§ 14 · Teaching & assessment

Examinations & results

Examinations are governed by two things: who is eligible to sit, and what happens to a mark after a lecturer submits it. Both are visible on one dashboard — provided you set its filters, because it opens on a term that is usually empty.

What it is for

Running an examination cycle from eligibility to released results.

Who can do it

Exams OfficerHODDeanRegistrarSenate

Needed first
  • Assessment structures for each course
  • Verified registrations
  • Attendance recorded
  • Finance clearance decisions
Where it ends

Approved result batches, released to students and available for transcripts.

The Examination Dashboard

The Examination Dashboard: a row of report buttons, a Filters card with campus, programme, course, academic year and academic term dropdowns and an Apply button, seven tiles reading eligible students, blocked students, finance-blocked, attendance-blocked, unregistered, missing marks and pending approvals, and a campus/programme/course breakdown panel.
Examination Dashboard. Every tile here reads 0 — not because nothing is happening, but because the term filter has opened on Jan-Apr 2027, a term with no records yet.
Set the term before you believe a single number

The dashboard opens on the latest academic term, which is normally a future one that has not started. Every count then reads zero and the breakdown says “No exam eligibility records match the selected filters yet.” This looks exactly like a broken system and is not one. Change Academic term to the term you are examining and press Apply first, every time.

TileWhat it countsWho clears it
Eligible studentsCleared to sit—
Blocked studentsBlocked for any reasonSee the three tiles that follow
Finance-blockedBlocked by a finance clearance decisionFinance — Student finance
Attendance-blockedBelow the attendance thresholdThe lecturer's registers — Attendance
UnregisteredSitting a course they never registered forRegistry — Semester registration
Missing marksCourses and lecturers with marks outstandingThe lecturer
Pending approvalsApproval tables waiting for a signatureWhoever is next in the chain

Below the tiles, Operational Lists names the actual students in each category — finance-blocked, attendance-blocked, manual blocks and unregistered — so the tiles are not just numbers to worry about but lists to work.

Assessment structures

The Examination and Assessment screen listing assessment structures with their components and weights per course.
Examination & Assessment at Academics›Examination & Assessment — the components a course is marked out of, and their weights.
The CUofSS standard

The standard structure is CAT — 30%, Exam — 70%. There is one CAT, not two. A course without a structure gives its lecturer nothing to enter marks into, so this is the first thing to check when a lecturer reports an empty marks screen.

The Examination Timetable screen listing scheduled examination sittings by course, date, time and venue.
Examination Timetable. Separate from the teaching timetable. It drives examination cards and invigilation.
Examination timetables default to the latest year too

Like the dashboard, this screen opens on the most recent academic year it can find. If it looks empty, change the year before concluding nothing is scheduled.

From a submitted mark to a released result

Lecturer submits→ HOD reviews→ Exams Officer compiles→ Board / Senate approves→ Released to students
The Result Workflow screen showing result batches and the approval stage each has reached.
Result Workflow. Marks move in batches, and a batch carries the whole cohort's results through the chain together.
The Results Processing screen for computing grades, GPA and CGPA for a term.
Results Processing. Where marks become grades, GPA and CGPA using the grading scale in force.
Worked example

Closing the Sep–Dec 2026 examination cycle

1. Set the filtersExams Dashboard → Academic year 2026/2027, Academic term Sep-Dec 2026 → Apply. Nothing below is meaningful until you do
2. Clear the blocksWork the three block tiles. Finance-blocked go to Finance, attendance-blocked to the lecturer, unregistered to Registry. Each has a named list under Operational Lists
3. Chase missing marksMissing Marks report — it names the course and the lecturer. Send it to HODs, not to individuals
4. ProcessResults Processing — compute grades, GPA and CGPA for the term
5. Check before approvingGrade Distribution and Pass / Fail Analysis. A course where everyone scored above 80, or below 40, is worth a conversation before it is approved, not after
6. ApproveResult Workflow — the batch climbs the chain to the Board and Senate
7. ReleaseOnly after approval. Releasing is the separate act that makes results visible in the student portal
8. VerifyOpen a student's Results page. If it is blank, the batch was approved but not released

The reports, and what each is for

ReportUse it to
Exam EligibilityProve who may sit, before the hall opens
Missing MarksChase lecturers by course, with names attached
GPA / CGPACheck computation before results are approved
Grade DistributionSpot a course marked too hard or too soft
Pass / Fail AnalysisReport to the Board
Academic PerformanceLongitudinal performance by programme
Lecturer WorkloadTeaching and marking load per lecturer
Lecturer Marks SubmissionWho has submitted and who has not
Unregistered StudentsPeople sitting courses they are not registered for
The signatories on printed result documents

Examination documents carry signature blocks for the Senate, the Academic Board, the Exams Officer and Registry. Where a named signatory has not been configured, the block prints as a placeholder. Check a printed proof before a whole batch is issued.

If something looks wrong

SymptomCauseFix
Every tile reads zeroThe dashboard opened on a future, empty termChange Academic term, press Apply. This is the single most common report against this screen
A lecturer has no marks screenNo assessment structure for that course and termExamination & Assessment
A student is blocked and nobody knows whyThree different blocks look identical from outsideThe three block tiles separate them: finance, attendance, manual
Results approved but students see nothingApproval and release are separate actsRelease the batch
Two roles disagree about who can do a stepExams permissions overlap between Exams Officer, HOD and RegistrarThe record's own chain names the step owner — trust it over custom
The examination timetable looks emptyIt defaulted to the latest academic yearChange the year