Academic Senate endorses review of assessment practices

18-November-2002

A meeting of the University of Wollongong's Academic Senate today unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations contained in the report of the Review of Assessment Practices and Processes.

The Senate also agreed to establish a co-ordinating committee to develop a timetable and plan for implementing the review recommendations and to report on this to Academic Senate at the first meeting of 2003.

The seven-person review committee, headed by the Chair of Academic Senate, Professor David Griffiths, tabled 22 recommendations. Professor Griffiths said the committee recognised that there is, and should be, a diversity of assessment practices and processes to meet the needs of a complex university environment.

This applied particularly to honours degrees which is also an area that falls between undergraduate and postgraduate codes. The review highlighted the need for policy development and documentation.

However, Professor Griffiths pointed out that before the review was commissioned, the University was already actively moving in that direction. Professor Griffiths said as one would expect, a number of submissions from students related to marking ­ hard marking as well as soft marking.

"There is no question that in some disciplines, the broadening of entry opportunities has been accompanied by significant change in the student cohort and in the size of that cohort.

"There is also no question that teaching standards have improved, a change reflected in the University's capacity to cater for the varying cohort of students attending the University," Professor Griffiths said.

The review was based on submissions, interviews and relevant background material from the areas of government and academia. It arose from a proposal from the University Council that had noted in April this year that there had been widespread allegations of assessment misconduct across Australian universities.

In an endeavour to resolve allegations about marking standards at UOW, Council supported the proposal of the Chair of Academic Senate that Senate institute a broad ranging review of assessment practices and processes at the University. The committee received 58 submissions and conducted 29 interviews.

For further information contact the Chair of Academic Senate and head of the review, Professor David Griffiths, on 4221 4485.