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Exceptional circumstances - Joint Institute students

If you experience something short-term and unexpected that affects you and your academic performance, you might need the University to give you additional consideration for your exams or assessments.

What exceptional circumstances mean

Exceptional circumstances are incidents that are:

• short term
• arise unexpectedly
• beyond your control.

It’s something that happens to you that negatively impacts your ability to study, prepare or complete an assessment or exam. 

If you decide you need to make an exceptional circumstances claim, all parts of the definition above must be met. 

Types of claim

There are three types of exceptional circumstance claims you can submit for consideration, if you are eligible. 

Late submission

You may be able to claim for this if you have missed an assessment deadline due to the circumstances you have experienced and submitted your assessment within the late submission period (if provided). You would usually receive a late penalty for submitting during this period.

Non-submission or absence

You might be able to claim for this if you are absent from an assessment or did not submit your assessment work due to the circumstances you have experienced. You would usually receive a zero mark when this happens.

Impaired

You may be able to claim for this if you attend an assessment or submit your assessment work, but believe your circumstances have seriously impaired your academic performance and will result in an unrepresentative mark.

Important: You cannot submit a late submission if the assessment does not have a late period attached to it. You also cannot claim impaired before your assessment or exam. 

Circumstances likely to be accepted 

We make decisions about claims on a case-by-case. When considering a claim we take into account the impact experienced on the module assessment. 

Examples of experiences that may be accepted are: 

• serious short-term illness, an injury or other ailment
• the death or significant illness of a close family member or friend 
• Public service committments (where deferral is not permitted). 

Examples of experiences that may not be accepted are:

• you feel your assessments are scheduled too close together 
• poor time management on your behalf, including not meeting online assessment requirements 
• general pressures, stress and/or anxiety from academic work.

Providing evidence for your claim

You must provide evidence to support the circumstances you are claiming for – this is a reasonable requirement. 

You can provide evidence in two forms: 

• a self-certification form [PDF 222.19KB] 
• supporting evidence (ideally from an independent and authoritative source). 

Examples of evidence that may be accepted include: 

• medical certificate or letter
• letter from a registered counsellor
• letter from a professional best placed to corroborate matters being considered (such as student advisor or disability advisor)
• hospital admission report/appointment letter 
• police/crime statement
• court/tribunal letter. 

Important: You must not upload graphic images such as body parts. These could be seen as offensive and cannot be verified. 

How to submit a claim

You can submit an exceptional circumstances claim through Sussex Direct.

You will need to: 

• log in using your University username and password 
• select 'study’ and then 'exceptional circumstances’ from the drop down menu
• select 'new claim’ to start writing your claim. 

Important: You’ll receive an email confirming that a claim has been successfully submitted. If you don’t receive an email confirmation, you must return to your draft claim and select 'submit'.

Deadlines for submitting a claim 

All claims (including any requested evidence or further information) should be submitted before the exceptional circumstances claim deadline (see table below). This is to ensure any accepted claims can be considered on time and will help minimise delays to progression or award decisions. 

Deadlines for exceptional circumstances claims will take place throughout the year. Claims after these deadlines will typically be rejected. This is because it’s too late for the exam board to review them. Instead, you may be able to submit a claim under the academic appeals process. 

All deadlines are subject to UK time and by 11:59pm of the date stated, unless specified otherwise.

The claims process 

The exceptional circumstances claims process consists of three stages. 

Assessment (stage one)

Your claim will be assessed to see if it can be accepted. We may contact you to request more information to help us decide. 

Outcome (stage two)

If your claim is accepted at stage one, it will be sent to your examination board for consideration. The examination board will make an academic judgement and decide the outcome, if any. Accepted claims for late submission at stage one will have the late penalty removed automatically. 

Appeal

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of stage one or stage two, you can submit an appeal. You are advised to read the academic appeal process and comply with any requirements specified – such as the date to submit your appeal (usually during an appeal window). 

 Important: The stage levels do not reflect the severity of an exceptional circumstances claim. 

If you need further support on the EC process, please contact ZJSU-JI@sussex.ac.uk. 

If you have reasonable adjustments

Usually, your reasonable adjustments should be sufficient to support you during your studies long term. You can also seek extensions to your assessment submissions as part of this.

But sometimes there are occasions where you may need both reasonable adjustments and to make an exceptional circumstances claim.

These are: 

• you are experiencing an atypical flare up, fluctuation or deterioration in your ongoing condition meaning all adjustments in place are no longer sufficient
• there is a temporary issue in the implementation/presence of your reasonable adjustments (so temporary measures are required)
• you experience an exceptional circumstance that is unrelated to your disability or reasonable adjustments. 

More information and support 

If you need more help and advice about making an exceptional circumstances claim you can contact: 

• ZJSU-JI@sussex.ac.uk
• the Student Centre
• the Students’ Union support and advocacy service.