Policies and procedures

Each course contains several assessments that are graded. What these are is specified in the course manual and/or the Osiris Course Catalog. You must participate in all assessments in order to complete the course and receive a final grade. For some assessments, you may have to obtain a minimum mark.

See also article 5.1 in the Education & Examination Regulations (dropdown further down this page).

Numerical marks are given on a scale of 1 to 10. You pass a course if you have a final mark of 6. Final marks are rounded as follows:

• Marks in the interval ≥4.95 and <5.50 are rounded to 5
• Marks in the interval ≥5.50 and <6.05 are rounded to 6
• Other marks are rounded to 1 decimal; upwards if the second decimal equals 5 or more, downwards if the second decimal equals 4 or less.

See also article 5.4 in the Education & Examination Regulations (dropdown further down this page).

• NC (Not Completed): you registered for a course and did not participate in any of the test modules.
• NVD (Not Completed): you registered for a course and did not participate in a sufficient number of assessments to be eligible for an additional test (resit)
• AANV (RESIT): you are eligible for a resit. You did not participate in an assesment, have an insufficient mark for an assessment, or an insufficient final mark, but do qualify for a resit. See item ‘Additional test (Resit)’ for the requirements.
• EX (Exemption): you have been granted exemption by the Board of Examiners.
• V (Sufficient): You passed the course.
• ONV (insufficient): You failed the course
• FR (Fraud): if fraude or plagiary has been established by the Board of Examiners this term will be shown in your study progress overview.

See also article 5.4 in the Education & Examination Regulations (dropdown further down this page).

If you failed a course you will be given a once and only opportunity to do a resit provided that your failing grade before rounding is at least 4.00 and you fulfilled all effort and attendance requirements of the course.

You will not qualify for a resit if you already passed the course (final grade of 6 or higher).

If you have been unable to participate in at most one assessment due to force majeure you will be given a once and only opportunity to do a resit, provided that you have complied with the rules as stated under ‘report illness and absence’.

See also article 5.5 and addendum E in the Education & Examination Regulations (dropdown further down this page).

You may not be able to attend an exam, lecture or working group due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances beyond your control (force majeure). It is also possible that you cannot, for example, hand in a paper on time.

• In case you are not able to attend a compulsory course component or fail a deadline due to force majeure you must inform the course coordinator as soon as can be expected.
• If you are not able to attend a test due to force majeure you have to inform the course coordinator by email and cc the student desk and study advisor as soon as can be expected mentioning your name, student number, name of the course, date of the test, and the reason of absence.
• In case you are not able to continue your studies for a longer period of time please inform your Study Advisor.

Consequences

• If you have missed mandatory course components, you may no longer meet the attendance or effort requirements (article 4.4, Education & Examination Regulations).
• If you have not been able to take or complete a test due to force majeure, and have reported this in the proper manner (see above), you have the right to take a replacement test (article 5.5, Education & Examination Regulations).

See also article 4.4, 4.5, 5.5, and adendum E in the Education & Examination Regulations (dropdown further down this page).

Corona

On this page about guidelines for on-site education and exams you can read more about short and long-term absence due to corona.

Partial tests and assignments that were passed will lose their validity if the course within which they were taken was not passed. The examiner may grant the student exemption or impose a substitute assignment for parts of a course other than (partial) tests.

See also article 5.10 and MBLS specific addendum E in the Education & Examination Regulations (dropdown further down this page).

Molecular and Biophysical Life Sciences is part of the Undergraduate School (UGS) of the Faculty of Science. The School has a general statute concerning its Education and Examinations Regulations. Specific regulations for each of the bachelor's programmes of the UGS can be found in the Annex.

The EER 2022-2023 applies to current students.

Education and Examination Regulations 2022-2023:

• Onderwijs- en Examenregeling (Dutch)
• Education and Examination Regulations
• Annex

The Board of Examiners of the Undergraduate School consists of a central Board of Examiners and six Executive Panels. These Executive Panels implement examinations policy independently, within the frameworks set by the central Board of Examiners of the Undergraduate School. The chairs of the Executive Panels form, together with an independent chair and an external member, the central Board of Examiners of the School. The central Board of Examiners acts as a framework-setting and supervisory body. It determines examinations policy and sets the frameworks in the form of regulations and procedures.

