Students have the right to be assessed in a fair, impartial manner, in accordance with the level of education they are receiving. The method of assessment used in each subject will be made known at the beginning of the academic year and will be the same for the different groups in each subject. The teaching staff can choose to use exams, continuous assessment or project work to assess students. In any case, students will have the right to sit a final exam, if they wish to..

The assessment procedures used in the different subjects cannot be changed without notice, unless there is an important and justifiable reason for doing so. Generally speaking, exams will be written, although they may be oral if the student so requests and the lecturer gives his or her consent, or because the lecturer considers it to be the most appropriate method. Mid-term exams may also be set and, if this were the case, they will be arranged to be done outside teaching hours.

The periods for extending registration to include other subjects will be shown on the academic calendar. Students will be able to ask for cancellation of their registration for the course, provided no final grades have been noted in their records. When a student is absent from an exam, then that exam is automatically cancelled (there is no limit to the number of times a student can sit an exam, but from the fifth onwards the exam is assessed by an examining board).

One week before the date of an exam, the Secretary´s office for the centre will send out to each department a list of the students who are legally entitled to sit the exam.

In the case of mid-term exams, the person responsible for the subject will post the grades within a period of thirty working days as from the date of the exam and, whatever happens, at least ten working days before the date of the next exam in the same subject.

The records for each subject shall include the grades obtained by the students, in accordance with the assessment system that has been established, as well as the number of passes and fails as a percentage of the total number of students who sat the exam. If any mistakes are found, the lecturer responsible for the subject will add the correction at the foot of the page and it will then be endorsed by the Secretary at the Centre.

The examining board for the exams (as well as the name of the lecturer responsible for signing the records) will be proposed by the department for approval by the Centre.

The fifth and sixth times a student sits an exam, the boards will be made up of three lecturers from the department _ preferably full professors from the area the subject belongs to. In these cases, the examining board will take into account not only the exam itself but also the student´s academic record and other circumstances.

Theoretical exams may not last more than four hours and the maximum is seven hours when both theory and practical problems are being assessed. For subjects that involve a practical or expressive test, the sessions can be arranged to suit the particular requirements of such exams.

Once the exam has started, the lecturers will hand out a photocopy of the typed instructions, which will include the approximate point value for each part of the exam.

During the first term, the Head of Studies will arrange the dates of the ordinary, extraordinary and mid-term exams with the lecturer responsible for each subject and the Student Union in each Centre. Once the dates have been set, the list will be posted on the notice board. The dates proposed for the second and third terms will be only a rough guide and will have to be confirmed at least a fortnight before the actual date of the exam.

Ten days before a mid-term exam (fifteen in the case of ordinary and extraordinary exams), the department will post the date, start time, place and length of the exam on the notice board. The subject matter the students are to be assessed on will also be included. Once the exam schedule has been publicly announced, it cannot be modified unless there is some important and justifiable reason for doing so.

On finishing each exam, the department will post the solutions to the practical exercises and problems, so that students can gain the maximum benefit from them. Students can attend a review of the exam on a date that will be made known at least four working days beforehand. This will be when lecturers explain the reason why they awarded the grades in each case.

Projects and reports from practicals will be handed in on the dates that are agreed by students and lecturers. If students are going to ask to have their assignment or report back, at least two months must have elapsed since it was graded before they can do so. The documents may not be published or reproduced, either fully or partially, or used for any other purpose without the author´s express consent.

There are five possible grades that correspond to the following scores:

The grade of "Excellent" can be awarded to students who have achieved a score of 9.0 or higher. The number of students awarded this grade cannot exceed five per cent of the total amount of students enrolled in a particular subject for a given academic year, except when a subject has less than 20 registered students, in which case a maximum of one grade corresponding to "Excellent" can be awarded.

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