Special Consideration

Documentation is necessary in order to verify your circumstances. The University will review the documentation you provide to assess your application and determine whether it meets the criteria set out in the policy. The Special Consideration Team are responsible for determining your eligibility for Special Consideration.

The most common reason that we see applications for Special Consideration deemed ineligible is due to a lack of appropriate supporting documentation to verify your circumstances. Providing adequate documentation can be a rather complex process, and unfortunately, this often leaves genuine applicants frustrated and confused.

There are a few things to note about the documentation you should include in your application:

• your documentation must be formal. This means it must be from a professional and independent source that is relevant to your situation, and in some instances a statutory declaration will be acceptable
• the documentation needs to clearly state the dates that you were severely impacted
• you do not need to provide any details of your specific circumstances or name your condition or symptoms if you are applying for illness. It is entirely sufficient for your health care professional (or other independent source of relevant documentation) to state that they have objectively assessed you to be severely impacted by the circumstances which forms the basis of your application
• while you don’t need to provide details, the documents do need to specifically outline the impact those circumstances had on your capacity to complete or prepare for assessment. That is, it needs to demonstrate how it impacted your capacity to do the assessment task in question. For instance, if you became unwell in the days before an exam you don’t have to say what type of illness you had or the symptoms, but you do need to provide documentation that outlines when you were severely impacted, and to what extent. For example, if you were unable to prepare for your exam due to illness, then this is what should be captured in your documentation

It is important to note that a standard medical certificate will likely be deemed ineligible for Special Consideration. This is because it lacks the specific details about your situation for the University to decide what to do to help you. If your circumstances are related to physical or mental health issues, the recommended documentation is a Health Professional Report (HPR) Form This form is designed to help your health care practitioner supply the details required by the Special Consideration Team to assess the application as eligible or not.

You will notice the form does not leave much space for your practitioner to detail your illness – that’s because they only need to say you are unwell or suffering a condition. The important parts on the form are:

• the date of your consultation or appointment
• the exact period of impact (using dates), and
• the ways you are impacted in relation to the assessment tasks in question

The dates need to align with the timing of the affected assessment, and the impacts will determine whether you have been impacted sufficiently to meet the threshold for eligibility. Generally, an HPR form completed by your health practitioner is the minimum requirement for documentation if you are applying on medical grounds, and if you can obtain additional documentation that expands on your situation (i.e. a letter from your health practitioner on letterhead) then this would help, but is not necessary.

If you are unable to provide documentation in the form of a HPR, then you need to make sure the person verifying your incapacity at least addresses the dates you were affected, and the ways this impacted your capacity to perform the exact assessment task in question. In most cases a generic medical certificate will not be accepted.

Apart from health-related issues, students may also be eligible for Special Consideration due to being adversely impacted by the following circumstances:

• Bereavement
• Trauma or victim of crime
• Computer failure or technical issues
• Hardship
• Defence or emergency services duties
• Elite athletes
• Elite performers
• Religious or cultural observance

For guidance on the type of documentation to provide for these circumstances, please see the University’s advice here.

A statutory declaration is a statement that you declare to be true which must be written and signed by you and witnessed by an authorised witness. A list of who is considered an authorised witness can be found here. Declaring false information in a statutory declaration is a criminal offence. It is also likely to attract an allegation of academic misconduct from the University, for which the most common penalty is expulsion. The University states that statutory declarations are acceptable in some circumstances, however, we have found that the Special Consideration Team will not accept a statutory declaration as the sole form of supporting documentation for most application types. If it is not a health-related condition which can be evidenced via the HPR form, then you will need to source some other independent verification. For example, victims of crime can use a police report, students impacted by religious or cultural observance can use a letter from a religious or community leader. Remember that any support letters need to be on official letterhead.

If your application was deemed ineligible, it usually means that the Special Consideration Team found that you did not meet the criteria set out in the Assessment and Results Policy. This may have been due to your documentation not clearly stating the impact from your circumstances, a lack of appropriate supporting documentation, the dates of impact not aligning with the assessment timing, or that your circumstances were considered ongoing rather than unexpected or short-term. You can request a review of the decision if you believe the assessment was unfair or did not properly consider your evidence.

