Exceptional Circumstances

Each of your modules will require you to complete one or more assessments. The purpose of assessment is to test your knowledge, understanding and skills and to provide you with feedback to enable you to understand the mark or grade you have achieved and to explain how you can improve going forward. It is therefore very important that wherever possible you try to submit each assessment by the submission date and on time.

If you find that you are struggling with an assessment, it is very important that you speak to someone at the earliest opportunity to access support and guidance. There is lots of support available to help you complete your assessments on time. You should contact a member of your programme team, the library or askUS for advice and guidance or visit the Assessment module within Blackboard. You should not feel worried or anxious about doing so – we are all here to help you succeed.

If exceptional circumstances are affecting your assessment, you should seek support and do all that you can to complete your assessment on time. If your work is late or you do not submit, this may have consequences and may result in the requirement to repeat or resit your assessment at a later point and maybe for a capped mark. It also means you miss out on the chance to gain feedback on your performance that may be useful for your learning and support later assessments.  Final year students should be aware that if you do not complete an assessment, this may delay when you can graduate. 

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, it may not be possible to complete an assessment on time, in which case you do have the option to tell the university about the exceptional circumstances you have experienced through the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure.  

Exceptional circumstances are circumstances such as medical or personal issues which have seriously affected your ability to complete an assessment, over which you have no control, and which you could not have predicted.  These should be one off circumstances and not ongoing events or situations.

Circumstances or situations must have affected:

• Your attendance at a timed assessment such as an exam, Multiple Choice Question Test (MCQ) or presentation (absence) or your ability to submit an assessment (non-submission). You can request a deferred assessment attempt through the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure. The deferred attempt will take place next time the assessment runs which might be during the resit period, or in the next academic year.
• Your ability to submit an assessment by the submission date but you can submit within the late submission period which is seven days after the submission date (late submission). The late submission period ends at 16:00 on the seventh day. You can request that a late submission penalty is removed but this only applies to your first assessment attempt.

For more information, watch a brief video explaining ECs from the Students' Union.

Here are some examples of what we would usually consider valid Exceptional Circumstances requests:

• Serious short-term illness or injury affecting your ability to study.
• Death or significant illness of a close family member or friend.
• Unexpected caring responsibilities affecting your ability to study.
• Worsening of an ongoing illness or disability, including mental health conditions.
• An emergency or crisis that prevents you from attending an exam, presentation or accessing an online assessment.
• An unexpected accommodation crisis such as eviction or a home becoming uninhabitable.
• Impact of a religious observance that could not be anticipated (e.g. mourning/funeral plans, or fainting in an exam because of fasting).
• Challenges associated with pregnancy and transition to parenthood
• A crime which has had a substantial impact on your ability to study.
• Significant and unanticipated increases in your workload (e.g. as a result of paid employment) which had not been planned for.
• Being called for jury service.
• A shortcoming or failure in the support arrangements if you are a disabled student.
• Standing as a candidate in Students’ Union elections (at the time of elections only).

Here are some examples of what we would not usually consider to be a valid Exceptional Circumstances request:

• Missing a coursework deadline or exam because you got the time or date mixed up.
• Minor ailments of a short-term nature such as colds, headaches, stomach upsets, except where the ailment prevented attendance at, or occurred during, an exam or similar timed assessment.
• House moves, holidays or celebrations where you either have control over the date, reasonable prior notice or could choose not to attend.
• Circumstances where individual arrangements have already been put in place e.g. through a Reasonable Adjustment Plan or Carer Support Plan).
• Circumstances to which all or most students are subject (e.g. financial difficulties, “bunching” of examinations or coursework deadlines or exam stress).
• Circumstances where individual arrangements have already been put in place (e.g. through a Reasonable Adjustment Plan or Carer Support Plan).
• Circumstances arising from poor time management or personal organisation (e.g. failure to plan for foreseeable last-minute emergencies such as computer crashes, printing problems, work not backed up, misreading/lack of awareness of examination timetables or submission deadlines).
• Travel problems arising from minor delays or in cases where normal traffic congestion has not been taken into account.
• Issues that the university is responsible for, for example, with timetables, equipment or teaching/supervision provision. There is a different process for this, so please speak to your tutor.
• Being subject to procedures such as Academic Misconduct, Student Misconduct or Fitness to Practise.

If exceptional circumstances affect the final 60 credit module of your programme (usually a project or dissertation) and meet the relevant criteria, this can be used to request an extension of six weeks for submission of the assessment. The reason for the Exceptional Circumstances request must be agreed with the school, the Apprenticeship Services Unit and the employer. Exceptional Circumstances requests must not be processed without approval from all parties. During the six-week extension, apprentices must complete off-the-job training and have evidence for this (time sheet etc.).

You can submit an Exceptional Circumstances request for any assessment attempt except In-Year Retrieval attempts. This means you can use the Exceptional Circumstances system for a first attempt, a resit attempt or a retake attempt.

To make an Exceptional Circumstances request, you should complete the online form. 

You must:

• Explain the circumstances which have affected you and their impact.
• State the period of time you have been affected.
• State which assessments have been affected.
• State if you are requesting a deferred assessment attempt or if you are asking for the late submission penalty to be removed from a first assessment attempt.
• Provide evidence (where appropriate).

If you do not provide sufficient information your request may not be accepted, so instead of saying ‘I was ill’, you need to explain the nature of your illness (e.g. I was ill because I was affected by a virus causing sickness and diarrhea), the length of time you were ill and the impact on you.

The final deadline to submit your Exceptional Circumstances request is ten working days after your assessment/submission date. You can submit before this time. If you have a Reasonable Adjustment Plan or Carer Support Plan which permits an extended submission date, your Exceptional Circumstances request must be submitted no later than ten working days after your individual extended submission date.

