Program Assessment and Learning Experience Manual

IIITB and upGrad Executive Post Graduate Programme in Data Science & AI

Contents
IIITB Assessment Policy 2

Assessment Structure 3

Grading Policy 5

Code of Conduct 7

Assessment and Grading Timelines 8

Guidelines for Re-evaluation 9

Faculty and Industry Live Lectures 10

Deferral Policy 10

Telegram policy 11

Escalation Matrix 12
Guidelines for MSDS (Master’s in Data Science with IIITB and LJMU) 13
IIITB Assessment Policy

As a general IIITB assessment policy, assessments are divided into two formats, namely, formative and
summative, without too much emphasis on a single format. Hence, a variety of assessment formats are
planned in order to mirror the workplace today and the global university standards. The list below describes
the different assessment formats used in the program:

● Group case studies will assess the learners based on their ability to produce quality deliverables on large
analytics projects as a team. This will help in building team-playing skills, which are considered
invaluable by analytics recruiters in the 21st-century workplace.
● In-module Graded Questions, individual assignments, and exams will assess the participants based
on conceptual clarity.
● As per IIITB exam guidelines, exam question papers and answer keys will not be disclosed to
maintain the academic integrity of exam questions.

The Academic Committee deliberates regularly on the academic structure and grading elements of the
program, and it holds the right to change any component of the same. Any change to the grading elements or
the academic structure of the program will be communicated to the learners in advance.
It is recommended that the participants focus on learning as opposed to focusing solely on assessment scores.
Given that it is an Executive Post-Graduate program, the participants are expected to do research on their own
during the learning process and deal with assessments having varied/multiple approaches to solving them.
Assessment Structure
Assessment Components and Respective Weights

The Executive Post-Graduate program comprises four assessment components. Their distribution and
weightage are summarized in the table below.

Type of Assessment Subset

Quizzes
Graded MCQs and coding questions (may include timed assessments)

Assignment Individual assignments

Group Case Studies Group submissions of case studies

Exam

Two proctored online exams:

• First: A 180- min exam for course 1,2 & 3.

• Second: A 180- min exam for courses 4 and 5.

*Two exam slots are offered per exam & duration is subject to change based on University norms.
 Weight Distribution in the Course -Deep Learning/Data
Analytics/Natural Language Processing/Business Analytics/Data
Engineering Track
Course Projects (in %) MCQ (in %) Exam (in %)
Course 1 - Data 35 45 20
Toolkit
Course 2 - Machine 35 45 20
Learning 1
Course 3 (All Track) 30 45 25
Course 4 (All Track) 30 45 25
Course 5 (All Track) 30 45 25
Course 6 (DL, DA, 80 20 0
NLP, BA)
Course 6 (DE) 100 0 0

*upGrad reserves the right to modify, amend or change the structure of module delivery, after due consensus with
the university partner.

Let's take an example to understand this. Suppose you have scored the following marks in the assessment
components is mentioned with its respective weightage in parentheses:

Projects (35%) - 320/450 Graded Questions (45%) - 300/600 Exam (20%) - 21/30

Your final percentage score will be calculated as:

{[0.35*(320/450)] + [0.45*(300/600)] + [0.2*(21/30)]} *100 = 61.39%

The final percentage scores of all the learners are calculated in this manner, and then the grades are assigned to the
learners by the course faculty based on the relative scores of the cohort.
Grading Policy
Grade Point Average (GPA) Computation for a Course
The marks given for each assessment, scaled by the weight assigned to an assessment, add up to the
overall score for a course. Grade Point Average (GPA) is awarded on a four-point scale based on the
normalized course-level scores of the entire batch. The faculty has the autonomy to decide on the
grading scale based on the relative scores of a batch.

