Student Guide to Exceptional Circumstances

If you are experiencing difficulties, in the first instance, please talk to your Academic Mentor who will support you to help you stay on track. Your Academic Mentor will guide you to others who can help you through your difficulty. 
We have a range of support services who you can discuss your personal circumstances with such as the Student Support and Experience Team and the Students Union Advice Team. If you’re studying with a partner provider, they will also have support teams who can help you. We are all here to help you succeed first time on time. 

What if I’ve done everything I can and I’ve still got an issue? 

You must try your best to complete your work. It is always better to submit first time, on time and we expect you to plan responsibly so that you can do this. In some exceptional circumstances, we know that you may not be able to overcome your difficulty even though you have talked to those who can offer help. In such cases, a claim for exceptional circumstances can be made.  

You should be able to deal with most day-to-day difficulties and work through minor illness or life’s problems. Because this is expected of you in the world of work, we expect it of you during your course. The University does not consider the follwing to constitue Exceptional Circumstances. 

Health 

• Minor illness such as a cough or cold 
• Routine medical appointments 
• Ongoing medical conditions where there is no change in your condition. For example, a condition for which you already have a Learning Support Statement.  

Life Events (over which you have control) 

• Moving house where this is within your control. 
• Holidays 
• Weddings 
• Change of employment where this is within your control 
• Technical Issues including but not limited to; 
  • Devices Breaking 
  • Work being lost or corrupted 
  • If you are an on-campus student but cannot complete your work as you do not have access to a device 

We expect students to back up their work frequently and provide access to the facility to do so. We also provide options for accessing devices, for more information on laptop loans or on how to back up your work, please contact our Digital Services team. 

Personal Errors 

• Getting assessment information wrong 
• Submitting the wrong draft or document 
• Not knowing how to submit your assessment 

Here are some examples of difficulties that you may not be able to overcome or may severely impact on your performance: 

 Health 

• A sudden and serious illness or injury 
• A significant worsening of an existing illness  

 Life Event 

• Death of a close friend or family member 
• Victim of crime 

 Personal 

• Major disruption to travel on the day of an assessment requiring your attendance, which you could not have done anything about. 

If you experience something not included above, you can always contact our support services, or the Students’ Union Student Advice Team. If you’re studying with a partner provider, they will also have support teams who can help you. 

 How do I make a claim for Exceptional Circumstances

You can make a claim online, by logging into e:vision and going to Information and Support. You will need to select every assessment task you want to claim for, not just every module. If you don’t, you won’t be able to add it on later, and any that are missed off won’t be considered as part of the claim. If you make a claim and realise you have left off an assessment or module you can make a new claim for the missing assessments provided you are submitting this new claim on time. 

If you are unsure how or are unable to do this, you can talk to your Personal Tutor or the Student Connect Team. You can also get independent advice and guidance via the Students’ Union Student Advice Team. 

You can make your claim up to one month before your assessment date and no later than two weeks after the assessment date (excluding bank holidays and university closures for example Christmas closure). Claims made beforehand will not be upheld if you could have reasonably planned to overcome your circumstances. You must submit your claim on e:vision. Informing your Tutor or Course Leader or claims submitted via email will not be accepted. 

You need to provide evidence of the exceptional situation and how this is preventing you from completing your work to the best of your ability. Claims submitted without evidence will not be considered. We expect you to be honest in how you explain and evidence your circumstances, if you are found to have made a false statement or provided false evidence, this will be considered in accordance with the Academic Conduct Procedure. 

You can find more information what is considered to be acceptable evidence by viewing the University’s Guidance on the standard of acceptable evidence. Examples of acceptable evidence include but are not limited to:  

Health 

• Evidence from a medical practitioner who is treating you. This must confirm that you were ill and seen around the time of your assessment.  

Life Event 

• Evidence of the bereavement and your relationship with the deceased.  

• If you are a victim of crime, you will need to provide a police report. An incident number alone is not enough as the police will not discuss your case with us.  

Personal 

• If you have experienced unexpected travel disruption you can evidence this through traffic, news, or weather reports. You cannot claim for pre-published travel disruption as this is something you could have planned for.  

If your circumstances or evidence aren’t included above, you can always contact our support services, or the Students’ Union Student Advice Team. If you’re studying with a partner provider, they will also have support teams who can help you. 

All claims are confidential, the details of the claim itself will only be shared with relevant members of staff within the University such as the member of staff making a decision on your claim, or our Student Wellbeing team, when appropriate. 

You should try to submit evidence with your claim. However, if you are unable to do this, you will be given the opportunity to submit the evidence within two weeks of the date you submitted your claim (excluding bank holidays). Without evidence we are unable to consider your claim. 

We understand that this can be a difficult time and, once we have all of your evidence, we will normally make a decision on your claim within two weeks (excluding bank holidays and university closures for example Christmas closure). 

When your claim has been considered, we will let you know by email whether or not your claim has been successful. The Award Board and Course Leader will also be informed of the decision but not the details of the claim. 

When you have submitted your Exceptional Circumstances Claim, we will assess its eligibility. At this point we will not make any decisions on the exceptionality of your circumstances or the eligibility of your evidence, we will only check to make sure: 

• The claim has been submitted within one month of your assessment hand in date and no later than two weeks after the assessment hand in date.  

