Maintaining Academic Standards and Protecting Student Interests in UK Law Schools Following Covid-19

This paper focuses on how universities responded to the disruption in learning of the Covid-cohort, focusing specifically on the introduction of ‘no detriment’ policies or ‘safety nets’, and the assessment changes that materialised in its wake. Universities were required to act quickly in adapting their teaching, learning and assessment practices to suit unprecedented circumstances which saw wide-spread campus closures and face-to-face teaching replaced with online delivery. Most universities sought to ensure that assessments could go ahead, albeit under very different circumstances, which required changes to the ways in which students were assessed and the extent to which their grades would affect their overall results. Throughout this period of change, universities had to carefully balance the interests of the students with the university’s regulatory obligations to maintain academic standards. This paper sets out some of the challenges faced by universities, and Law Schools in particular, and explores how universities responded to these challenges. It then considers what actions could be taken relating to assessment in Law Schools in light of the longer-term effects of the Covid pandemic.