Your request may be submitted in advance of the assessment date if you know you will be unable to attend or submit, for example you have a hospital appointment or treatment scheduled on the date of an assessment. You should seek guidance from a tutor or other support service first to see if there is a way that you can meet the submission deadline before opting to submit an Exceptional Circumstances request. We would recommend that you submit your request close to the point of your assessment deadline so you know if you will be able to submit or not.

If you are a student on the final stage of a taught master's programme, you can submit an Exceptional Circumstances request for the following:

• To remove a late submission penalty to the mark for your project/dissertation (first submission only). If your Exceptional Circumstances request is accepted, this means that any late submission penalties applied will be removed.
• To request a deferred assessment attempt for your project/dissertation. If your Exceptional Circumstances request is accepted, this means a new standard submission date will be set:
  • Six weeks for students on a full time master's programme (from the original submission date);
  • 12 weeks for students on a part time master's programme (from the original submission date).

Wherever you can, it is best to provide evidence to support your Exceptional Circumstances request, but we recognise that this is not always possible. There are two types of Exceptional Circumstances request: an evidence-based request or a request without evidence.

A request without evidence can be used where you have exceptional circumstances arising from unanticipated circumstances where it is not reasonably possible to obtain evidence such as:

• you have experienced a period of short-term acute illness for which attendance at a doctor or medical professional is not advised or possible;
• you have had unexpected caring responsibilities;
• you have been affected by a bereavement;
• you have been affected by a religious observance that could not be anticipated (e.g. mourning/funeral plans, or fainting in an exam because of fasting);
• you have experienced a traumatic incident as a result of a protected characteristic, or a characteristic the university treats as a protected characteristic (asylum, care experience or estrangement).

You can only use an Exceptional Circumstances request without evidence once during a trimester, so you need to think very carefully about when you use this. Each academic year has three trimesters, and for some programmes, one of the trimesters may be used for reassessment purposes.

Where you have evidence to support your request, you may wish to consider submitting an evidence based Exceptional Circumstances request so that you leave the option of a request without evidence open to use, if needed, at a later stage and where it is not possible to obtain evidence. 

If you need to submit an evidence-based Exceptional Circumstances request, the following types of evidence may support your circumstances:

If you have discussed your Exceptional Circumstances request with a member of University staff (tutor, Student Progression Advisor or specialist support services staff) you can ask them if they would be willing to confirm that they are aware of your circumstances but you must have spoken to the member of staff before the assessment. 

Photographs are not normally considered as appropriate evidence; however, a photograph of a document generated by a third party will normally be reviewed and considered. Please do not submit photographs which may be disturbing such as photographs of injuries or similar.  

If concerns arise regarding the authenticity of evidence provided to support an Exceptional Circumstances request, the University reserves the right to check the authenticity of such evidence with the identified originating source. Action may be taken through the Student Misconduct Procedure or Fitness to Practice Procedure if evidence is found to be fraudulent.

Late submission

Each coursework assessment has a submission date by which you are required to submit your work. If you are unable to submit by this date, the University has a late submission period of 7 days following the submission date. This ends at 16:00 on the seventh day. You can submit in the late submission period but your mark will be capped at the pass mark (40% for undergraduates and 50% for postgraduates).  An accepted Exceptional Circumstances request for late submission means that a capped mark will not apply for your first submission attempt and you will receive the actual mark awarded for the assessment.

Deferred assessment attempt

If you are absent from an assessment such as an exam or presentation, or are unable to submit your assessment, you can ask for a deferred assessment attempt through the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure. If accepted, this will give you a replacement assessment attempt at the next available opportunity. This could be in the resit period or in the next academic year.

The University aims to review Exceptional Circumstances requests within 3 working days of receipt. This does not include weekends or days when the University is officially closed. You will be informed of the decision through your University of Salford email address.

Your Exceptional Circumstances request will be seen by staff in your school who have been appointed as Exceptional Circumstances Reviewers. You should be aware that the information you provide may be shared with staff linked to your course and relevant support services for the purpose of providing you with appropriate support and guidance. 

Where Exceptional Circumstances requests are rejected due to insufficient or lack of evidence, you have the option to submit further evidence or information to support your case within five working days. Details of the process to follow will be provided to you in the email communication which confirmed the outcome. 

Following conclusion of the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure and where an Exceptional Circumstances request remains rejected, you may subsequently submit an academic appeal against the decision of the Assessment Board when ratified/confirmed results are available. You will need to establish a good reason to explain why all relevant information could not be provided through the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure. Not knowing about the University's Exceptional Circumstances Procedure would not be considered good reason for non-submission of an Exceptional Circumstances request.

The following would be considered as acceptable reasons to explain why an Exceptional Circumstances request was not submitted in line with the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure:

• You were in hospital or severely ill and unable to submit an Exceptional Circumstances request (evidence will be required to support this);
• Relevant evidence to support an Exceptional Circumstances request became available after the Exceptional Circumstances request submission deadline.

You cannot use the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure to submit repeated Exceptional Circumstances requests for the same circumstances. If you experience ongoing issues which are affecting your studies, you need to speak to someone in your School (a tutor, your programme administrator or your Student Progression Advisor) with the details at the bottom of this page or askUS for advice. 

Each coursework assessment has a submission date by which you are required to submit your work. If you are unable to submit by this date, the University has a late submission period of 7 days following the submission date. You can submit in the late submission period but your mark will be capped at the pass mark (40% for undergraduates and 50% for postgraduates).  An accepted Exceptional Circumstances request for late submission means that a capped mark will not apply for your first submission attempt.

If you need more time than the late submission window allows, it is better to request Exceptional Circumstances for a deferred assessment attempt instead.