Class participation 20 minutes (5min x 4 cases) (10%): 

This will require students to take the lead in discussing selected readings and submit written reports as indicated below.

My approach to class participation (and its assessment), is designed to promote participation, give students some control over their participation, and help me to make sure that assessment is as fair as possible. I ask each student to nominate four of the articles, cases or chapters in which they will be ‘on-call’ to help facilitate discussion. By nominating these four readings, the student agrees:

- To read the required readings for that session with an extra degree of diligence, and

- To help lead discussion on that article or case, as necessary. 

Students can sign up for their nominated sessions by entering their selection on the google doc on canvas or by email.

No formal presentations are required, but the ‘on-call students’ are generally the first to be called upon in their particular session to respond to the questions I pose to the class about the readings. By doing this I hope to give each student a designated opportunity to participate, appreciating that in general discussion some students are more confident and capable than others and can overshadow their colleagues. Please note, in all assessments, including the assessment of class participation, a judgement needs to be made. This judgement is made against the Assessment Grading Guidelines, as set out below (Assessments). As the Guidelines note, these standards can be applied in conjunction with specific marking criteria. For class participation, the specific additional criteria are:

• Some quantity of participation in discussions (whole class and/or small group) is necessary but not sufficient to achieve a high grade; quality of participation is also important.  (See the Grading Guidelines for explanation of what constitutes good quality contributions.)

• Talking over, dominating, or denigrating other students' contributions is not appropriate. Good class participation includes helping others to participate. 

Written reports on readings for in-class participation (15%): 

Because of the number of students enrolled, and the assessment requirements for postgraduate units, class participation will also involve the submission of written work in the form of notes on a case or article chosen for discussion. These reports do not require footnotes (unlike the research essay) and should not exceed a combined total of 2000 words. Students may chose to submit one or more pieces up to a maximum of 4 items and must submit  for assessment by Monday 25 October at 23:00.   The idea is that the reports are aligned to the cases or articles chosen for discussion. 

The oral aspects of class participation are worth 10% of the final mark and the written reports are worth 15% of the final mark (total 25%).

I endeavour to make the assessment as fairly, consistently, and transparently as possible. If you have any concerns about this process or how the criteria have been applied, please let me know as soon as possible. 

Research Paper (75%): 

Students will be provided with some suggested essay topics by 10 September 2021 but will be encouraged to formulate their own research and writing project. Essay topic choices or a 300 word abstract of the proposed essay topic (ungraded) must be submitted to the lecturer for approval by 23:00 Monday 25 October 2021. This 6000 word essay is due at 23:00 on Sunday 14 November 2021.

The purpose of the research essay is to allow students to pursue a chosen area or topic within the unit in more depth. The project aims to encourage the development of basic research and analytical skills; as well as fostering clear thinking and expression of ideas. The essay will also give the students the opportunity to explore aspects of migration law within a broader theoretical and jurisprudential framework and to demonstrate their grasp of issues involving the interface between immigration and labour law and also different areas of public law, politics and economics.

Assessment requirement to pass a unit of study: 

A student must make a genuine attempt at all assessment tasks set out in this Unit of Study in order to obtain a Pass mark and grade (or above); otherwise an Absent Fail grade will be recorded as the student’s result for this Unit of Study.