Sick students to graduate at Oxford without doing exams

OXFORD UNIVERSITY has created a new degree class for those students who are unable to take their exams this summer due to coronavirus.

Final-year students will be able to graduate with “Declared to Deserve Honours” (DDH) status in lieu of a degree class based on their exam results.

For the first time in the university’s 900-year history, all exams and assessments that were due to take place during the remainder of this academic year will move online. Finalists will have the opportunity to sit a reduced number of open-book exams or complete longer pieces of work over several days.

Students will be given a 24-hour window in which to complete their exams to accommodate different time zones. To deter students from collusion, undergraduates will be expected to sign an “honour code”.

However, students who feel they are unable to complete exams at all – due to illness or other personal circumstances – can graduate with DDH status.

“While the formal award will be unclassified, it will be accompanied by an enhanced reference indicating the class of degree the student was expected to achieve,” said the university.

Students can apply for a DDH degree by completing an application form any time up to two days before their exam.

Due to the “exceptional circumstances”, evidence such as medical notes will not be required but all applications will be considered by a panel.

All first- and second-year exams will be cancelled, with the exception of law and medicine where exams are required for professional qualifications so will be rearranged for a later date.