Deferrals

Deferral refers to the rescheduling of an assessment or an exam to a later date. If a deferral is granted, the student is required to take the next available date for their assessment submission or exam to take place.

Deferrals usually require supporting evidence documents to be submitted along with the request form. The list of accepted evidence to support extension and deferral requests can be found in Appendix 2 of the Academic Regulations.

If your documents aren't listed, please speak to your Student Advice Centre.

The deferral procedure is an option for students experiencing sudden and unexpected extenuating circumstances that could affect their ability to undertake assessments. Deferring an assessment may have an impact on academic progression, student funding, student accommodation and immigration status (where relevant). We strongly recommend that you consult your faculty Student Advice Centre, programme team or personal tutor to discuss your circumstances before submitting a deferral request.

Students with prolonged chronic illnesses or disabilities can contact the Disability Support and Advice team, or their personal tutor, for personalised advice; this might include individual exam arrangements. Please note that deferral of is not usually an appropriate option for students who have permanent or long-term conditions.

In some circumstances, you can use self-certification to support your deferral request submission; however, you can only use self-certification once in each registration period of your programme.

Complete a self-certification form

When assessing the impact of extenuating circumstances, the panel will take into account:

• The severity of the problem
• The length of time it has lasted
• The supporting evidence submitted as part of the request form
• The closeness in time of the circumstances to the relevant assessment
• Whether all assessments might have been equally affected

For information on the current deadlines for coursework deferral requests, you should contact your faculty Student Advice Centre.

Exam deferral request forms should be submitted by the dates below; forms received after these dates will not be accepted.

Deferral requests must be submitted no later than 10 university working days from the date of the exam or the assessment submission deadline (including any approved extensions if applicable).

Other assessments

For postgraduate assessments and undergraduate assessments that fall outside the main formal assessment periods (May and August), the deadline for requests will be 10 university working days from the date of the exam or assessment concerned. Please contact your faculty Student Advice Centre for further information.

If the deadline for an assessment comes up while your deferral request is being processed, we recommend that you submit assignments or take exams as normal if you are able to. If your deferral request is accepted, the marks for any work submitted during this time will be declared void and replaced with the mark you receive when you resubmit the work, or retake the exam. This new mark or grade is the one that will be entered on your academic record.

Please note that once a deferral has been accepted, it cannot be retracted; you will need to submit the assessment or take the exam on the next available date offered to you.

If you'd like to submit a deferral request, please speak to your faculty Student Advice Centre who will advise you on your next steps.

Once an outcome of deferral has been decided by your faculty, your faculty Student Advice Centre or a faculty representative will be in contact with you via email.

If your deferral request is unsuccessful and you'd like to appeal this outcome, you must contact us in writing, clearly stating the specific grounds for your appeal. Appeal submissions can be sent to us at acasupportoffice@dmu.ac.uk and must be received within 10 university working days of the panel decision.

Please speak to your faculty Student Advice Centre should you have any questions.