After securing a blanket extension for all undergraduate assignments due up to and including Friday 27 March, your Officers have achieved further success with extensions for PGT students and those with deadlines during the Easter break.
Jack O'Neill, President
Kate Roberts, VP Education
We have been working hard to support your education and represent your academic interests during the current changes to teaching and assessments.
Why did we lobby for extensions?
It has been very clear during the last few weeks that students have been thrust into numerous different unforeseen circumstances that may impact their ability to complete their outstanding assessments to their original deadlines. This included students who have returned home, either in the UK or internationally, as well as those whose circumstances are now much more challenging. Complications of time zone differences, lack of quiet spaces, lack of reliable internet, lack of access to resources, and different availabilities of IT equipment means not every student has access to usable and desirable working conditions.
Whilst adjustments can be made in an attempt to mitigate these difficulties, we also completely acknowledge that with current events, everyone deserves to take a slight pause with some time to adjust.
What has happened so far?
In our update on supporting your education, we updated you on some big wins we had made regarding changes to the extensions system. This resulted in us securing a blanket extension for all undergraduate assignments due up to and including Friday 27 March. This means all assignments due in this window now have a new deadline of Wednesday 15 April, but we weren’t finished there!
Last week we continued to lobby in support of extensions for PGT students and for those who have assignments due in during the Easter break (after 27 March). We succeeded in ensuring these deadlines were extended where possible, with Schools and Departments informing students of the changes to their deadlines over email at the end of last week.
This information has been collated and can now be viewed on the University’s website here. If you have any further questions about when your assignment is due please contact your module leader to get clarification.
The introduction of these extensions is a fantastic step in ensuring all students are supported in their education during this difficult time.
What if I cannot meet these new deadlines?
If you have a particular circumstance that means you are unable to meet the new deadline for your assessment, you are still able to apply for a five or ten-day extension as normal. We have also secured a lift on the limit of extension requests which may be submitted in an academic year, meaning you can still apply if you have used your two self-certifying extension requests this year. The requirements for medical evidence have also been lifted as it is unlikely that these can be obtained in current circumstances. The University have said that they will treat all cases sympathetically but would encourage you to do what you can to complete the work within the set deadline.
A final message from us
We hope you and your families are keeping healthy as a priority during this difficult time. We will continue to work hard representing students from our virtual offices over the Easter break so please do get in touch at president@su.rhul.ac.uk or vpeducation@su.rhul.ac.uk if you have any questions!