A message from Common Awards

Dear Common Awards students,

We hope this finds you all well. Reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic has been our priority over the last two years, and we continue to do everything we can to support Theological Education Institutes (TEIs) and students. 

You may be aware that Durham University introduced Covid-19 safety net policies in 2019-20 and in 2020-21.

In 2019-20 when TEIs were unable to prepare for the pandemic, the No Detriment policy provided a safety net so that students could take assessments with the confidence that if their marks were worse than those they gained for work completed before the Covid-19 pandemic, it would not affect their degree classification.

In 2020-21 the Academic Safety Net policy took into account the different circumstances we found ourselves in, where Covid had affected the entire year, but staff and students had had time to prepare for the unique conditions of learning and teaching. The Academic Safety net provided an integrated set of policies aiming to ensure that no students’ educational attainment was worsened as a result of the pandemic.

In 2021-22, we find ourselves in a different context again. With restrictions eased across the country and TEIs generally able to offer the teaching and learning activities they want, the University currently has no plans to introduce a specific Covid safety-net policy for modules taken in 2021-22. This may change if the Covid-19 landscape shifts significantly in the coming months. However, we recognise that some students may still find themselves seriously affected by Covid-19, and that the cumulative mental and physical stress experienced by many over the last two years may continue to impact students taking assessments this year. Therefore we wanted to provide you with details of processes and policies which can be used by your TEI to support students affected by Covid in 2021-22. The details are given on our website: 

https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/common-awards/news--events/covid-19/covid-faqs-for-202122/ 

Please be assured that if you took assessments in 2019-20 and 2020-21, they will still be covered by the previous Covid-19 safety-net policies, no matter when you complete your studies. A summary of these policies can be found on our website: