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Undergraduate Policies and Regulations

Guided by an interest in maintaining a friendly, cooperative and supportive environment in Geography, staff and students alike agree to be bound by the following set of guidelines. Encouraging practices that will benefit all, these ’policies and regulations’ have been drafted to foster an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect.

As a result, Geography adopts the following principles governing procedures in the firm belief that clear guidelines are a necessary prerequisite for the effective delivery of its mission statement, as detailed in the departmental self-assessment report. These published 'policies and regulations' are designed to help us all, students, technicians and academics alike, to make fair and informed decisions.

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Obligations 

1. Teaching Personnel

Staff members in the Department strive, to the best of their abilities, to be accessible and open to the needs of students. This includes the holding of regular office-hours during term time, the publication of course outlines as well as feedback on those essays, reports and oral presentations that form part of the continuous assessment of a particular course. Members of staff also agree to write letters of recommendations upon request, if these latter are received well before any deadlines and accompanied by a recent CV. We would advise that the Dissertation supervisor be contacted initially with such requests.

2. Students

It is the obligation of students to attend lectures, to communicate clearly with those lecturers responsible for their courses, to honour office hours and to submit course work requirements on time. When using Departmental or University facilities or when on field classes, students need to act responsibly at all times. It is the responsibility of students regularly to consult the respective notice boards and to check their e-mail accounts.

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Responsibilities

1 BA, 2 BA and 3/4 BA Tutors are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the syllabus, as it operates in each of the three (or four) year programmes.

Course Convenors are responsible for the teaching and assessment of individual modules.

The Departmental Administrators, Dr Siubhán Comer (3BA and 4BA) in Rm 107 and Ms Clodagh Raleigh (1BA and 2BA) in Rm 106 have overall responsibility for module/examination registration, coursework submissions, medical records and disciplinary matters.

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Communicating with staff members: e-mail policy

For all communications with staff members, do make sure to consult all materials on the departmental webpages and Blackboard prior to e-mailing additional questions that you may have. Also, please make sure to e-mail in advance to arrange any personal meeting with staff members outside of office hours. When writing an e-mail regarding your course or any university business it is important to be professional and concise. For example, you should make sure that your opening address conveys a professional tone; e.g. Dear. If writing to a member of teaching staff, please ensure that your e-mail includes your name, student ID and the name/code of the class you are participating in. Please be aware that due to the large number of e-mails received by teaching staff on a daily basis it takes on average 3-5 days to respond to student questions; i.e. do not e-mail staff members for an extension to course work the night before an assignment is due. Please also be mindful when composing your e-mail. Poor spelling and grammar indicates a lack of attention to detail and sends the wrong message about you; please read over your message before you send it. Finally, please check your e-mail account regularly as this is one of the main ways for the university or a lecturer to contact you. Please ensure that your formal college e-mail account is not full as messages will bounce back to the sender.

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Special Needs

Geography recognises that each student is an individual and that some students have special needs arising out of particular circumstances. Every effort will be made to accommodate individual circumstances. In the absence of a University-wide recognition of special needs, it is the responsibility of individual students properly to communicate their situation to the Head of Geography.

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Course Weightings 

All courses in Geography, with the exception of the final year dissertation carry a weighting of 5 ECTS credits. This is the equivalent of 24 lectures per semester (for 2, 3 and 4BA students) or per Academic Year (for 1BA students). An additional practical component of 12 hours per semester applies to all courses. Courses are normally assessed in a number of mutually compatible ways:

EITHER

through a three-hour written paper during the examination period;

OR

through a 90 minutes written paper during the examination PLUS one 3-4000 word essay;

OR

through a 90 minutes written paper during the examination PLUS one 1-2000 word report PLUS an oral presentation OR a field-class report

OR

through any combination of the elements indicated in this document that does not exceed the work-load and expectations enshrined in the examples above.

Other options applicable to individual courses include multiple-choice examinations, field-class reports or continuous assessment in the form of essays exclusively.

During the first year, students are expected to complete 15 credits while the second and third (or forth) year comprise a total of 30 credits each. In addition to attending lectures and practicals as detailed in the handout for each course, students are expected to leave adequate time for readings and the writing of course assignments. Typically, we would expect 2-3 hours of additional work for each hour spend in a lecture environment.

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Coursework

We expect each and every piece of coursework to be original in character and also submissions MUST be accommpanied by the departmental cover sheet. Materials submitted on e-mail will NOT be accepted for reasons of authenticity. If there are exceptional cases where e-mail submissions are agreed with members of staff, an exact hard copy must also be submitted. Quotations or other forms of intellectual “borrowing” must be clearly identified as such. This applies to books, journal articles, reports, data, maps, web pages, newspaper clippings and other forms of published sources. Failure adequately to identify sources will be penalised according to the severity of the plagiarism identified. If in doubt, students should consult with the convenor of a particular course.

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Course Grades

1BA Course Grades
Percentage	Grade
70-100	First Class Honors
60-69	Second Class Honors
40-59	Pass
0-39	Fail

2BA & 3BA Course Grades
Percentage	Grade
70-100	First Class Honors
60-69	Second Class Grade 1
50-59	Second Class Grade 2
45-49	Third Class Honors
40-44	Pass
0-39	Fail

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Calculation of Final Year Grade

Calculation of Final Degree Grades: From 2013 – 2014
Final grades will be calculated as follows:
30% of overall 2nd Year Grade + 70% of overall Final Year Grade.
This will effect all current 2nd year students.

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Grade Criteria

Please view this document here. 

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Breach of exam regulations

In line with strict university directives, when a student is found in breach of exam regulations and a "0" is applied to the affected module, the student may repeat the examination if a repeat sitting is allowed by the Marks and Standards for the programme. However, the mark for the repeat examination will be capped at 40%.

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Code of Practice for dealing with Plagarism

Please view here to view NUIG policy on plagarism.

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Late Submissions

Coursework extensions:

Students seeking extensions are required to follow this procedure:

1. Student requests an extension directly from their lecturer.
2. Student logs the extension given with Clodagh (1BA and 2BA) / Siubhán (3BA). The extension is recorded on file (all extensions recorded can be accessed by staff to monitor students who regularly request extensions).
3. Student is given an extension sheet which he/she attaches to their course work when it is being submitted.

Penalties for late submissions and word counts will be applied rigorously. Coursework submitted after any deadline has expired will be penalised in accordance with departmental policy by the following marks (out of 100) being deducted from the grade:

3 days later (or one weekend)	5
1 week	10
2 weeks	20
3 weeks	30
4 weeks or over	Marked to a max. of 40 (non-submissions will be awarded zero)

Sick Notes

Sick notes should be handed in to the College Office in the Arts Millennium Building. 

1st year - Catherine McCurry (e-mail: catherine.mccurrynuigalway.ie)
2nd and 3rd year - Deirdre Finan (e-mail:  deirdre.finannuigalway.ie)

Deferrals are not granted by the Department but can only be approved by the Dean of Arts. 

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Semesterisiation and Capping

All courses taught in the Department are fully semesterised with the exception of the 3/4BA Dissertation which extends across both semesters in the final year. All optional courses are capped to ensure equal access to lecturers during term time.

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Repeat Examination

In the case of repeat examinations where students have failed a particular course, students are obliged to submit outstanding pieces of coursework prior to the examination period. Failed submission will thus result in a substantively lower mark and carries the risk of failing the particular course.

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Laboratory Guidelines 

Students are expected to behave in a collegial and responsible fashion when using Departmental Laboratories. Inappropriate use of computers or other tools will be penalised.

    

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