Self-Help Guides

What is an exceptional personal circumstance?

These are events that are beyond your control and that can have a big impact on your studies. They can make it difficult to focus on your university work, attend classes, or complete assignments or exams.

Some examples include:

• Bereavement
• Victim of crime or violence
• Mental Health problems
• Financial difficulties
• Natural disasters
• Other unforeseen events that are beyond your control

The University understands that there will be occasions where some unforeseen can happen which impacts your studies. A policy called ‘extenuating circumstances’ exists so that the University can consider the impact of your unexpected experience, and consider fairly & transparently, to help minimise the impact on your upcoming submission.

How to apply for extenuating circumstances?

Things to know before applying

• You have to submit that you require extenuating circumstances yourself, and this must within 5 working days before your submission.
• You’ll submit this via your e:vision student portal and you can find a video step by step here.
• You must provide any evidence to support the application, to help the University understand your circumstance. Where you can’t provide evidence by the deadline, you can submit the claim without, but should provide evidence 10 working days after your submission.
• Please be mindful that evidence must be in English or with a accompanied notarised translation.
• If you are successful in receiving an Extenuating Circumstance, it’s important to note this may impact on your submissions for other pieces of work and/or progression to your next module or level. We recommend you contact your Student Hub team, to help understand your unique situation.
• Additionally, if you are successful in receiving an Extenuating Circumstance, this may impact your Student Finance if this change impacts your registration date. However, you can seek further guidance from your Student Hub Team.

Relevant resources

Academic Misconduct

Academic integrity is about being honest, fair, and transparent in your work, making sure what you submit is genuinely your own, it’s an important part of being a student! Unfortunately, you can be accused of academic misconduct, even if it wasn’t intentional. This guide will help you understand what academic misconduct is, what happens if you're suspected, and what the consequences might be. It also offers advice on how to prepare for a Viva Voce meeting, where you may be asked to explain your work. Knowing the process can help you avoid mistakes and protect your academic future.

What is Academic Misconduct?

As mentioned earlier, academic integrity is when you submit work that is honest and truly yours. Academic misconduct is the opposite of this, and referred to when someone is not honest in their work. Examples include and are not limited to:

• Cheating
• Plagiarism
• An individual or agency completing a students work
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A student may be accused of misconduct if they have done so unintentionally, such as not correctly referencing texts or not being transparent about their use of AI, like Grammarly or Chat GPT.

What is the process if you are suspected of academic misconduct?

If you’re suspected of academic misconduct, here’s what usually happens:

• Email notification: You will receive an email from the Academic Integrity team notifying you that one of your submissions may have been flagged as academic misconduct.
• Review: An Academic Integrity Officer looks at the evidence of misconduct.
• Viva Voce: You might be asked to attend a meeting called a ‘Viva Voce’ to discuss your work. Whether you are invited to this meeting depends on the evidence. You will be asked to arrange the meeting within 10 working days.
• Panel: If the evidence is reviewed and more input is required, an Academic Misconduct Panel reviews the case. You will be notified of the panel meeting within 7 working days.
• Decision: The panel decides if misconduct happened and, if so, what the penalty is.
• Outcome: You’ll get an email with the decision. There is no set timescale for this.
• Appeal: If you do not agree with the outcome, you can appeal the decision following the university’s appeal process. Appeals follow a separate process. More information on appeals can be found in a separate policy.

Consequences for Academic Misconduct

Consequences of being found to have committed academic misconduct vary, depending on the severity of the misconduct. This can range from receiving a mark of 0 and needing to resit the assignment, to being excluded from the university. Full details of this can be found in the AIM policy.

How to prepare for a Viva Voce Meeting

The purpose of the Viva Voce meeting is so you can demonstrate the work is your own. You are likely to be asked to summarise your arguments, explain your methods, discuss your evidence, justify your conclusions, and reflect on the effectiveness of your work.

To prepare for it, you can, re-read your work, re-familiarise yourself with the arguments you have made, prepare a summary of your main points, think about potential questions in advance, what might be discussed? Are there any weak points or things you could have done better? You can invite a friend or family member to join you in the meeting.

On the day, listen to questions carefully and don’t be afraid to ask for clarification or to repeat the questions if you are unsure. You may want to bring a copy of your work, or examples of your notes that you made or referred to whilst writing the assignment. You may also wish to find any previous copies or drafts of your work to include as well.