Mitigating circumstances are any serious situations beyond your control, which may have unfavorably affected your academic performance.
These include but are not limited to:
- Serious or significant medical conditions or illness (including both physical and mental health problems). Documentation needs to be provided.
- Ailments such as severe colds, migraines, stomach upsets, etc., ONLY where the ailment was so severe it was impossible for you to attend an examination/complete assessment AND where notification was given in writing to the program manager, normally within 48 hours of the exam/deadline AND was followed by a certificate (or a letter on letter head or officially stamped paper) from a doctor, normally obtained within 48 hours of the exam/deadline. If your illness occurred whilst out of Switzerland then an appropriate letter or certificate from a fully qualified medical practitioner on appropriate notepaper will be required.
- Exceptional personal circumstances (e.g. serious illness or death of a parent or other person who brought you up, grandparent, brother or sister, spouse or partner or close friend, including participation in funeral and associated rites; family break up; being a victim of a significant crime; being in a serious car accident).
- A significant family crisis where there is evidence of acute stress caused
- Exceptional travel disruption beyond your control, and for which you can provide independent evidence, which prevented you from attending an examination or other scheduled assessment.
You may bring any mitigating circumstances to our attention by submitting the Mitigating Circumstance form to your program manager. (Please refer to your SBS Student Handbook)
You must contact us with details of any mitigating circumstances you wish to be considered:
- within three weeks of the last exam in the session concerned
- before the submission deadline of any assessed coursework, project or dissertation
We will not normally consider mitigating circumstances if you do not contact us within these periods.
It is important for you to provide any formal certification you may have in relation to your circumstances.
Outcomes
All submissions of evidence related to mitigating circumstances are acknowledged and considered but action is not always taken.
Circumstances where action may not be taken into consideration (but are not limited to):
- Forms submitted without independent supporting evidence
- Forms which do not state clearly how your performance in your assessment has been affected
- Minor (usually seasonal) ailments such as sore throats, minor colds, headaches, hangovers, etc.
- Circumstances which have already been fully catered for by the granting of a coursework extension
- Examinations on the same or consecutive days or an inability to prioritize and schedule the completion of several pieces of work over a period of time
- Adherence to or participation in a religious or cultural observance
- An inability to adjust to life away from home
- Financial issues
- Failure, loss or theft of data, a computer or other equipment
- Death of a pet
Any significant decisions made in relation to the evidence you submit will be communicated to you in a timely manner. The decision timeline can take up to three weeks. All matters related to the submission of evidence of mitigating circumstances are treated confidentially and are reported to the SBS Faculty Board.