There are 10 letter grades: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D, F and I. The relation between grades and points (on
a four-point scale) is shown in the table below:

Letter Grade A A- B+ B B- C+ C D F

Grade Points 4 3.7 3.4 3 2.7 2.4 2 1 0

The grade ‘I’ does not carry any grade points and is interpreted as ‘Incomplete’

If a learner is unable to complete the program due to a legitimate reason, then the Academic Committee
may award the grade ‘I’ (Incomplete) to that learner. An ‘I’ grade must be converted to a regular letter grade
by deferring to a later batch (in the immediate 5 months after their particular batch has ended), failing
which it will be converted to an ‘F’ grade automatically.

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) Computation for the Program

The program has a total of 36 credits, which are distributed as follows:

Course Credit

Course 1: Data Toolkit 8

Course 2: Machine Learning - 1 7

Course 3 (Track) 7

Course 4 (Track) 4

Course 5 (Track) 3

Course 6 - Capstone Project 7

Post Course 2, The students would get an option to decide the track of their choice based on their career
profile & academic interests. There are 5 tracks namely – Natural Language Processing (NLP)/Deep Learning
(DL)/Business Analytics/Business Intelligence and Data Engineering. Students will get appropriate guidance
from the academic team to help decide the same.
 The credits and program duration for all the tracks would remain the same. The GPA scores for each course
weighted by the respective proportion of credit add up to the CGPA for the entire program. The GPA is
truncated (and not rounded off) at two decimal places.

For instance, if the grade points awarded to a participant are, respectively, G1, G2, etc., in courses with the
corresponding credits of U1, U2, etc., then the CGPA = (U1*G1 + U2*G2 + …)/(U1 + U2 + …), wherein U1 and
U2 refer to all the courses taken up until the time of computation of the CGPA.

A learner must pass each course by securing at least a D grade (1-grade point on a 4point scale). However, to
receive the Executive PGP Certificate, the Cumulative Grade Point Average, or the CGPA, should be greater
than 2.4. The learners will be awarded a completion certificate solely certified by upGrad on completion of
the preparatory course.

Example: Suppose you have scored the following marks in Course 3. Each component is mentioned with its
respective weightage in parentheses.
1. Assignment (30%) - 320/450
2. Projects (45%) -325/600
4. Exam (25%) - 21/40

Your final percentage score will be calculated as:

{[0.3*(320/450)] + [0.45*(325/600)] + [0.25*(21/40)} *100 = 58.83%
*(Since this score is more than 25%, you’ve fulfilled the passing criteria in the course)

If a learner secures below D in any course or fails to score at least 25% in any course, then the learner will fail
the program and will not be eligible for the Executive PG Programme Certificate. The learner will, however,
have access to content just like their peers and will be given feedback on their submissions. They will be
eligible for a letter of participation (LOP) only if they have successfully completed all the content of the
program and have achieved a score of 40% and above in the graded questions (MCQs and the graded coding
questions). The 40% score in the graded questions is at an overall level of the program and is not restricted to
any course or module.

Eligibility to receive Program Certificate for learners in final/penultimate semester of graduation program

● Learners who are undergoing an undergraduate degree with any university or institute and who are in
their final or penultimate semester shall be allowed to enroll for the Executive Post Graduate Program.

Please note that to get the final Executive Post Graduate Programme in Data Science & AI from IIIT B or
Completion/Participation Certificate, IIITB has eligibility criteria that a learner must complete his graduation
from his/her respective university or institution with a minimum of 50% as final graduation score.

● Such learners who are undergoing an undergraduate degree and in their final/ penultimate semester shall
be required to sign an undertaking form which will be provided by upGrad stating that the learner shall be
eligible for the Executive PGP Certificate from IIITB subject to submission of the final year transcripts and
graduation certificate as per the timeline mentioned in the said undertaking.
Grade Improvement Opportunity (GIO)

We understand that in a rare scenario, a student may not be able to meet the criteria for passing a course
(i.e 25% overall) due to unforeseen circumstances. We do not want our learners to become ineligible for
receiving the Executive PGP certificate because of such circumstances.

