The Saint
PTP system scrapped
Kate Westlake
The University of St Andrews is looking at scrapping its current Permission to Proceed (PTP) policy.
At the moment students must retain their PTP throughout their module by maintaining a strict level of attendance in classes and a minimum standard of work. If PTP is lost, students are removed from the module concerned and receive a zero on their academic transcript.
However, University authorities are now reviewing the procedure in favour of a system of academic alerts, implemented through the Module Management System (MMS).
Under-performing students would receive an email or an alert on their MMS profile highlighting the concerns of their department and would be given advice on what action to take.
At the end of the module if too many alerts have accumulated, the individual case of the student would be reviewed.
Under the new system it is believed that problems experienced by students would be identified sooner and that the responsibility of attending classes and maintaining an acceptable level of academic performance would be left to students.
Georgina Rannard, Director of Representation at the Students Association said, The University is looking into where the responsibility for students studies lies and hopes the new system will mean students are treated more like adults.
She added, St Andrews is now the last university in Scotland to implement a system like PTP.
However, not all the schools in the University support the proposed changes and so discussions will need to continue in order to find a compromise that suits all. Once this has been achieved the new academic alert system may be trialled next year.
