Special Consideration Procedures

Parent policy: University Special Consideration Policy and Procedures

The university Special Consideration Policy provides students with a further opportunity to demonstrate their ability when work for a particular piece of assessment has been adversely affected by serious medical or personal situations.

The accompanying university Special Consideration Procedures outline the general guidelines for eligibility and lodging of a special consideration application, and indicates that faculties shall develop additional procedures according to their own needs. The procedures below apply only to students enrolled in the Faculty of Science and to units owned by the Faculty of Science.

Procedures

A. End-of-semester special consideration

These procedures apply to

students eligible for special consideration enrolled in a course managed by the Faculty of Science, and to
the final examination(s) of a unit or the final report of a research unit.

Lodging of application:
Students enrolled in a course managed by the Faculty of Science must lodge the completed application form with the supporting documentation to the Faculty of Science Office of the relevant campus no later than two working days after the student’s last scheduled examination of the semester, or in the case of research units, the deadline of the final research report.
Assessment, recording and notification:
The special consideration application will be assessed by the faculty responsible for teaching the unit. Possible outcomes of this assessment are:
- deferred examination (regardless of whether the student sat the exam)
- extension to the submission deadline, in the case of research units, or
- rejection of the application.
The student will be notified of the outcome of this assessment by the faculty responsible for teaching the unit.

B. In-semester special consideration

(only for units owned by the Faculty of Science)

These procedures apply to students eligible for special consideration and enrolled in a unit owned by the Faculty of Science who have been adversely affected during the period leading to and/or covering any assessment within semester such as assignments, quizzes, oral presentations, laboratory reports and attendance to compulsory unit activities.

Lodging of application:
Students must lodge the completed application form with the supporting documentation to the Campus Unit Coordinator (or designated alternate) no later than two working days after the assessment is due. This deadline can be extended only in exceptional circumstances.

Students who need to keep the original of the medical certificate or other supporting documentation, can provide a copy of the document(s), but must also present the original for sighting.
Assessment, recording and notification:
The special consideration application will be assessed by the Unit Coordinator of the relevant campus. The outcome of this assessment could be one of the following:
- extension to the submission deadline
- alternative assessment
- in units with activities that require compulsory attendance: exemption from attending the activity, granting an average mark for it
- for weekly quizzes or other regular assessment: exemption from completing a quiz/assessment, granting an average mark for it
- rejection of the application.
The Unit Coordinator will notify this outcome to the student within five working days by returning a signed special consideration form or via an email to the student.

Supporting information

Scope

These procedures apply to all units owned by the Faculty of Science and all students enrolled with the Faculty of Science.

Definitions

Units owned by the Faculty of Science: are units approved by the Faculty of Science to be taught primarily to science students. These units are labelled in the Undergraduate Handbook as “SCI”.

Responsibilities for Implementation

Associate Dean (Education), Heads of Schools, Unit Coordinators

Date Effective

Semester 1 2008

Approval

Approved by Faculty Education Committee 01/08

Review

2013