu.au/codeofpr.html

Sickness, misadventure, or other circumstance beyond your control may prevent you from completing a course requirement or attending or submitting assessable work for a course, or may significantly affect your performance in assessable work, e.g. formal end of session examination, class test, laboratory test, or seminar presentation. You can apply for consideration for the affected assessments.

Depending on the circumstances, the University may take action to allow you to overcome the disadvantage, e.g. give you an additional assessment or extend a deadline.
 Merely submitting a request for Special Consideration does not automatically mean that you will be granted an additional assessment, nor that you will be awarded an amended result. For example, if you have a poor record of attendance or performance throughout a session/year in a course you may be failed regardless of illness or other reason affecting a final examination in that course.

It sometimes happens that a student may encounter a situation that is so significant or personal they do not want to use the Special Consideration procedures. In a case like this you may prefer to contact the University Health Service, the Counselling Service, an academic adviser in your program office or the Manager, Student Administration and Records. Remember that it is always important to let the University know if there is anything that may affect your ability to continue your studies.
Details of the university policy and procedures on Special Consideration can be found at:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/SpecialConsideration.html

Work or family commitments, religious holidays, or work due in other courses are not acceptable reasons for special consideration since the possibility of such events are supposed to be taken into account when managing your time, nor are short illnesses suffered within a week of the due date since your assignment is assumed to be almost finished by that point. Evidence of significant progress in the assessment task will have to be demonstrated when asking for extension due to an emergency or illness close to the submission date.

You must lodge the application for SC, or notify or have a friend/family member notify UNSW Student Central, within 3 days of the event for which you are seeking SC.

If SC is granted, this may take the form of a removal of part or all of a late penalty, or an adjustment to the raw grade, or an alternative form of assessment, at the discretion of the Course Coordinator

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

Students are reminded of their Rights and Responsibilities in respect of plagiarism, as set out in the University Undergraduate and Postgraduate Handbooks, and are encouraged to seek advice from academic staff whenever necessary to ensure they avoid plagiarism in all its forms. The library runs the ELISE tutorial on-line which familiarizes students academic writing, research and using information responsibly. It can be located at:http://elise.library.unsw.edu.au/home/welcome.html

The Learning Centre can provide further information found via www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism

Review of Results

Where a student believes the mark awarded for an assignment or any assessable tasks does not adequately reflect the quality of the assignment, the student may request a review of the mark. The first step is for the student to talk to the marker to obtain an explanation or justification of the given mark. Revision of the original mark may or may not be made after this. If the student is not satisfied, an appeal can be made to the Course Coordinator. This appeal must be in writing and lodged within two weeks of the date on which assignments were returned. If a re-mark is requested, the Course Coordinator will review the assignment to ascertain whether it warrants a re-mark. If it does, the student will be made aware that a re-mark does not guarantee a higher mark. The student will be advised of the outcome of this review within two weeks of the date of the appeal.

If the student is dissatisfied with the outcome of the review an appeal may be made to the School Grievance Officer (Professor Ralph Hall). This appeal must be in writing specifying the grounds for the appeal and must be lodged within one week of receipt of the outcome of the review by the Course Coordinator. The Grievance Officer will conduct a review of the mark and submit a report to the Head of School who will advise the student of the outcome of this review within three weeks of the date of submission of the appeal.

Please read the University policy on Review of Results for additional information: myUNSW

Occupational Health and Safety

UNSW has an Occupational Health and Safety Policy that staff and students must COMPLY WITH. Please refer for details to:

https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/OccupationalHealth.html

Student Support Services

Student equity and diversity issues are addressed via the Student Equity officers (Disability) in the Student Equity and Diversity Unit (93854734)
Further information for students with disabilities is available at: www.studentequity.unsw.edu.au/disabil.html

Continual Improvement

Student evaluative feedback is gathered periodically using, among other means, UNSW's Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement (CATEI) process. Informal feedback and class-generated feedback are also important. Student feedback is taken seriously, and continual improvements are made to the course based in part on such feedback

Library Research

A major building works project is underway in the Main UNSW Library. This project is designed to provide increased, flexible student space. During this project there will be periods where access to some of the collection is disrupted. Where possible, a stack service will operate on levels where the collection is being relocated. Details of access and change of location will be provided in the foyer of the Library and on the UNSW Library web page. Please contact the Library at RefTracker: Your question ...? should you require additional information.

Forms and Guides

* Assessment Declaration Form (PDF) (51 Kb)
* Alternative Tutorial Form (PDF) (18 Kb)
* Referencing, Citations and Assignment Writing Guide (for Politics & IR) (PDF) (199 Kb)

For further information on Policies and Procedures for Research Students, please visit UNSW Guidelines for Postgraduate Research