About the guideline
The aim of this guideline is to ensure that grading is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Act on Universities and University Colleges.
Superior documents
- Act relating to universities and university colleges
- Act relating to procedure in cases concerning the public administration (Public Administration Act)
- Guidelines for Grading (UHR)
Regulations on admission, studies and examinations at University of Inland Norway
1. The Purpose of Grading
The Act relating to universities and university colleges § 11-6 stipulates that students' knowledge and skills are tested and assessed in an impartial and academically reassuring manner. The assessment should ensure the academic level of the study.
Assessment systems should ensure that diplomas and grades reflect the student's competence, and that students are assessed in an impartial manner. The systems should also safeguard the students' legal security and the educational quality at the university.
There should either be external grading for each individual exam or external evaluation of the examination and assessment system.
The student's anonymity in grading should be ensured as far as the exam format allows it.
Students' legal security and considerations for quality assurance must be the basis for the appointment of examiners.
2. Appointment of Examiner
The faculties should appoint examiners for all exams according to the Act relating to universities and university colleges § 11-7. By exam, we mean all activities where credits are awarded and/or a grade (A-F or Passed/Not Passed) is determined that is recorded on the diploma or other documentation of the student's results.
Generally, the qualification requirement for the examiner corresponds to the requirement to teach the course. In special cases, the faculty may base it on relevant professional experience as a qualification.
Generally, a student's supervisor cannot be the examiner for their own bachelor's or master's thesis. The faculty can make exceptions for small academic communities where it is difficult to recruit examiners.
"Internal examiner" refers to all staff at the university who meet the qualification requirements, and where grading is included in the work schedule or employment contract/job description.
An "external examiner" cannot be employed in a main or secondary position at the university and must not have had an engagement as a part-time teacher in the relevant course for the exam group. Ph.D. students are not considered as external examiners at their own institution. Staff at collaborative institutions should not be used as external examiners if they have a close connection to the academic community responsible for teaching the course.
An "external examiner" should not have been an employee or student at the university in the last 12 months.
An external examiner should be appointed for a period of up to 6 years. Generally, the period cannot be extended beyond 6 years. Exceptions can be made for small academic communities where it is difficult to recruit examiners. Exceptions can also be made when the examiner has had few assignments during the period.
The Public Administration Act on impartiality (Chapter II) apply both to grading and to the appointment of examiners. The assessment of impartiality in grading is about determining whether there are special circumstances that are likely to undermine trust in the examiner acting impartially. In the end, the examiner should assess their own impartiality in relation to potential family members, students, other examiners, supervisors and against other considerations.
3. Assessment guidelines
There should be written assessment guidelines for all exams.
The guidelines must be designed so that the examiners apply the same criteria for the assessment, and that this is done against the set learning outcomes for the course. The assessment guideline can either provide general guidelines for the assessment, or it can be entirely or partially designed as an answer key.
The assessment guideline should be available to students after the grade has been set. Generally, this is published on the learning platform. In cases where exam tasks are used multiple times, the university can decide that students can read the assessment guideline at the study location and limit this period until the appeal deadline expires.
4. Determination of the Grade
The purpose of the exam is to measure the student's knowledge, skills, and general competence against the learning outcomes of the course.
The grade levels A-F correspond to the levels in the European ECTS system. The individual academic community itself determines the requirements for the different levels in the determination of grades. The determination of grades must be based on the description given for the different levels. A defined grade distribution should not be used for the individual exam, course, or study programme and each student should be assessed against the entire scale.
(https://www.uhr.no/temasider/karaktersystemet/karakterbeskrivelser/)
When using the Passed/Failed grade scale, a pass grade is not linked to a level in the A-F letter grade scale. The requirement for a pass grade is as follows:
The candidate has met the learning outcome requirements and demonstrates the necessary knowledge, skills, and competence.
All submitted examination answers must be graded. Examination answers without content (blank answers) should be given the grade F/Failed. If there is suspicion of cheating, a grade will not be determined until a decision in the case has been made.
5. Requirements for the use of examiners in grade determination
Regulations on admission, studies and examinations at University of Inland Norway §8-2 fifth paragraph stipulates that at least two examiners should be used, of which at least one external in the following cases
- When determining grades for master's and bachelor's theses, as well as for equivalent independent work
- When dealing with complaints about grade determination
Two examiners should be used to determine grades in the following cases
- For exams and partial exams that alone constitute 15 credits or more
- For exams that are not verifiable (exams where the same performance cannot be assessed by others afterwards, e.g., oral exams and practical training)
For exams where there is no statutory requirement for external examination, both examiners can be internal, but faculties should ensure that at least one of the examiners has no connection to or knowledge of the students on the course they will be examining. The faculty should use an external examiner for all exams where it is necessary to achieve a professionally sound and impartial assessment.
