Arts faculty considers raising late penalties to five per cent per day
Students will automatically fail an assignment if they hand it in more than ten days late.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) has proposed an increase in late assessment penalties to five per cent per working day from two per cent at a Faculty Board meeting this afternoon.
This would mean students automatically fail assessments if they hand them in more than 10 days late.
The Undergraduate Programs Committee Report, led by Associate Dean to Undergraduate Programs Dr Anne Rogerson, submitted the report.
According to the proposal document, these amendments would come into effect in semester one, 2018.
Students would still be able to apply for extensions via the University’s Special Consideration portal.
FASS currently enforces one of the lowest late submission penalty rates of all the faculties: Law students cop 10 per cent mark deduction per day overdue, while Education and Social Work students receive five per cent per day but cannot hand in assessments from six working days after the deadline.
The matter was first raised for discussion at last month’s Faculty Board meeting.
Staff were invited to consult with Rogerson during two weeks between that meeting and today’s.
In a submission to Rogerson, the School of Economics’ Academic Programs Board reported a strong consensus that they would favour adopting the School of Education and Social Work’s approach to late work.
“The feeling was that current FASS rules provide little or no incentive for students to submit work by the due date,” they said.
However, one political economy academic raised concerns with the Special Considerations system, saying that, in their experience, “it is arbitrary and far too restrictive in what it allows as legitimate reasons for late submission, while still being easy for the determined student to game.”
“It is not surprising that many students opt not to apply for Special Consideration they are legitimately entitled to, and simply wear the penalty.”
Honi anticipates student backlash against an increase in late penalties should the proposal be voted through in next month’s faculty meeting.