Designing and maintaining postgraduate assessment programmes

This guidance is supplementary to our standards for postgraduate curricula, Excellence by design, and gives advice for those making decisions in organisations (typically colleges and faculties) about how programmes of assessment should be designed and maintained.

Open Designing and maintaining postgraduate assessment programmes

Inside this guidance

The guidance is divided into three parts:

  • Part 1: Designing programmes of assessment  (open at page 9)
    • Setting out the purpose of the programme of assessment
    • Linking curriculum content and assessment
    • Content decisions: formative and summative
    • Evidencing format decisions: acceptability, feasibility, cost effectiveness
  • Part 2: Managing programmes of assessment (open at page 25)
    • Evidencing content quality: setting up structures to ensure the quality of assessment
    • Setting out expectations: learners
    • Setting out expectations: examiners and assessors
    • Evidencing decisions about assessment structure: standard setting
    • Evidence about assessment structure: statistical analysis
  • Part 3: The impact of a decision (open at page 45)
    • Evidencing the impact of assessments

It also contains an appendix, "Annual publication of exam data" (open at page 48)

Who is this document for?
This document is for those involved in designing and maintaining postgraduate curricula and assessment programmes.
Why do you need this document?
This document provides comprehensive advice on how to meet the requirements set out in Excellence by design.