If you believe illness has seriously affected your performance in an assessment or examination (including non-submission) you may ask your Faculty’s Academic Board to take such “Personal Circumstances” into consideration when deciding your results. You will need to submit medical evidence in support of your request for illness to be considered under this procedure.
Confirmation of illness will be provided by the University Health Centre through a medical certificate. This must be attached to your written request (form EC1 is available here) to the Personal Circumstances Panel for your medical situation to be taken into account by your Academic Board.
Please note that the following conditions are unlikely to be accepted as Personal Circumstances:
- Personal illness or disability for which special arrangements are already in place
- Colds or known conditions such as hay fever
- Normal examination stress or anxiety experienced during revision or the assessment period (unless corroborated by medical evidence as a chronic condition and undergoing treatment)
Please be advised we do not provide ‘retrospective’ medical certification (i.e. if you were recently unwell but have now recovered.) We are also unable to provide a medical certificate if you don’t attend your appointment for an examination at the University Health Centre or GP surgery. We can only provide medical certification if you are currently unwell and have attended an examination to confirm this.
How to obtain a medical certificate:
- In the first instance, you may find it helpful to discuss your circumstances with your personal tutor or faculty-student adviser who can advise you of the Personal Circumstances procedure and possibly also help with the problem.
- If you believe there are grounds to submit a personal circumstances request because you are currently unwell, you should complete the standard university ‘Medical Certification Form.’
- You should then make an appointment for an examination at the UHC and bring the medical certification form with you.
- The form will be completed in the GP/Nurse practitioner’s time and available for collection in 1-3 working days.
- You will need to pay the applicable private ‘Medical Certification Form’ fee before collecting your form from Reception. This is currently £30.
