The University established a Working Party to consider double marking. Double marking is an aspect of teaching and assessment which has not before been considered from a University-wide perspective. Academic staff have proceeded on the basis of shared assumptions about what is done elsewhere in the University and in other comparable institutions and have followed procedures which are generally accepted for their disciplines.
Double marking is an aspect of examining and assessment which is important for a number of reasons.
It is one of the means by which we seek to ensure that students are assessed accurately, fairly and with only those aspects of subjectivity which are academically justifiable. Hence, it is one of the means by which we produce defensible results. Other parts of the examinations process which assist directly in this are external examiners and, recently for this university, anonymous marking. The University has a policy of an absolute refusal to hear appeals against marks from students which question the judgement of examiners, but will hear appeals against failures in process. This is an essential protection of an important part of academic freedom but does depend for both its moral basis and legal substance on the integrity and efficiency of the examinations processes which are used.