Exceptional circumstances

The final deadlines for submitting exceptional circumstances applications has changed for this academic year.

What are exceptional circumstances?

The University considers an exceptional circumstance to be:

personal circumstances that are out of the control of the student; and
that the student could not reasonably have prevented or accommodated; and
they must have had a significant and demonstratively negative effect on the student’s ability to study or undertake an assessment.

Additionally, the timing of the circumstances must be relevant to the affected assessments and/or period of study.

All elements must be met in order to substantiate an application for exceptional circumstances.

Types of assessment

Assessments at the University take many forms but in terms of exceptional circumstances, they fall broadly into 3 categories:

deadline assessments - assessments not taken under controlled and timed conditions such as essays, assignments and placements.
non-examined event assessments - assessments taken under controlled and timed conditions such as, tests and presentations.
examined event assessments - formally examined assessments taken under controlled and timed conditions such as exams.

You can apply for extensions or resits on deadline assessments, or an opportunity to take an event assessment again at a later date. To do this you will either need to make a Type A, Type B, Type C or Type D application. For more information, please see the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure.

Is it an exceptional circumstance?

Not all events which disrupt your ability to progress with your studies will be considered as exceptional circumstances. Everyday life is full of unforeseeable events and incidents which we expect students to manage on their own, in preparation for professional working life. Unexpected illnesses or events do not automatically lead to academic underperformance. Therefore, it is important that you consider whether your circumstance meets all of the criteria to satisfy the University's exceptional circumstances definition before making an application.