Members of the board

The up to date list of members can be found on the page Organisation.

Duties and powers

The duties and powers of the Board of Examiners are derived from the Dutch Higher Education and Research Act (WHW). The Board of Examiners establishes regulations with regards to further implementation of these duties and powers. These are described in the Regulations Board of Examiners Undergraduate School.

Duties and powers of the Board of Examiners include:

• Ensure proper compliance with the Education and Examination Regulations (EER);.
• Guaranteeing the quality of exams
• Monitoring the quality of the courses
• Appointment of examiners
• Approve a student's exam program
• Granting exemptions
• Approval of course units such as optional courses, adjustments to the program, following courses outside the UU or extra ECs
• Granting extra resits
• Determining the exam results of individual students
• Awarding the Cum Laude judicium
• Issue of certificates

Contact

Sometime during your studies you may need permission from the Board of Examiners. This can be, for example, for applying for an exemption, to follow a certain course or to do an internship, or to ask permission to take part in a resit after illness. Your first point of contact for questions and for submitting requests is the MBLS Executive Panel (see next section).

The Board of Examiners UGS is mandated by law to assure the quality of the graduates and thus also to uphold the quality of tests and exams within the School. Many practical issues of the Board of Examiners are delegated to executive panels. In most cases, the MBLS executive panel is the first to contact.

• Dr. Jan Andries Post (chair, Dept. Biology)
• Dr. Toon de Kroon (member, Dept. Chemistry)
• Dr. Florian Berger (member, Dept. Biology)
• L.F.J. (Laura) Huiskamp MSc, secretary

Contacting the Executive panel MBLS

The Executive panel MBLS assesses requests for special arrangements for students' study programmes, such as exemptions, credit transfer, provision for testing in special cases, etc. 

All requests are to be submitted through Osiris Student. In Osiris Student, you will select MyCases, Start Case, General and then choose ‘Request to The Board of Examiners – Bachelors of Science.’ Here you can select the appropriate request type.
Be careful: don’t upload confidential (medical) information in Osiris; if necessary, discuss it with your study advisor.

For other questions, you can contact the Board of Examiners MBLS, Executive Panel through: Science.BoE.MBLS@uu.nl

Interim Study Advice

In your first year of your first enrolment in your programme, you will receive an Interim Study Advice (‘positive’, ‘negative’ or ‘a warning) before 31 January. This advice indicates your study progress and is not binding. In case of a negative Interim Study Advice, you will be advised to discontinue your studies.

Binding Study Advice

At the end of the first academic year, a Binding Study Advice (BSA) will be given. The norm for the Binding Study Advice for the academic year 2022-2023 is 45 EC.

The BSA is issued by the programme director, based on the number of credits you have obtained in the current academic year. You can obtain 60 EC (or more) in one academic year. If you have obtained at least 45 EC at the end of your first academic year, you will receive a letter with a positive Binding Study Advice.

If you achieve less than 45 EC in your first year, you will receive a negative binding study advice. In that case, you may not continue your studies for the next four years. If there are personal circumstances that may influence your BSA, please report this as soon as possible to the Study Advisor.

Be aware that:

1. No negative Binding Study Advice can be issued if the student has passed all the tests related to the courses in the first year of the study programme with a combined study load of 60 EC (see Education and Examination Regulations 7.4. section 12 and the appendices of the EER).
2. If you request course de-enrolment before 1 February of your first study year, you will receive no negative binding study advice.

Also see article 7.4 of the Education and Examination Regulations.

Circumstances beyond one's control

If there were special circumstances why you did not obtain 45 EC, you can apply for a delayed Binding Study Advice. Please mention your special circumstances influencing your study progress to the Study Advisor as soon as reasonably possible.