Late applications are only accepted when you can clearly demonstrate why you were unable to apply within the standard 4 working days after the assessment due date or exam. If your reason for the late application was not accepted, it likely means you did not provide sufficient evidence showing how your extenuating circumstances prevented a timely submission, or your justification for the delay was weak. If you still believe you have valid grounds, you can request a review of the outcome.

If your Special Consideration application was successful but you are unhappy with the adjustment offered (for example, you were after a supplementary exam but were offered a late withdrawal), you can request a review of the outcome. If the review is unsuccessful and you still disagree, you may be able to pursue an Academic Board Appeal.

You may request a review within 5 working days of receiving the outcome notification. Your request for a review should include a clear argument addressing why the original decision was incorrect, along with any new or additional supporting documentation.

You may be able to request a review of your outcome outside of the 5 working days timeframe. If you are unable to request a review via the online portal, you may contact the Special Consideration Team directly to request a review. Please contact us to locate the best contact and for assistance with framing your request.

If your review request was unsuccessful and the original decision stands, your next step depends on the nature of your dispute. If your application was deemed ineligible, you can escalate to a Formal Grievance (see below). If your application was eligible but you are unhappy with the adjustment offered, you may proceed to lodge an Academic Board Appeal (see below for more information). In both cases, it is important to carefully review all correspondence, gather any additional supporting evidence, and seek advice from us to frame your grievance or appeal properly.

If your Special Consideration application was denied, and the outcome was upheld upon review, it can feel disheartening. However, it may still be worthwhile to lodge a formal grievance if you believe the review outcome was unfair or if you have new information or stronger supporting documentation that directly addresses the reasons your application was denied.

To dispute your Special Consideration eligibility via formal grievance, you must ensure that you’ve received and carefully reviewed the outcome of both your original Special Consideration application and, if applicable, the outcome of your review. Your grievance must clearly respond directly to the reasons the application was denied. We have a template that we encourage you to utilise. Once you have used our template to draft a Grievance letter, it would be a really good idea to send it to us for feedback (along with copies of all the previous documentation relating to the application).

Your grievance must be supported by strong, relevant documentation that directly addresses the reasons your special consideration application was deemed ineligible or insufficient. For example, if the application was denied because your Health Professional Report (HPR) lacked detail about the specific impact on your ability to complete a particular assessment, your grievance should include a revised HPR or support letter that explains this clearly. The University does not require disclosure of confidential medical information, but it does expect documentation that outlines how your condition affected your capacity to complete the assessment in question. Documentation should confirm the timeframe of the impact and establish consistency with your account of events, even if your health professional didn’t see you on the exact date of the assessment.

The Advocacy Service can help you understand the reasons behind the University’s decision and guide you in preparing a strong grievance. We can review the outcome letters with you to identify what issues need to be addressed, assist in interpreting what kind of additional documentation is needed, and provide feedback on your draft grievance letter. We also offer a special consideration grievance template on our website to help you structure your case effectively. Once you’ve drafted your letter using our template and gathered the necessary documents, you’re encouraged to send them to us for detailed feedback before submission.

The grievance process can vary in duration depending on the complexity of your case and the volume of applications being handled at the time. While University policy stipulates that students should receive an outcome within 20 business days of lodgement, it is best to allow at least a few weeks for a response. During this time, it’s important to monitor your student email for any updates or requests for further information, and to ensure that your supporting documentation is as clear and thorough as possible to prevent unnecessary delays.

If your grievance is unsuccessful, you can potentially appeal to the Academic Board. You have 20 working days to lodge an appeal, measured from when you were notified of your grievance outcome.

If your formal grievance is denied, the final step you can take is to lodge an appeal to the Academic Board.

We can advise on your prospects for success with an appeal, the grounds upon which it could be based, and the best way to convey your arguments if you're struggling with it. If you want to better understand the appeal process, take a look at our Appeals to the Academic Board page. We recommend you contact us for specific advice and assistance on your appeal.

