Declared awards

About Declared to have Deserved Honours and Declared to have Deserved Masters degrees

A Declared to have Deserved Honours Degree is an unclassified undergraduate degree. A Declared to have Deserved Foundation Certificate/Undergraduate Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma have been introduced this year and are also available. These are collectively referred to as DDH. It will be awarded when a student is unable to complete their summative assessments for legitimate reasons, and the examination board is satisfied that they would have been likely to have obtained an Honours degree (or a pass degree for the other awards) had they been able to complete their assessments.

The postgraduate equivalent is a Declared to have Deserved Masters degree, or a Declared to have Deserved Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate (collectively referred to as DDM), depending upon the award that the student was enrolled upon. The University introduced these from the 2019/20 academic year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. As with the DDH, these are unclassified degrees and will be awarded when students are unable to complete their summative assessments.

While the formal awards will be unclassified, transcripts will be accompanied by an enhanced reference letter providing information about the award and the student's performance.

Eligibility

If you are unable to take and/or complete your final year assessments, you may be eligible to opt for: 

• exit with a classified degree - if you have completed some summative assessment the examination board would look to see whether enough had been completed so that a classified degree could still be awarded.
• suspension - so you can return to complete your assessment in the next academic year
• exit with an unclassified degree and be Declared to have Deserved Honours/Foundation Certificate/Undergraduate Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma (DDH) (if undergraduate, depending upon the degree you were enrolled on) or Declared to have Deserved Masters/Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate (DDM) (if postgraduate, depending upon the degree you were enrolled on). 

It is envisaged that students will only opt for DDH or DDM if a classified degree is not possible and they are not able to suspend and return to complete any outstanding assessments next year.

If you are unsure what to do, you should speak to your College and/or Department about the options available to you. If you are unable to participate in any teaching as well as assessment then suspension may be a better option than DDH or DDM, but much will depend upon your personal circumstances.

Applying for DDH or DDM

You may apply for DDH or DDM at any point during Trinity term or during the following Long Vacation, it is expected that this should be no later than 14 days after the date of your final assessment.

You should only apply for DDH/DDM if you are unable to take some or all of your assessments and you are unable to suspend and return to complete your course next year. You will need to explain why you are unable to complete those assessments. 

You may apply directly through your college, by submitting the 'Dispensations Application Form' from the dispensations webpage. 

What happens after I have submitted a request to be considered for DDH/DDM?

Once your application has been submitted, evidence of your academic standing will be gathered from your college and/or department. Confirmation will be requested that:

• You have passed all summative assessment to date, in accordance with the subject’s normal rules
• You do not have any resits for summative assessment outstanding
• You have achieved a satisfactory performance in formative assessment
• You are not subject to any outstanding academic disciplinary procedures 

This information will be collated and used to inform the relevant examination board of your eligibility for DDH/DDM.  The examination board will use that information to determine whether DDH or DDM can be awarded or not. The final decision rests with the examination board and they will normally look to see if it is possible to award a classified degree in the first instance. It is for these reasons that students cannot be notified that they have been awarded a DDH/DDM until after the examination board has met.