EECS Student Handbook 2023/24

Your individual examination timetable will be available on MySIS towards the end of December 2022 for your Semester A exams and April 2023 for your Semester B exams.  You must check the timetable and report any errors to Registry. Please note that Registry is responsible for producing the timetable.  It is not possible to re-arrange examinations.

We will try and provide your provisional results via MySIS by the end of June. Confirmed results will be made available via MySIS once the Degree Examination Board has approved them. 

Late summer resits will be available to all students. If you are eligible for a late summer resit you will automatically be registered.  You cannot withdraw and if you are absent it will count as a fail.  Late summer resits usually take place during the first two weeks of August and the timetable will be available in MySIS around mid July. Resits are now free of charge. 

QMUL takes assessment and examination offences very seriously and so must you.  In general, calculators are not allowed in examinations, if there is an exception then this will be stated clearly in the examination rubric.  If you use a calculator where it is not permitted, you should expect to receive a mark of zero for the examination.  It is also an offence to take any notes or mobile phones into the examination room.

To view your marks for assessment, log-in to MySIS (your personal area of SIS) with your usual computer log-in, where they will be listed. These marks are provisional and subject to change until they are agreed by the appropriate subject examination board. MySIS will indicate whether the results are provisional or confirmed. Guides on checking your results on MySis are available on the Student Enquiry website (http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/students/mysis-record/provisional-results/index.html)

Please be aware that the Academic Regulations are updated annualy, for this reason you should refer to the Regulations that are specific to your programme of study and year of entry you can find this information here: http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/policy/

Examination boards may use a borderline policy when making recommendations for final degree classifications. The following criteria are used

1. Students with College Marks within one per cent of a borderline (except at the pass/fail border) shall be determined to fall within the ‘zone of consideration’;

2. Students with College Marks within 1.5 per cent of a borderline and with significant extenuating circumstances in the final year not taken into account elsewhere may be determined to fall within the zone of consideration. However, if this approach is taken then the extenuating circumstances may not also be used as a reason to raise the classification itself;

3. All students falling within a zone of consideration shall be considered as possible cases for application of the borderline policy;

4. Students falling within the zone of consideration and with at least half of their final year credits (half of all credits at PG level) with marks at the level of the upper classification (or higher), shall be raised to the higher classification. The dissertation/project does not have to be among the credits at the higher level;

5. Students falling within the one per cent zone of consideration and not meeting the requirements of point 4, but with significant extenuating circumstances in the final year not taken into account elsewhere shall be raised to the higher classification provided the SEB is confident that – without the effect of the extenuating circumstances – the student would have achieved the higher classification.

Further information on progression can be found in the Academic Regulations:

http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/policy/

Before submitting an appeal please speak to your School/Institute about the decision you wish to appeal as many issues can be resolved without the need for an appeal. If you wish to submit an appeal then you must complete the appeal form within 14 days of the notification of the decision you want to challenge.

Information about how to appeal and the appeal form can be found on the QMUL website:

 http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/students/student-appeals/appeals/index.html

Before submitting a complaint you are advised to speak to a member of staff in your School/Institute as most issues can be resolved informally without the need for a formal complaint.  

If your issue it not resolved through the informal process then you will need to complete the Stage 1 complaint form and submit this to the relevant School/Institute/Professional Services Head for investigation under the Student Complaints Policy: http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/students/student-appeals/complaints/index.html  

Most complaints are resolved at Stage 1 but if your matter is still not resolved then there are two further stages to the policy, which are the institutional level and review stage.  

When the complaint process is finished you will be issued with a Completion of Procedures letter explaining the final decision and the reasons for it.  

Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA)
If you are unhappy with the outcome of an appeal or complaint then you may submit a complaint to the OIA within three months of receiving your Completion of Procedures letter. The OIA is the independent body set up to review student complaints and is free to students. For further information regarding the OIA please visit their website: http://www.oiahe.org.uk/

Queen Mary and the School have a number of prizes that are awarded annually to students.

College Prizes: Approximately 12 QM prizes are awarded to students in the School on the results of examinations.  These are normally for exceptional performance in years 2, 3 and 4 of degree programmes or for excellent work in the final year project.

Mike Clarke Prize: To be awarded to the most outstanding Computer Science MSc student.

Kohei Honda Prize: To be awarded to the best achiever in the Distributed Systems and Security module.

Other prizes are made available from time to time and the School also often makes nominations for national prizes such as the IET Benefactor’s Prize and the Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year awards.