Hence, in such cases, a Grade Improvement Opportunity (GIO) will be given to the learner to help them
complete the program and be eligible for receiving the Executive PGP certificate. The list below shows the
salient points of a GIO:

a. A learner can avail a maximum of one GIO in the entire program.

b. The GIO will be decided by the Academic Committee and will be in the form of an online proctored
exam or any other mode of assessment as deemed fit by the Academic Committee.
c. In order to pass the course using GIO, the aggregate course level score must be greater than or equal
to 25% after consideration of re-attempted scores in one or more assessment component/s allocated as
part of GIO.
d. This overall updated score will be capped at 25% during grading in GIO.
e. If a student fails in more than one course, then they will not be eligible for the Executive PGP as a
GIO can be availed for only one course.
f. GIO will not be applicable during the Capstone.

Code of Conduct
1. Any learner’s misbehaviour on an online or offline forum will not be tolerated and will
entail appropriate disciplinary action from the academic committee.
2. Strict adherence to behavioural policies must be maintained by all candidates. Provoking messages,
threats, usage of derogatory words and demeaning connotations made on online or public forums
(WhatsApp, Telegram, Discussion forum) against your upGrad Buddy/ peers/ anyone representing the
University/upGrad may lead to withholding of your enrolment into the program and may also result
in strict disciplinary action.
3. Any dishonest behaviour including but not limited to plagiarism in any form for any graded component of
the Program on any platform and/or discussion forum may lead to withholding of your enrolment into the
program and may also result in strict disciplinary action.
4. Learners are not allowed to request, share or discuss solutions for any graded component of the Program
on any platform and/or discussion forum. If any such act is done by the learner, he or she will be marked
‘zero’ (0) in that particular graded component. For any subsequent violation, disciplinary actions shall be
taken at the sole discretion of IIITB and upGrad and all such posts having answers to the graded
questions shall be deleted by the Teaching Assistant (TA).
5. Students are expected to restrict the emails only to the escalation IDs shared in this student manual or
communicate separately while raising any query, concerns or grievance. Please refrain from sending
any mass mailers while sending emails to the upGrad team. IIITB and upGrad reserve the right to take
strict action against any student indulging in mass mailers.
6. upGrad does not tolerate any form of bullying and/ or harassment including but not limited to sexual
harassment. If we are notified of any act of harassment committed by a learner towards co-learners or
upGrad's representative, such learner shall have to face strict consequences, which shall be taken at the
sole discretion of upGrad.
 Student Support Guidelines

upGrad Buddy -
● Your upGrad buddy will help personalize your learning experience by periodically engaging with you
to ensure you are on track with upcoming deadlines, offer guidance, resolve non-academic queries,
and lend a helping hand wherever required
● Your upGrad buddy will also be conducting periodical buddy sessions to engage with the
cohort for their nonacademic doubts.

Student Support Team -

● In case you need to approach us, you can use the E-Buddy (E-chat Bot) on the learn platform to
resolve your queries the quickest
● In a situation where your query is not resolved the Bot will generate a ticket and the support team
will connect with you within 24 hours.
● Post the first week, the E Buddy (E-chat Bot) will be your tool to reach to us and solve your queries
in the quickest time possible
● In case of any escalations you can write to [email protected]

Around your program completion, your buddy will connect you with the Career Coach to take the journey
ahead in the careers phase. You can always remain connected with upGrad in the alumni phase through
[email protected]. We will be happy to guide and assist.