Help us to help you! When you contact us, please provide copies of the following documentation:

Original application documents

Outcome to the initial application

Further/new documentation and personal statements submitted with your request for a review

Outcome to the review

A copy of the formal grievance letter and any further/new information submitted with the grievance

Outcome to the formal grievance

Download the checklist here

If your Special Consideration application was successful but you are unhappy with the adjustment offered (for example, you were after a supplementary exam but were offered a late withdrawal), you can request a review of the outcome. If the review is unsuccessful and you still disagree, you may be able to pursue an Academic Board Appeal.

Reasonable adjustments offered to students vary depending on your circumstances. The University provides three types of assessment adjustments—extensions (up to 10 business days), Special Consideration, and alternative assessment arrangements for ongoing issues—when specific conditions are met. These adjustments are offered if your ability to complete assessments is genuinely and significantly affected by exceptional circumstances beyond their control. All adjustments must uphold academic integrity, ensure fair and equitable treatment, and maintain equivalent marking standards for all students.

To lodge an appeal with the Academic Board, you must submit a written submission that clearly addresses the grounds (or, “reasons”) for your appeal. An appeal to the Academic Board is not a simple re-hearing of the original matter. Instead, it must be based on specific grounds: a procedural irregularity, new information that could not reasonably have been provided earlier and would likely have affected the decision, a manifestly wrong decision, or a penalty that was manifestly excessive, inappropriate, or not available in the circumstances. You have 20 University business days from the date you received your review outcome to lodge an appeal. Your appeal should directly engage with the rationale provided in your Special Consideration outcome and review outcome. To help you prepare, you can use our template. This can guide you in structuring your appeal and ensuring you provide all necessary information and supporting documentation.

When submitting your appeal, you must include your name, University email address (or personal email if you are no longer a student), and contact telephone number. If you are a current student, note that all correspondence will only be sent to your University email. You also need to provide your student number (or indicate if you are a prospective or former student). Clearly state the type of appeal you are submitting and include a copy of your special consideration outcome, and review outcome. You must also include any supporting documentation that you are relying on to strengthen your appeal. This could include medical certificates, correspondence, or any other relevant evidence that supports the grounds of your appeal.

Once you lodge your notice of appeal, it will be assessed to determine whether it has sufficient merit to proceed to a hearing. Appeals related to student general misconduct, fitness to study, or exclusion for a notifiable disease are considered under the Vice-Chancellor Regulation by the University Secretary, while all other appeals under the Student Appeals Policy are considered by the Academic Secretary under the Academic Board Regulation. The University aims to assess appeals within 10 University business days, but there is no strict deadline, so the process can take time. If your appeal is considered to lack merit, you’ll be notified of the intention to disallow it and given 5 University business days to submit additional information. If you don’t provide more information within that window, your appeal will be disallowed. It’s important to act quickly—if you need help preparing your response, get in touch with us as soon as possible.

The University aims to begin assessing your appeal within 10 University business days of lodgement and to finalise it as soon as reasonably practicable. If your appeal is considered to lack merit, you’ll be notified and given 5 University business days to submit any additional relevant information. Once you provide that information, the University aims to make a final decision—either to allow or disallow your appeal—within 15 University business days. If your appeal is allowed, it may be referred to a Student Appeal Panel within another 15 University business days. However, in practice, we have seen appeals take considerably longer than the timelines set out in the policy. While the University provides timeframes as a guideline, there are no strict deadlines for decisions, so we recommend preparing for a longer wait than the policy might suggest.

The Academic Board is the final decision-making body within the University. If your appeal has been disallowed and you remain determined to have this decision explored further – we recommend getting in touch with us to discuss making a complaint to the National Student Ombudsman.

If you have taken your matter all the way to an appeal to the Academic Board and you still haven’t been able to get the outcome you were hoping for, you can seek an external review of the decision from the NSO. For more information about this process, please visit our advice page here.