Epistemology and Higher Education in the Muslim World

During the summer of 2019, university students were eagerly anticipating their grades, which would determine their final-year degree classification. At one department of the University of Sheffield, students complained about the grade they had received for their end-of-year work – these students were given 2:2’s and Thirds. The university could have sign-posted the students to the protocols on standardisation, marking and moderation of assessments, together with reminding the students of the role of external examiners in overseeing the process of assessment and grading. Instead, the university, responded via email: ‘thank you for raising the issue and thank you also for your patience.’ It went to state that on reflection, the head of department, together with the director of learning and teaching had decided that, ‘our normal procedures… failed us. For this we apologise unreservedly.’ The department had concluded that it was in the best interest to ‘uplift all the marks… less at the top and more at the bottom.’ The poorly performing students had their marks raised by nearly 40 per cent. The few who had done well saw their marks barely change. ‘Again, our apologies,’ the message concluded, ‘but we hope that this is a satisfactory resolution’ (Lambert, 2019).