Assessment and Grading Timelines

Assessment Submission Timelines

● The program is structured such that the entire cohort can experience a course together. The modules will be
made available to the learners a minimum of 3 weeks prior on a rolling basis. The participants will be given
sufficient time to complete the modules and projects.
● A calendar with all the modules, projects and exam deadlines for an upcoming course will be shared with the
participants via email and will be visible on the platform calendar before the beginning of that course. The
deadlines for the respective assessments are non-negotiable except under critical circumstances. All quizzes and
projects submitted after the stated deadlines, but within one week after the deadline, will be graded on 70% of
the total marks of the assessment (including Graded MCQs, Projects, etc.) thus, a penalty of 30% will be imposed.
This second deadline is also termed the Hard deadline.
● Submissions received after the Hard deadline will be graded and will receive feedback, but will attract a penalty
of 100%. Feedback will be given so as not to hamper learning, but the marks would be considered as zero for all
official purposes. Please note that all the deadlines are in IST (UTC +5.5). Hence, if you are in a different time zone,
then your deadline may vary according to the local time. For example, if you are in London and following BST
(British Summer Time), which is UTC +1, then for a deadline of 11:59:00 PM IST in India, the deadline for you in
the local time would be 7:29:00 PM BST.
Deadline Extension Policy

As mentioned earlier, the deadlines are non-negotiable except under dire circumstances such as a major health
issue, a work-related issue, etc. In such cases, you may be given an extension of up to 1 week. This means that
you can submit your graded components after the deadline without the 30% penalty. However, no extension
will be given beyond the Hard deadline (1 week after the actual deadline) as solutions are released the very
next day. Here are the guidelines for the same:

1. A learner can avail of a maximum of eight extensions during the entire program period.
2. Extensions are allowed on individual assignments, group case study & graded MCQ deadlines.
3. No extensions will be given beyond the Hard deadline (1 week after the actual deadline) as solutions
are usually released a day after the Hard deadline.
4. Learners must be very careful while uploading their submissions on the platform. Any wrong file
extension request post the first (soft) deadline of an assignment/case study will attract a penalty of
30% on the revised submission. No wrong file extension requests will be entertained after the second
(Hard) deadline.
5. To avail of an extension for assignments and case studies, you can directly avail it from the
platform (extension applicable on the submission). For modules, you can avail of the extension
from each quiz. Please note that if the extension is taken for any quiz then it will automatically get
applied to all the quizzes in the entire module as the extension would be on a module level and
not quiz level.
6. Learners should use the extensions judiciously & can apply them directly from the Learning Platform.
7. For a group case study, group members will have to apply for extensions individually.

Grading and Feedback Timelines

The timelines for the release of the solution, feedback and grades for various components are given below.
Assessment Solution Grades
Component
Graded Questions
Immediately after attempting Within 2 weeks of the Hard deadline

Projects Within 1 week of the Hard deadline* Within 2 weeks of the Hard deadline
Exam The solution is not released Within 3 weeks of the last exam
GPA Not applicable Within 4-5 weeks of the last exam

*Hard deadline: It refers to the deadline 1 week after the actual deadline, during which a 30% penalty is
imposed on the submissions.

Once these scores are available, each participant can access them on their Individual Performance Profile on
the platform.

The participants will receive immediate feedback for graded questions. Ideal solutions for projects will be
available for download within one week of the hard deadline of an assessment. Qualitative feedback will be
provided along with the scores only for the projects.
Guidelines for Re-evaluation
1. A re-evaluation request (if any) should be submitted within 2 days of the declaration of the results. For
example, if results were declared on 13/06/2022, then requests for re-evaluation made till
15/06/2022 (end of the day) will be considered.
2. A learner will be able to request a re-evaluation on the learning platform itself.
3. A learner may request a re-evaluation of their assignment by claiming a discrepancy of marks when
compared with the ideal solution. In such cases, the learner should clearly specify the particular portion
(Q. No.) of the assignment that is required to be re-evaluated plus the remarks regarding the claimed
discrepancy. Requests that do not have all of this information or are very generic/vague in nature will be
flagged as invalid and will not be considered. Note: If the claim for a discrepancy of marks holds
invalid, then the concerned learner will be awarded a penalty of 15% points (of the total points).
4. Re-evaluation requests claiming discrepancy of marks when compared with another learner’s graded
assignment are highly discouraged and will NOT be considered. Note: If any such requests are made,
then the concerned learner will be awarded a penalty of 15% points (of the total points).
5. Re-evaluation requests for assignments that have been uploaded after the Hard deadline will not
be considered and are highly discouraged.
6. All re-evaluation requests will receive a response any time up to 3 weeks after the
re-evaluation deadline.

