AWARDS’ POLICY

1. GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION OF AWARDS FOR MBA PROGRAMME

1.1 Validated taught awards at post-graduation level, like an MBA programme, consisting of 180 Credits will be conducted by Athena Global Education (AGE) online through video classes, tutor support and other academic content available on its Learning Management System (LMS). Each module will have a self-assessment evaluation in the form of a quiz after every chapter, including an assignment brief to be done at the end of the module, which may pertain to a case study, or a business scenario, or can be organisational based, or be in the form of a project report. The assessment of student’s work will be done by an assessor and reviewed by an Internal Verifier after carrying out due sampling. The evaluation will be awarded with a Pass, Merit or Distinction, with marks and grades, as given below.

1.2 For the award of Distinction, the overall aggregate mark will be 70% or above. For the award of Merit, the overall aggregate mark will be 60% - 69%. For the award of Pass, the overall aggregate mark will be 50% - 59%. The overall aggregate mark from 40% - 49% will constitute a Fail with a Resit. The overall aggregate mark below 40% will constitute a Fail with a Retake. Any decimal will be rounded off to the nearest integer.

2. GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION OF AWARDS FOR BA PROGRAMMES

2.1 Validated taught awards at under-graduate level, like a BA programme, consisting of 360 Credits will be conducted by Athena Global Education (AGE) online through video classes, tutor support and other academic content available on its Learning Management System (LMS). Each module will have a self-assessment evaluation in the form of a quiz after every chapter, including an assignment brief to be done at the end of the module, which may pertain to a case study, or a business scenario, or can be organisational based, or be in the form of a project report. The assessment of student’s work will be done by an assessor and reviewed by an Internal Verifier after carrying out due sampling. The evaluation will be awarded with a Pass, Merit or Distinction, with marks and grades, as given below.

2.2 Bachelor’s degrees grades will be classified as:

Distinction Aggregate mark of 70% or above

High Merit Aggregate mark between 60% and 69%

Low Merit Aggregate mark between 50% and 59%

Pass Aggregate mark between 40% and 49%

Fail Aggregate mark between 0% and 39%

Any decimal will be rounded off to the nearest integer.

3. PROVISION FOR EXIT AWARDS

3.1 All programmes being conducted by AGE have made a provision for exit awards at intermediate stages, for which clear modules/ learning outcomes have been stated and laid out in programme specifications.

3.2 Where a student leaves a programme with an exit award, they may reapply at a later date to upgrade to a higher award on the same programme, if it is still offered by AGE.

3.3 A student who has withdrawn from a programme or has exhausted all assessment attempts will automatically be considered for an exit award where sufficient credit has been accrued.

4. RESIT PROVISION

4.1 The Board of Examiners/ Assessment Boards may make such special arrangements as it deems appropriate in cases where it is not practicable for students to be reassessed in the same elements and by the same methods as at the first attempt. However, where a validated programme is discontinued, provision has to be made to ensure fair assessment opportunities for all students who have been enrolled.

4.2 Resit provision is subject to all the following conditions:

(a) A student may resit the failed assessment components of a module only once.

Where there are extenuating circumstances, the Board of Examiners/ Assessment

Board has discretion to decide whether a further assessment opportunity shall be permitted.

(b) A student who does not complete the resit by the date specified can be given a Retake chance as spelt out in the Resit/ Retake Policy Guidelines given below.

(c) Resits can be considered to proceed with another chance and be able to submit their resit work provisionally, but the same must be ratified and approved by the Board of Examiners/ Assessment Boards.

(d) A student who successfully completes any required resits within a module shall be awarded the credit for the module and the result for the individual assessment component capped at the minimum pass mark for the module.

(e) A student shall not be permitted to be reassessed by resit in any module that has received a pass mark, or in a component that has received a mark of 40% and above at under-graduate level, or 50% and above at post-graduate level.

(f) The resit will normally be carried out by the same combination of written examination, assignment, coursework etc. as in the first attempt.

5. RETAKE PROVISION

5.1 Retake will be applicable for students who have failed/ or did not appear in their resit chance given to them. The Board of Examiners/ Assessment Board will ratify and approve the retake decision for all such students, after fulfilling the Resit/ Retake Policy Guidelines on the matter.

5.2 Retake provision is subject to all the following conditions:

(a) This is only permitted where the student has failed in his/ her resit chance or due to extenuating circumstances.

(b) The student does not progress to the next stage of the programme but instead retakes the module(s) in the current stage.

(c) The student will have full access to all facilities and support once permission is granted for retake.

(d) The marks that can be achieved will be capped to a maximum pass, or marks equivalent for a pass, akin to the resit requirements.

6. PROVISION FOR ROLLING ENTRY SYSTEM

AGE is offering a rolling entry system for qualifications with a high study intensity; thus, the timings of Examination Boards may not coincide with partners that offer programmes within the traditional academic year. Under such circumstances, students are provisionally allowed to progress on the programmes, with the recommendation deferred until the next Board of Examiners/ Assessment Board, which should be held within every four months, or at a higher frequency if required. In all such cases, a formal recommendation for progression will be made (if applicable), which can be later ratified by the Board of Examiners/ Assessment Board.

7. RESIT / RETAKE POLICY GUIDELINES

7.1 Submission Date Extension

In case of students request for extension of assignmentsubmission date for an emergency reason (Medical or any Extenuating Circumstances), the submission date can be extended by a fixed number of days, depending on the nature of extenuating circumstances. A student can request this option by clicking “Request Extension” from the LMS and must provide evidence of the extenuating circumstances. The submission link will be made active with the new assignment deadline date, as approved by the Academic Committee looking into the extenuating circumstances.

No extension option will be available after the new deadline date advised by AGE, unless there are new extenuating circumstances which have emerged after the submission date extension approval. Once extension of date is approved, this submission will be considered as the student’s first submission and will be eligible of the grades appropriate to the learner’s work. The student will be eligible for resubmission/ resit in case if he/ she fails to pass the assignment in their first attempt.

7.2 Resubmission/ Resit

Resubmission date will be fixed after approval is given by the Board of Examiners/ Assessment Board, for all those students who failed to meet a minimum pass criteria; they will be given another chance to resubmit the assignment/project during the next available time-frame window. All those who could not submit during the initial submission date, or the extended submission date, can submit during the resubmission date, once the approval is given. The maximum grade for the assignment for resubmission/ resit is restricted to a maximum “Pass”; No Merit or Distinction grades will be applicable for the resubmission/ resit cases.

7.3 Late Submissions

Those students who have not submitted during the first submission date or resubmission/ resit dates, or those who failed to achieve a pass grade during resubmission can request for a “Late Submission” to submit their assignments or projects within 90 days of the resubmission date. The students can apply for this through the LMS by clicking extension next to the respective project, and giving out the reasons for delay. Such cases will be looked into by the Academic Committee on the matter, and the students will get 14 days from the date of request approval to retake the module. However maximum grade of the retake assignment will be restricted to a maximum “Pass”; No Merit or Distinction grades will be applicable for such cases.

7.4 Module Retake

If the student fails to utilise the available options and pass the module within the above provided windows, then they can Retake the Module, as per next available time period. The rules and guidelines applicable for Retake Module will be the same as that of applying for a new module.