If you haven’t already, you will soon be completing assessments for your course and juggling multiple deadlines. While studying at university, it is important that you learn how to manage your assessment deadlines so that you can hand in your work on time. There’s support from the CeDAS team and information and advice tailored to your studies on Moodle, which is designed to help you.
However, we do recognise that sometimes things go wrong, and situations occur that can disrupt even the best laid plans. We appreciate that this can affect your ability to complete or even submit a piece of assessed work or undertake an exam.
Extensions and Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) are available to all students studying on taught programmes.
If you can complete and submit the piece of work, but can’t do this by the published deadline, you can apply for an extension.
If you can submit by the published deadline but you feel that the standard of your work has been substantially affected by your current circumstance, if you are unable to complete or submit your coursework at all or you have reached the limit of permissible extensions in an academic year, but experience circumstances which affect further assessments - you can apply for extenuating circumstances.
Extenuating circumstances are for rare situations where your assessment has been seriously affected by unpreventable and unforeseen circumstances. There are a limited number of actions that we can take in response to accepted ECs. If an EC application is successful, outcomes might include the lifting of a late submission penalty or the opportunity to take the assessment again at the next available opportunity (this may be the next academic year).
It is important to note that our powers do not extend to increasing module marks or a degree classification.
ECs now need to be submitted in the term in which the module was assessed and there’s more details on the new form which will walk you through the process here.
For students who need support beyond the unpreventable and unforeseeable, our Wellbeing team has recently been expanded and is on hand to support you and to help you have a positive academic, personal, and social experience at Royal Holloway.
There is more information about assessments on the student intranet here.
Professor James Knowles,
Senior Vice-Principal (Education).