Faculty and Industry Live Lectures

As part of the program, all participants can expect access to multiple live sessions per course, which will be
delivered by a mix of industry professionals and academicians. However, the mix can vary by course. Details
about these live sessions will be updated on the participant calendar on the platform or the students will be
informed via email. These live sessions are an integral part of the overall learning experience, and we highly
encourage the participants to attend and actively participate in all these sessions.

As an incentive to perform well in the program, additional delight elements will be provided to the top
performers in select assessment components or to participants who complete the modules and submit their
projects by adhering to the recommended deadlines.
 Deferral Policy
Deferral Policy: (Post Program Commencement)

● If a student is facing severe issues in dedicating time to the course, we provide the opportunity for the student to
defer to another batch.
● The first deferral request to any program offered by IIIT Bangalore shall be free for one time, with the below
condition:
The Executive Post Graduate Programme in Data Science & AI learners should take the deferral such that the completion
is within a maximum duration of 3 years from the initial batch start date.
● For any deferral after the first deferral, the student will be required to pay a deferral fee of 10% of the total course
amount fee + Taxes if any along with the differential program fees between the two cohorts. The deferral request will
be approved once the deferral fee is paid.
● Till the request is approved, the student will be assumed to be continuing in the same cohort.
● The student has 7 days (including holidays and weekends) from the date of deferral request to make the payment of
the deferral fee post which the deferral request will expire, and the student will continue as part of the current cohort.
● If the student completes the deferral payment, the student’s login will be disabled, the student will leave the deferred
cohort and the student will start learning on the new cohort post the last course that was graded in the deferred
cohort. All grades and progress till that course will be carried forward as it is to the new cohort. For clarification, the
grades of the graded courses will be carried forward.
● The deferral can only be requested during the batch for which the student has enrolled is ongoing. Once the batch
has completed, deferral requests shall not be entertained. For clarification, the batch completion here shall mean the
“last grace deadline” as communicated by upGrad.

Deferral Policy: (Pre- Program Commencement)

If a learner, due to unavoidable circumstances, is unable to commence with the cohort and requests for a deferral
before the cohort starts, we provide him/her with an opportunity to get deferred to another cohort. Below are the
points to note in such cases:
1. To defer the enrolment, the learner shall be required to pay 50% of the total Program fee amount (inclusive of taxes)
before the deferral can be approved
2. Till the time the payment as per point No. 1 of this policy is completed, the learner shall be assumed to be continuing
in the same cohort
3. The learner can request for deferral of his enrolment to any of the cohorts starting in the next three (3) months from
the start date of the initial cohort in which such learner was originally enrolled for.
4. For the first deferral request, subject to point no. 2 of the pre-program deferral policy, no additional charges shall be
levied.
5. If a learner wants to defer his/her enrolment again for a second time, then an additional payment of Rs. 10,000 will
have to be paid as Deferral fee, and this amount shall be non-refundable in all circumstances.
6. Once this payment is done, the learner will be eligible to defer to any of the cohort starting in the next 3 months
from the current cohort.
7. The learner has time till the current cohort launch date to make the payment of the balance 50% program fee, post
which the deferral request will expire.
8. Once the deferral window expires and if the learner wants to withdraw his or her enrolment from the said Program,
respective program specific refund policy shall be applicable.
9. The learner will have to pay the differential program fees between the two cohorts, if any.
 In case you wish to defer to any other cohorts -
● If you want to resume from Courses 1, 2 then there will be no issues as content is common. (After
completion of course 2, learners would be provided with 5 options of specialization to select from, on
the basis of their profile, interest & goals; details for which are already mentioned above.)
● If you want to resume Course 3, you will have to opt into one of the 5 available tracks provided. ● In
case you wish to change the track in Course 3, you will have to defer (with Deferral Fee) and start from
Course 3 onwards in the new cohort
● You can reach out to your upGrad Buddy to understand which cohort you will be mapped
within case you choose to defer anytime during your learning journey.

