Applying for Mitigating Circumstances

Mitigating Circumstances is your way of telling the MSc Financial Management team that your performance on the programme has been affected by unforeseen personal circumstances. This process enables students to apply to their programme to have any mitigating circumstances (such as illness) be taken into account. If these unforeseen circumstances have affected your academic performance or assessment, a decision could be made to make allowances for the decreased performance.

Requests for mitigation must be submitted within seven calendar days for individual assessments, and within 24 hours following absence at a workshop. Requests after these deadlines will not be considered without a credible and compelling explanation as to why the circumstances were not known or could not have been shown beforehand.

What are Mitigating Circumstances?

Grounds of mitigation are unforeseeable or unpreventable circumstances that could have or did have a significant adverse effect on the academic performance of a student. Possible mitigating circumstances include:

• Significant illness or injury
• The death or critical/significant illness of a close family member/dependant
• Significant family crises or a major financial problem leading to acute stress
• Absence for public service (e.g. jury service)
• Some IT issues such as a network or hardware fault at the point of submission

Circumstances that will not be normally regarded as grounds for mitigation include:

• Holiday, moving house and events that were planned or could reasonably have been expected
• Assessments that are scheduled close together
• Misreading the timetable or misunderstanding the requirements of the assignment
• Inadequate planning and time management
• Failure, loss or theft of a computer that prevents submission of work on time; students should back their work up regularly
• Consequences of paid employment
• Exam stress or panic attacks not diagnosed as illness or supported by medical evidence

Events may arise during pregnancy that may constitute mitigating circumstances, and these need to be judged on an individual basis.

If your problems are chronic and/or ongoing and relate to an illness or disability, you should register with the University’s Disability Advisory and Support Service rather than submit mitigating circumstances applications. Bear in mind that, if your problems are continuing, the panel will look for reassurance that you are able to manage them in the future.

Submitting Mitigating Circumstances

Students are required to complete and submit a Request for Mitigation Form when applying for mitigating circumstances to be considered for their studies. We ask students to submit the completed form and all supporting documentation to the Student Support Team for the panel’s consideration. Please bear in mind that applications for mitigating circumstances go through the School and are treated in the strictest confidence.

Request for Mitigation Form

What to include on your Request for Mitigation Form

• Details about your mitigating circumstances; describe what has been happening and how it has affected your academic performance
• The dates during which you were affected
• Details about each course unit and assessment affected
• Evidence – please remember to include your evidence. If your documents are not in English, please assist us by providing a translation for each document

Appealing a Mitigating Circumstance Decision

Students have no right of appeal against the decision of a Mitigating Circumstances Panel, although they can appeal against the final decision of an Examination Board, or equivalent body, under Regulation XIX: Academic Appeals Procedure, if appropriate.

Additional Resources

The websites and documents below have additional information and resources on mitigating circumstances available for students.

• Student Support website on Mitigating Circumstances 
• Student Union Advice on Mitigating Circumstances

Basic Guide to Mitigating Circumstances

Policy on Mitigating Circumstances

Frequently Asked Questions