Report: Why University of Aberdeen students are demanding a new vote on a 'no detriment' policy

Over 1,500 people have signed a petition asking for University of Aberdeen Principal George Boyne to call an emergency meeting of the University senate for a new vote on a 'no detriment' policy, which would protected people seriously impacted by the pandemic.

'No Detriment (ND) Policy’ is a policy proposed by Vice-Principal for Education, Ruth Taylor and developed in collaboration with the AUSA Vice President for Education, Ondrej Kučerák. Its aim was to ensure that there would be negative academic impacts because of the pandemic. But it was turned down in a vote of 39 to 55 last week.

The Students' association said they felt 'betrayed' by the decision.

Our Reporter Lewis Michie has been finding out more, here's his full report:

Ondrej Kučerák, AUSA Vice President for Education said:

“The University Senate has failed students. We are demanding that the Principal George Boyne calls for an emergency Senate meeting and give Senators a chance to do the right thing.

"Students are angry and they should be."

"The University should be doing everything in its power to protect and support students during unprecedented times. Instead its left them feeling dejected, stressed and alone. The message this vote sends to students is appalling.

"With the enormous amount of feedback we’ve had from the students since the vote we’ve created a petition that has already been signed by over a 1000 people. Students are not going to sit back and accept this. Unless the University acts quickly this is going to escalate.”

We asked the University for their response to the petition, they outlined system already in place for students.

A University of Aberdeen spokesperson said:

“Throughout the pandemic the University has placed great emphasis on caring for the well-being of our students, and we continue to do so. While Senate did not support the specific No Detriment policy that was proposed for our second half session, it did endorse the need for consistency and fairness for students who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.

“We have in place a range of processes to enable students to inform us of their circumstances, for example if they require an extension or are suffering ill-health or other mitigating circumstances. This might include inadequate access to IT, poor working conditions at home or elsewhere, family issues, or any other factors.

“The University’s existing procedures on assessment and degree award enable and support achievement and will be used to ensure that students’ performance during this time is supported. We are working with Aberdeen University Students’ Association to take forward this work so that no student is disadvantaged.”

Across the city Robert Gordon University have put into place a 'No disadvantage' policy, which they describe as "a form of a no detriment policy" although it doesn't offer quite the same protection to students.

Key points of the No Detriment Policy and what it does:

Student’s degree classification will not be caused to drop by the results of the current second half session if they are in an Honours Year (levels 3,4 and 5) or Post Graduate Taught degree

Extensions – schools have been encouraged to be more lenient when students reach out to ask them for an extension

If a student fails to attain the number of credits required for progression by failing a module or modules, their case will automatically be considered by the Student Progress Committee (SPC)

For levels 1 and 2 this will be after the summer resits

At levels 3, 4 and 5 the SPC will consider whether a student can make up the credits by doing additional study the following term alongside the normal workload

At the point of graduation, a student may be eligible to receive compensatory credit

If a student contacts their school to explain that they are unable to undertake an assessment due to ill health or other extenuating circumstances, they will not be required to submit medical evidence.

The 2019/20 No Detriment Policy released in April 2020 is still applicable alongside the current No Detriment Policy

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