*In case a student wishes to change the track in which he was initially enrolled (post Course 2), he would need to defer and repeat
from course 3 onwards in the new track. Standard Deferral process & fees would be applicable in such cases.
**The Deferral Fee is defined as 10% of the TOTAL program fee. This is irrespective of the discount/scholarship that a student would
have received. The Deferral Fee is payable based on the program fee at the time of enrolment of a student. The policy also states that
if the price has been increased and if a student is deferring to a cohort with an increased price, then they need to pay the differential
fee for the new cohort along with the Deferral Fee.
Telegram policy
In order to provide easier access to course-related updates in addition to emails and calls, a telegram channel
will be created by your upGrad buddy to keep you notified of the upcoming deadlines and course-related
updates. We will be creating an Official Telegram Channel where only the upGrad buddy will be allowed to
post notifications.
To manage this effort effectively and efficiently, all members must be aware of the following guidelines:

1. The channel will be used only by the upGrad buddy for sharing important notifications related to
the program, course content, live sessions, exams, events, etc.
2. Should you have any concerns with upGrad, University partners or your peers, you will be required
to direct such communication to upGrad ONLY via email or reach out to your upGrad buddy over call.
3. upGrad will NOT be collecting any personal information via this channel and shall not be responsible
for any misuse of personal information by other members of the channel. However, we will provide
you with all reasonable assistance to take action against any other student who has misused such
information.
4. Telegram should not be considered as a medium for official query resolution. For any such queries,
please reach out to the student support team via email or by using the chat function available on
the learning platform. The upGrad buddy is not liable to answer any/all queries over telegram.
5. In addition to this channel, the PI Sessions will also be created on telegram to share session invites
and agendas.
6. You are requested to keep the notifications turned on, on your Telegram app to receive
uninterrupted updates during the program.

Hope you make the most of this platform and keep yourself updated about the course and the platform.
Escalation Matrix for grievance redressal
upGrad believes in adopting a transparent approach with all its learners, and in order to match our learners’
expectations in terms of grievance redressal, we have created an Escalation Matrix. Based on the kind of
queries we receive from our learners, we have defined the levels of the Escalation Matrix. We request you to
refer to the same in case you ever find the need to escalate an issue.

Type of Query Point of Contact

Non-academic queries (For example, live sessions,)
Budd-E on your learn platform

Referral refund/fee receipts-related queries Budd-E on your learn platform

Non-academic queries on weekends Learners can reach out via the chat/call
option in the help section of the
platform

For Academic Queries Click on the “Report an Error” button on

the bottom left corner of the session
page.
Content-related issues/queries
(If you find any issues with or have queries pertaining to Click on the “Report an Error” button on the
the content on a session page bottom left corner of the session
Not satisfied with the resolution provided by your
upGrad Buddy? Write to: [email protected]

Guidelines for MSDS - LJMU (Master’s in Data Science with IIITB and LJMU)
1. A learner can articulate to the MSDS program (IIITB + LJMU) after successfully completing the Executive PGP in
Data Science by IIITB and getting an Executive PGP certificate.
2. If you are already enrolled in a full master’s program (IIITB +LJMU) the above instructions under Executive PGP
in DS are applied for the initial 12 months of the full master’s program.
3. The instruction manual for the master’s phase will be provided to you after successfully completing the
Executive PGP.
4. No Refund would be processed once the learner begins with the Executive PGP phase of the program, even if
the Master’s phase has not begun.
5. Moreover, No Refund will be processed if a learner fails to meet the eligibility criteria for the Master’s phase, by
failing in the Executive PGPphase.
6. There is no self-pace mode in MS DS and there will be no Letter of Participation provided for the ones failing.

* IU Germany learners please ignore the above MSDS guidelines. All the necessary information and
guidelines are already present in the offer letter.