Mitigating Circumstances

Mitigating circumstances are situations which cause you to be unable to attend assessments, submit coursework or otherwise prevent you from performing to the best of your ability. The Mitigating Circumstances policy applies to all Heriot-Watt University taught programmes and any taught elements of research programmes.

If you have experienced circumstances which have had a negative impact on your studies, you can submit an application for Mitigating Circumstances to make the University aware of your situation.

Please note that if you are experiencing difficulties which will adversely affect your ability to study or to take an assessment, you should contact your personal tutor for guidance and support. If you are experiencing mental health difficulties, you can also seek advice and support from Student Wellbeing Services.

Some examples are:

• A significant illness (physical or mental) on the day of an exam
• A significant illness (physical or mental) or accident affecting you over time
• Bereavement – death of a close relative or significant other
• Caring responsibilities which have had an impact on your studies
• Ongoing infrastructure or IT issues affecting your studies
• Political upheaval or conflict disrupting your studies

For a full list of acceptable grounds for mitigating circumstances, please see the MC Guide for Students. The Mitigating Circumstances policy can be found here.

Mitigating Circumstances application deadlines

If you intend to submit a mitigating circumstances application for Semester 3 (4^th May – 7^th August), please ensure you meet the applicable deadline below so that your application can be considered by the relevant Award and Progression Board.

How to apply for Mitigating Circumstances

1. Check in the MC Guide for Students that you have acceptable grounds for an application
2. Complete an online application form and provide supporting evidence (see What evidence must I provide? below)
3. Ensure that your application is submitted before the relevant MC deadline (see the Mitigating circumstances application deadlines section above). Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered unless you can provide evidence to demonstrate extenuating circumstances which caused you to be unable to apply.

What evidence must I provide?

All applications for mitigating circumstances must be submitted with supporting evidence. If you are unable to obtain evidence to support your application and the period affected is no more than seven days, you can provide a Mitigating Circumstances Self-Certification Form as supporting evidence. Examples of acceptable evidence are available in the MC Guide for Students.

Students at Edinburgh campus can find guidance from the on-campus University Health Centre here.

Student Wellbeing Services can provide supporting evidence where a student is in contact with and receiving advice, guidance, or support from any of the Wellbeing Services and the circumstances relevant to the MC request are known to the member(s) of staff supporting the student. See the guidance on evidence: Mitigating Circumstances Evidence Provided by Student Wellbeing Services.

The University will keep your information completely confidential in line with data protection law. It will only be shared with staff members directly involved in the processing of your application, and will be held securely at all times.

How is my application considered?

You will receive an initial response within ten working days.

• If you have described acceptable grounds for mitigating circumstances and have provided supporting evidence (or a self-certification form if the affected period is seven days or less), your application will be marked as Accepted for Academic Decision. This means that your circumstances will be taken into consideration by the relevant MC Committee.
• If you have described acceptable grounds for mitigating circumstances but have not provided sufficient supporting evidence, your application will be marked as Further Info Required. You will then be given ten working days to provide further evidence before your application will close due to inactivity.
• If you have not described acceptable grounds for mitigating circumstances or have submitted your application after the relevant MC application deadline (see above), your application will be marked as Not Accepted.

If your application is marked as Accepted for Academic Decision, it will be passed to the relevant MC Committee for your programme. The MC Committee will meet, usually after the assessment diet for the relevant semester, and will apply mitigations as appropriate. The MC Committee will decide on mitigations based on:

• The affected time period (e.g. did your circumstances have an impact on the full semester, one month or even one particular day).
• The affected component (e.g. did your circumstances cause you to submit coursework late, miss a class test etc).

There is an approved list of mitigations that can be applied, the most common are:

• Resit as first opportunity. This means that your previous attempt at the course is nulled and you are given the opportunity to attend a reassessment.
• Late penalty removed. If you submit a piece of coursework up to seven days after the deadline, a 30% late penalty will be applied. When applied, this mitigation removes the late penalty.
• No mitigation required. If you pass the affected course, or there is no clear mitigation to apply, the MC Committee may decide that no mitigation is required.

Mitigating Circumstances Frequently Asked Questions