Hurdle Requirements

A hurdle requirement is an assessment task mandating a minimum level of performance as a condition of passing the course.聽

The Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy limits the setting of hurdle requirements to the following:

  1. not more than 3 separate assessment tasks with hurdle requirements per course (note that this precludes the bundling of different assessment tasks into a single hurdle),
  2. no hurdle requirement/s in assessment tasks weighted at less than 20% of the total assessment, and
  3. the sum of all hurdle requirements in a single course (except clinical practice) does not exceed 60% of the total assessment for the course.
  4. the consequences of not meeting a hurdle requirement are made explicit to students.
  5. where a required clinical or professional accreditation competency is being assessed as a hurdle requirement an NGP grade with 0 marks allocated may be used. In this case the NGP graded hurdle assessment should not contribute to the maximum number of three hurdles per course.

Exemptions to this requirement can be approved by the relevant Executive Dean, on pedagogical grounds. These must be reported to the聽University Education Committee聽(only updated if there is significant change to the course). Students should be advised of exemptions in the Course Outline.

The policy also requires that students be fully informed of:

  • the hurdle requirements
  • how their attainment of the hurdle requirements will be monitored
  • how they will be informed if they do not attain the requirements
  • their entitlements under the Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy.

As a matter of good practice, the University Education聽Committee recommends the following,

Hurdle requirements should:

  • be determined on pedagogical grounds
  • be used only where it is necessary to ensure the mastery of core Discipline elements
    (especially in Disciplines where there are professional and / or technical applications as is the case for example with placements in the Medical and Health Sciences)
  • be used to enhance student performance rather than to compel performance
  • be applied sparingly to courses
  • be used to meet minimum competency standards or to demonstrate 'fitness to practice' for courses related to professional practice
  • be designed to match assessment tasks and reflect the weighting of the task in the overall assessment
  • be measurable
  • permit additional assessment as per the聽Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy.