Academic Regulations for first degrees and ... - Heythrop College

• With evidence (see para 10 below). However, if the student is waiting to obtain
evidence, the form should be submitted by the normal date, with a note that
evidence is to follow.
6. The Examination Board will not normally take account of information about
a student’s circumstances on the basis of informal disclosure to teaching or
administrative staff, but for which no formal request has been received. In such
cases the Examination Board will normally assume that the student does not
wish these circumstances to be considered.
One reason for requiring a formal written request via the Academic Registrar or
nominee is to ensure greater consistency, since it cannot be ensured that all
teachers would have an equivalent awareness of students’ circumstances,
interpret them consistently, or report them in the same way.
7. Requests to consider mitigating circumstances will be considered, normally
in the week before the meeting of the Board of Examiners, by a subcommittee
of the Board of Examiners consisting of the Chair of the Board, and the relevant
Dean or nominee meeting with the Academic Registrar or nominee, and then
brought to the attention of the Board if appropriate.
8. The sub-committee meeting will consider the evidence provided in terms of:
• timing in relation to the relevant assessment;
• seriousness and likely potential impact on performance.
The sub-committee will maintain a record of whether the case is “serious and
strongly supported”, or “likely to have had some effect on the assessment” or “not
supported”.
The Committee will focus on the nature of the circumstances and the quality of
the evidence, and will NOT look at the student’s provisional marks at this stage.
The Academic Registrar or nominee will maintain a record of the judgments of
the sub-committee.
9. Documents for the Examination Board will incorporate a marker to show that
the student has asked for evidence of mitigating circumstances to be taken into
account.
Acceptable evidence
10. Serious mitigating circumstances may be the basis of Examination Board
decisions to reduce the student’s assessment requirement, set aside normal
penalties for reassessment, or award a classification higher than that signified by
the normal application of the formula for determining classification in first
degrees, or pass, merit and distinction in taught postgraduate degrees or the
Graduate Certificate or Diploma. The Examination Board has considerable
discretion in cases of proven mitigating circumstances. For this reason, evidence
of mitigating circumstances needs to be judged scrupulously, as far as possible
requiring a burden of proof greater than in the case of deferred assessment.
Where independent verification is possible, it will always be required. Examples
include, but are not limited to:
• Medical certificate/hospital admission letter (with relevant dates)
• Letter from a Counsellor or similar
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