Guide to the Exceptional Circumstances Policy
We hope that your time here at Oxford Brookes University will be happy and productive. However, we recognise that unfortunately sometimes our students can experience serious personal difficulties which can affect their ability to study or undertake assessment.
The Exceptional Circumstances Policy is designed to ensure that our students are not unfairly disadvantaged in these circumstances, but have the opportunity to be assessed on equal terms with other students.
About this guide
This guide is intended to help you familiarise yourself with the policy so that you know what kinds of circumstances we consider to be exceptional, what evidence you’ll need to provide and what timescales you’ll need to follow in order to make a successful claim, should you need to during your studies here. It also refers to other policies or sources of support that might be more appropriate, depending on what it is that’s causing your problems.
Deadlines when the University is closed
The University does not ordinarily set hand-in submission dates for deadline assessments at times when the University is closed. However, there may be instances where, because of extensions allowed through Individual Support Plans or Exceptional Circumstances or use of the Grace Period, the deadline for an individual assessment may fall on a weekend or during a public holiday when the University is closed. In such situations, we would expect students to submit their work on the first day that the University reopens.
We suggest you read through all the sections here and follow the links to other policies that might be relevant, so that if something happens that you think will affect your study or assessment, you’ll know what to do or where to go for help.