• Evidence has been uploaded to the claim.  

You will be provided with one of three outcomes.  

• Student Action: If you have submitted a claim within the time frame but without evidence you will be asked to provide more evidence within two weeks of the initial review of your claim.  

• Ineligible for consideration: If your claim is not submitted within the time frame above or you have not submitted evidence by the deadline your claim will not be eligible for consideration. Your assessments will then be considered at the Award Board as normal and in keeping with the Academic Regulations  

• Academic Decision Maker: If your claim matches the criteria above it will be progressed on to an Academic Decision Maker  

Academic Decision Makers  

Academic Decision Makers (ADMs) are trained academic members of staff from within your School. They will assess your claim and provide one of the following outcomes, including an explanation about why the decision has been made.  

• Upheld: The ADM has assessed your claim and believes that it does constitute Exceptional Circumstances. This is recorded against the assessment attempt and will lead to one of the outcomes described in the next section.   

• Student Action: An ADM may request more evidence and will give you a timeframe in which to provide this evidence. If you cannot provide additional evidence your claim will be assessed based on the evidence already provided.  

• Not Upheld: An ADM may decide not to uphold your claim for several reasons. For example, your circumstances do not meet the University’s expectations of exceptionality, or your evidence does not meet the standard of acceptable evidence. Your assessments will then be considered at the Award Board as normal and standard Regulations will apply. 

What Does Upheld Mean?  

If your claim is upheld, this means that we agree that your circumstances meet the University’s expectations for exceptionality. We will apply one of the following outcomes:  

• If you have submitted your work within one week of the deadline, it will be marked and counted as if it had been submitted on time. A successful Exceptional Circumstances claim can only extend your assessment hand in date by one week and only for assessments where this applies. For example, you cannot be offered an extension for an Exam that you were unable to sit. If you are unsure whether your assessment falls into this category, please speak to your course team. If you already have a negotiated hand in date as a result of an LSS / SIR then the seven-day extension will apply from that negotiated date. If you do not submit your assessment by the revised deadline or this deadline has passed by the time your claim is upheld, your assessment will be a non-submission and the below outcome will apply.  

• If you were unable to submit your work, or you have received a failed mark, you won’t be penalised if you are given another assessment opportunity. For example;  

• if you have ECs for your first assessment opportunity, and are given a resit opportunity, this would not be capped at the minimum pass mark.   

• If you have ECs for a resit opportunity the Award Board will need to assess your profile in keeping with the Academic Regulations. If they are in a position to offer you a resit opportunity but you did not have ECs against your first assessment opportunity, then the resubmission will be capped at a passing grade.  

• If you are given a third assessment opportunity and have ECs an Award Board will need to assess your profile and their decision will be released to you in your results profile.  

The Award Board will not always be able to offer you a resubmission opportunity, for example, if the following apply.  

• The Award Board condones your failed assessment.  
• There are no resubmission opportunities remaining to you.  
• You have reached the end of your maximum registration period and have therefore run out of time to complete the course.  

In these types of circumstances, the Award Board will make a decision on your progression in line with the Academic Regulations, and this will be communicated to you in your results profile. 

For more information on Condonement, progression and Registration Periods please see the Academic Regulations or speak with Student Support. 

If you have reasonable adjustments, for example, through a Learning Support Agreement (LSS) or Student Inclusion Recommendation (SIR) in place it is important to remember the below: 

You cannot apply for ECs for circumstances already covered by your LSS / SIR unless you can evidence a worsening of your condition which will have an unavoidable effect on your assessments. 

If your course team have granted you an extension due to your LSS / SIR, you can still apply for Exceptional Circumstances. You will need to let us know your new hand in date by entering it into the box at the bottom of the webpage where you submit your EC Claim. If you are unable to do this or are unsure how please email ext.circs@staffs.ac.uk. 

If you disagree with the decision, you will be able to appeal this. Appeals must be submitted within 2 weeks of the decision being made on your EC claim. You can find more information in the Appeal section of the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure.

What if I am studying at another college or provider? 

If you are studying on a University of Staffordshire course at a college or other provider in the UK, this procedure normally applies. 

If you are studying a University of Staffordshire course at a college or another provider outside of the UK, the above rules and timescales will still apply but the decision on your Exceptional Circumstances will be made where you are studying. You may also be asked to complete a form (rather than an online application). 

However, the decisions which we reach will be in line with those reached for students studying on campus.  

What if I am studying on a professional course?

If you are unwell and studying on a professional course leading to registration, you may need to inform your Course Leader as this may mean that you cannot practise until you recover. 
Please see your Course Handbook for guidance. Please also see the Fitness to Practise Procedure. 

What if I am studying on an apprenticeship course? 

This procedure applies to all apprentices studying at the University. If you are unwell and studying on an apprenticeship course, it is important that you keep your employer informed. 

Apprenticeship students are required to be in work throughout your course and the University may need to inform your employer if you are not progressing through your apprenticeship as expected. 

What if I am a member of the armed forces and am deployed? 

Wherever possible we encourage you to continue and submit as normal. However, if this is not possible talk to us and we may be able to work with you on Exceptional Circumstances or taking a break in studies or another solution. Please speak to your course team to discuss which option may be best for you.