Guidance on the Retention of Teaching and Learning Materials

This guidance sets out the Teaching and Learning Delivery team (TLD)’s expected retention schedule for teaching and learning materials in the institution. The document incorporates relevant entries from the University Retention Schedule in order to provide a comprehensive teaching and learning resource. If a type of document is not included here it should be retained as per the University Retention Schedule, which this resource complements. The document reflects the move, both institutionally and across the sector, to a six-yearly schedule for review engagements.

Reference should also be made to the Academic Appeals process and timescales.

The guidance in this document contains recommended minimum requirements which Schools can adapt and supplement with their own more detailed procedures. The guidance relates to the retaining of both paper and online assessed work.

With respect to the retention of student assessed work, Schools must ensure that:

(a)    an adequate proportion of submitted work, including assessment that has taken place online, is retained so that Examination Boards can reach secure and defensible judgements about awards and progression of students. As with paper-based assessments, Schools are responsible for keeping local copies of any online work;

(b)    students are informed in advance whether submitted work will be retained or returned. This information should also set out those cases where work is retained for longer than the twelve month minimum period;

(c)    beyond the requirements stated above, Schools should only retain assessed work according to their own identified needs e.g. to meet professional body requirements;

(d)    all assessed work that is retained should be kept in a secure location and organised, to enable effective management. At the end of the retention period, all retained work should be disposed of as confidential waste, unless the department wishes to provide students with a reasonably brief window of opportunity to collect it. Guidance on the disposal of confidential material can be found here;

(e)    Schools should record their policy and procedures for retention and disposal of assessment material and ensure it is published to all staff and students, in accordance with the University Retention Schedule.

Type of Record	University Retention Schedule definition (if different from ‘Type of Record’)	Retention Period	Review before destruction (refer to University Archives section of UoM Library)
Policy and Procedure
Teaching strategy and policy		Superseded + 10 years	Y
Teaching procedure		Superseded + 5 years	Y
Examination rules and procedures		Superseded + 10 years	Y
Quality Assurance and Review Material
Development of internal quality assurance processes		Retain whilst current	Y
Internal or external engagement (e.g. Periodic Review, accreditation) final reports	Conduct and results of internal and external Quality reviews	Current academic year + 5 years	N/A
Curriculum reviews		Superseded + 10 years	Y
Supporting documentation for internal or external engagements (whether prepared specifically or copies of other documentation)	Reviews, reports and feedback on taught programmes	Current academic year + 5 years	Y (formal documents only)
Statistics (student numbers etc).		Current academic year + 5 years	Y
Student feedback (e.g. surveys)	Reviews, reports and feedback on taught programmes / Student surveys	Current academic year + 5 years	Y (formal documents only)
Teaching Materials
Curriculum development		Superseded + 10 years	Y
Taught programme development		Life of programme + 10 years	Y
Taught course development and teaching materials		Life of course	N
Course Handbooks		Life of course + 6 years	N
Taught course assessments, developments and final versions		Life of course	Y
External Examiners
Selection and engagement of External Examiners		Termination of engagement + 10 years	N
External Examiner reports	Reviews, reports and feedback on taught courses, including external examiner reports	Current academic year + 6 years	Y (formal documents only)
Student Information
Detailed information on student files, including that related to appeals*		Current academic year + 6 years*	N
Basic information on student files, including name, dates of relationship with institution, final classification details, and a full record of course units taken and marks awarded (for the purposes of constructing retrospective transcripts)*		50 years after the student’s relationship with the University has ended*	N
*Most student data should be kept for 6 years after the student’s relationship with the University has ended. This is to comply with the Limitation Act 1980 and is in line with the principles set out in data protection law. Only basic records of students should be kept for longer periods: Name, dates of relationship with institution and final classification. Also, a full record of course units taken and the marks for these should be kept for at least 50 years for each student for the purposes of constructing student transcripts.
Assessed Student Work [refer to notes at top of the page]
Summative retained work, e.g. examination scripts, online exams and other substantial pieces for summative assessment, including Masters dissertations.	Summative retained Examination Scripts and Assessed Work	Students may have sight of the original work with marks and comments, but originals are retained. Date of relevant final exam board + 1 year, unless examples need to be kept for audit purposes (5 years)	N
Summative returned work, i.e. work submitted for summative assessment that needs to be returned to students as part of the continuous teaching and learning process (e.g. laboratory notebooks).	Summative and formative returned work	Returned to student only when the mark has been determined, including any internal and external moderation. The University retains neither the originals nor copies in this category and once returned it cannot be recalled for subsequent review of further scrutiny.	N
Formative returned work, i.e. work submitted solely for formative assessment, which is returned to students with comments.	Summative and formative returned work	Not retained. Once returned to students it cannot be recalled for subsequent review of further scrutiny.	N

August 2021