Humanities Intranet

2.1 College Commitments

2.1.1 Professional conduct

Staff of the University are bound by a Professional Code of Conduct. ‌

2.1.2 The College's commitments

The College makes the following commitments to all students taking taught modules.

The content and requirements of a module will be made explicit to students in writing before they choose it.
Submission dates for module assignments will be made explicit to students at the beginning of the module.
Modules will have up-to-date bibliographies, listing books and articles which are available in the University Library. The relationship of this bibliography to the pattern of lectures, the written work and the examination structure will be clear.
Every effort will be made to ensure that books in great demand will be made available (e.g. electronically via the Library Catalogue). It is, however, your responsibility to ensure that you have obtained the necessary texts/resources in preparation for your study and it may be necessary for you to purchase some books. Further information on additional course costs can be found below at 2.11.
Staff will post on their notice boards or doors at least two office-hours per week, on separate days. During those times they will be available for bookable student consultations. If it is necessary to change an office-hour, academics will do their best to notify all affected students.
One member of staff will have overall responsibility (as ‘convenor’) for each module. The name of this member of staff will be made clear to students and they may be consulted during their office hours, or at other times by arrangement.
During term-time members of staff who are not on leave may be contacted by email, and will reply in reasonable time. Module convenors will be responsible for announcing arrangements for contact outside of term time (e.g. during the Easter break).
Tutors will normally offer students a range of essay/presentation titles, and/or exam questions, covering a variety of topics within the range of subject-matter of the module concerned. These topics will be clearly related to the overall organisation of the module.
Students will have an opportunity to discuss with tutors the preparation and planning of their assessed work before submission.
Coursework presented on schedule during Terms 1 and 2 will be returned to students within three term-time weeks of the hand-in date, except under exceptional circumstances. Any coursework presented on schedule in Term 3 will be returned before the final day of the Term.
Marked work will bear a reasonable amount of written comment on the cover sheets provided for the purpose. Such comment will be couched in terms intended to be helpful to students and to indicate to them in as constructive a way as possible the strengths and weaknesses of the work.
Students will be given the opportunity to discuss their work and feedback with the tutor who has marked it.
Work to be done for seminars will be announced in advance.
Student progress will be monitored by module tutors, personal tutors, and examination boards.
All modules will have an Exeter Learning Environment site.
All students registered in the College are assigned a Personal Tutor. For more details see Section 3 of this Handbook.

2.1.3 Grievances

A student who has reason to believe that a member of staff is not observing either the letter or the spirit of this code should first discuss the matter with the member of staff concerned, if possible. If this does not produce a satisfactory solution then the student should first approach their personal tutor, a member of the Student Staff Liaison Committee and then the Head of Department, and as a last resort, the Associate Dean (Education). Should the student feel unable to approach the member of staff directly, s/he should approach his/her personal tutor instead. The University has a procedure for complaints about teaching.

2.1.4 Education Team

The College aims to provide students with a comprehensive service via the Education Team. For students in Exeter enquiries can be directed to the team by SID - please indicate 'College of Humanities' and which discipline your query relates to - and for students in Cornwall sidcornwall@exeter.ac.uk. Staff will be happy to answer all of your questions and provide advice and guidance on a range of topics. This should be your first point of reference and you will be guided on next steps in order to resolve your query.