The requirement for two examiners applies where the student's performance in practical studies is assessed with a grade. This does not mean that two examiners should follow the students continuously through practical studies, but the assessment must be made so that it is two examiners who ultimately assess the student's performance and determine the grade. This requires documentation of the student's development, effort, and performance along the way.
The university should have a certain element of external grade determination, and therefore an external examiner should be used for grade determination in each individual exam at least every third ordinary exam conduct. This applies regardless of the scope of the course.
When the university uses an external examiner to determine grades, this should benefit all students in the same exam. For large cohorts, it is permitted to use an external examiner on a set part of the examination answers. This assessment should then be the basis for assessing the remaining examination answers. If the exam weighs or equates to 15 credits or more, the remaining examination answers must still be graded by two internal examiners.
If an external examiner determines grades at an ordinary exam, there should also be external examination at the continuation exam.
For written exams of 14 credits or less, one examiner can be used for grade determination. The faculty should use more examiners if this is necessary to achieve a professionally sound and impartial examination.
6. External evaluation
For exams where an external examiner is not used to determine the grade, the exam task and assessment guideline should be evaluated by an external examiner. The evaluation means that the external examiner should assess whether the exam task/exam criteria and assessment guideline are suitable for testing and assessing the students' knowledge in accordance with the learning outcomes of the course. Evaluation should be carried out before the exam and grading begins so that feedback from the external examiner can be incorporated.
If the same exam task with assessment guideline is used again, for example, with a self-chosen problem, external evaluation is not necessary for subsequent exam administrations.
The requirement for external evaluation will also be met if the course's exam and grading scheme is part of the cyclical study programme evaluation embedded in the quality system. The legal requirement for evaluation is then considered fulfilled for the relevant courses within the cycle.
7. Grading deadlines
The grading should be available within 15 working days after the exam has finished, according to the Act relating to universities and university colleges § 11-7. The grading deadline for all master's theses, as well as bachelor's theses over 25 credits, is 30 working days. Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays are not considered working days in this context.
If illness or other unforeseen events cause a delay in grading, the study administration should be notified. The study administration informs the students about the delay and when they can expect the grades.
The rector can specify a longer grading deadline in regulations if it is not possible to obtain the number of examiners necessary to determine the grades within 15/30 working days.
8. Disagreement
The examiners should strive to agree. If the internal and external examiner do not agree on the grade determination, the external examiner decides. If two internal or two external examiners do not agree, a third, external examiner is appointed to make the decision.
9. Explanation for grading
According to the Act relating to universities and university colleges § 11-8, the student should receive an explanation for the grade within two weeks after the student has requested it. The explanation should contain the general principles that form the basis for the grading decision, and the assessment of the student's performance.
The faculty decides whether the explanation should be given in writing or orally and can delegate the decision to the examiners. Students in the same exam should receive an explanation in the same form. For students who have individually exam arrangements according to the Act relating to universities and university colleges § 10-5, the explanation must nonetheless be given in a way that accommodates the adaptation.
If the student fails to attend the scheduled time for the oral explanation, it will be considered as given, and the deadline for submitting a grade appeal will begin from that point.
Discussions between the examiners are confidential. The examiners cannot change a set and announced grade after discussion with the student. Students who disagree with the explanation can appeal the grade. If the examiner uncovers factual errors in their own grade determination, this should be reported to the study administration, which will handle the case according to the Public Administration Act § 35.
10. Appeal of grade
If a student appeals the grade, the grading should be conducted by new examiners without unjustified delay, according to the Act relating to universities and university colleges § 11-11. The new examiners should not have assessed the specific examination answer at the first grading, but the rule does not prevent the examiners from having assessed other examination answers at the same exam.
For group exams, there is an individual right to appeal.
The examiners should not be informed of the grade, the examiner's explanation for this, or the student's reason for the appeal.
In the appeal grading, the grade can be changed both to the advantage and disadvantage of the student.
If the grading decision was based on both written and adjusting oral exam and the grade on the written part of the exam is changed after an appeal, a new adjusting oral exam should be conducted to determine the final grade. In the case of a group exam, the person appealing has the right to an individual adjusting exam if the grading decision is changed. This also applies where all group members have appealed.
If the grade in the appeal grading deviates by two or more grades from the grade in the original grading, there is not a final grading decision, and the result or outcome should not be announced to the student. In such cases, the final grade should be determined jointly by the examiners from the first grading and the appeal grading, where the examiners are made aware of the grades given, the explanations for these, and any justified appeal from the student. The student should subsequently be informed that the appeal has been handled according to this procedure.
11. Suspicion of cheating
If the examiners suspect that the student has acted in violation of the rules in the regulations on admission, studies, and exams, chapter 9, or with the rules for the relevant exam, the study administration should be contacted. The case is handled according to the university's guidelines.
Approval of the guideline
This guideline has been approved by Director of Academic Affairs on 1st August 2024.