Mitigating Circumstances
While there are various factors that may affect a student’s academic performance, mitigating circumstances are those situations considered to be outside the usual difficulties that students face. Circumstances that are normally are accepted are:
- compassionate grounds
- exceptional personal circumstances
- close bereavement
- victim of a serious crime
- disabilities for which reasonable adjustments have not yet been put place and where the delay is not due to the student
- serious and unforeseeable transport difficulties
- interviews for placements or of employment
- legal proceedings requiring attendance
- paid work commitments or constraints arising from paid employment (part-time and research student in their writing up year only)
For such circumstances to be considered and accepted you will need to provide the appropriate evidence stated in Section B of Acceptability or Otherwise of Circumstances.
Loss of work not backed up, printing problems and the misreading of the examination timetable are situations that would never be accepted as mitigating circumstances. Section D of Acceptability or Otherwise of Circumstances outlines what circumstances are unlikely to be accepted.
For mitigating circumstances that are accepted students may be offered the opportunity to:
- submit the assessment ‘as if for the first time’
- have an extension to the deadline of the assessment
- additional work to complete the original learning outcomes
- take ‘as if for the first time’ a different form of assessment to which the student is familiar
- repeat some or all elements of previous study
If you ever experience mitigating circumstance that you wish to be considered in regards to your studies it is important that you inform you department as soon as possible and before the deadline of the assessment. The Mitigating Circumstances Procedure states that students must complete the University’s mitigating circumstances claim form within a week of the normal deadline for the completion of the assessment. If a request for mitigating circumstances is outside of the timeframe stated in the procedure, then the request will require approval from the Special Cases Committee.
If you require help with completing your mitigating circumstance claim form please contact the GSA Representation, Advice and Welfare Coordinator at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
