We are writing this letter as students are not adequately supported under the current exceptional circumstances process at the University of Sussex, and the process needs to be reformed to cater to the student body’s needs. Many students’ experiences with the exceptional circumstances process has negatively impacted their health and wellbeing and for some, has been a traumatising process. We view these outcomes as unacceptable. Following surveys and interviews with students conducted by the Student Union's Wellbeing officer, data showed that students feel that the EC process is overly complicated and intrusive, creating added stress to the student experience.

The University of Sussex defines exceptional circumstances as "[events which are] sudden, unforeseen and which may temporarily and significantly impact upon a student's assessments.” The exhaustive list includes 'serious short-term illness or injury, flare up of undiagnosed/diagnosed illness (which could be any type of ailment), contagious infectious diseases, bereavement, serious crisis, experiences of traumatic events, which could have an impact on oneself, one's mental state, one's environment, and of course emergencies’.

Limited Categories for Claims
Students who have been through the process have expressed concerns that the categories are too narrow, require extensive evidence, are extremely invasive and require too many private details, there is little to no support provided, the deadlines are too short and the process is not transparent at all.

The categories of EC claims are extremely limited and these narrow categories do not consider the complexities of personal situations that impact students in submitting their assignments and as such, their claims are rejected despite falling under the general description of exceptional circumstances. For example, whilst there is a category for bereavement, there is no way to claim for exceptional circumstances if a family member is hospitalised, and thus a student has had to take time off to care for them and their family.

Evidence:
Submitting a EC claim also requires students to submit extensive evidence, including but not limited to: appointment letters, medical certificates for proof of appointments, exceptional circumstance evidence documents from the GP, crime statements, letters from Disability services, statements from student advisors, general counsel, Student Life Centre advisors or Director of the Student Experience and self-certified claims are limited to only being used twice during an academic year. This restricts students who are unable to access evidence due to financial difficulties, especially in a Cost of Living crisis, the short window available to obtain professional letters, and for some international students, not being able to access evidence in English. Additionally, gathering this extensive evidence places an unnecessary burden on students, on top of their academic work, and aggravates the mental health impact whilst already going through a difficult situation and can especially be retraumatising. We believe that the evidence requirements for this process are unnecessarily invasive and insensitive and often discourages students from accessing this support when they are in crisis.

This requirement also completely negates the experiences of students who may be uncomfortable speaking to medical professionals or advisors due to the lack of understanding of disability, the attitude towards disabled people and the discrimination that they have faced in the past, leaving them with the choice obtaining evidence whilst putting them in a difficult situation or not submitting a claim and thus losing out on their academics.

In addition to this, some medical information is not easily evidenced, due to legal restrictions surrounding medical record confidentiality, and some medical conditions are complex and may be impacted by previous history and thus not easily. Additionally, prescriptions are not accepted as evidence despite only being created due to medication requirement for illnesses.

One student stated: "I think requiring so much evidence even for personal situations which I cannot share with anyone goes against the concept of support for students in my opinion. I should not be asked to prove that I was in the hospital for mental health issues".

Invasive claims
Providing private details, justifications and the extent of the impact on your mental health can often be retriggering and traumatising, especially when it requires students to disclose sensitive information on a form with no transparency or details about the process. It is quite self-explanatory how bereavement or hospitalisation of a family member or friend may severely affect a student’s mental health.

Extremely short deadlines
Deadlines on submitting EC claims are extremely short. A claim needs to be submitted within 7 days of the assessment deadline, and is otherwise considered a ‘late claim’, requiring additional explanation for the delay, and evidence needs to be submitted within 21 days of submitting a claim, with no consideration for public holidays periods, often understaffed health centres and bureaucratic processes that make it difficult and lengthy to obtain evidence.

Furthermore, deadlines for submitting claims for assessment periods are not publicised which disadvantages students experiencing exceptional circumstances who are unable to submit their claim until later, and the deadlines do not take into account extensions that students registered with Disability Support receive.

Support and Transparency:
Students are also offered little to no support in the process of submitting an EC claim. They are not briefed on what EC claims are, and often only find out much later after already being in difficult situations and scrambling through their options. Additionally, the information about the process isn't easily available and accessible in one place and students need to jump between different pages to understand the process and submit a claim. There is little guidance on what to include in a claim and how to submit it, what the next steps are and how long it will take for you to hear back on your claim. Academic Advisors often know very little about submitting EC claims and are notoriously hard to book appointments with, leaving students with almost no support while submitting their claim.

The hurdles in the EC process are aggravated for marginalised students, from being unable to obtain evidence in English, not being able to pay for doctors’ letters, the complexity of the process overwhelming students and worsening their mental health, and more, which leads to a more significant negative impact on some students than others and the bureaucracy and complex systems make it harder for students who are from multiple marginalised backgrounds and in most cases, worsen their mental health.

The entire EC process is extremely time-consuming, highly bureaucratic and offers no support to students whilst they are enduring unforeseen events, the mental and physical impacts of those and continuing their academic workload. With many difficult situations not being accepted as an EC by the University, students having to describe their difficult situation and how they felt and why they were unable to complete their assessment, provide extensive evidence, this process takes a toll on their mental health when it should really exist to support them when they are struggling.

As evidenced above, the current EC process is not fit for purpose, actively harms students and does not cater to the needs of the evolving student body. Therefore, we urge the University to reform the Exceptional Circumstances process to ensure that it is inclusive, recognises institutional discrimination, understands the challenges that marginalised groups face, and offers adequate support to students in distress.

We want the Exceptional Circumstances system to:

Have wider categories to include different incidents and circumstances that students may experience such as hate crimes, reproductive healthcare (including miscarriages, abortions, and childbirth), emergency care responsibilities and legal issues, losing a job, financial difficulties, a broader definition of grief to include students whose support system may not include their biological family and an additional category for other circumstances that may not have been covered by the pre-existing ones
Include explanations and examples of circumstances that fit within categories
Have a lower threshold of evidence required and increasing the number of self-declaration claims allowed
Accept a variety of evidence that doesn’t fall within the published list
Ensure that the EC Review Board is representative of the diversity of the student body and the demographics of the board to be publicly accessible
For the EC Review Board to be informed on the overarching and aggravating impacts of situations on marginalised groups
Not require explanations of the personal circumstances and the detailed impact on mental health and education
Create a system that allows students to book appointments with confidential EC advisors who are able to explain the process and offer support and signposting
Have all the information about the Exceptional Circumstances process, including the support provided, the expected timeline, deadlines, and transparency of the process accessible in one place
Have a longer timeframe to submit a claim and evidence
Ensure students are briefed about EC claims and the process during the induction when they first join University and are reminded of information during assessment periods
Not have prior claims be visible on Sussex Direct so students are not reminded of past incidents that may have been traumatising
Review this process with student feedback, with representatives from all marginalised groups, at least once a year to ensure that it meets the needs of the current student body