Supporting students: Extenuating Circumstances, DAPs and EAGR
Part of Key changes to the University Regulations for 2026-27.
Extenuating Circumstances: what is now in and out of scope
The rules are found in the Extenuating Circumstances Policy.
There is no longer a mechanism for affected performance. A student who sat an exam while unwell can ask for cancel-and-retake, where on acceptance of a claim, the exam attempt is cancelled and taken afresh.
There is no mechanism for incorporating fractional completed assessment in a degree outcome from a course without a grade: the old pro-rata calculations under the 75% rule have gone.
A student has 5 working days from an EC outcome at the Wellbeing and Evidence Check stage (“Stage 1”) to ask for it to be reviewed; the mechanism can be found in the Policy.
Problems caused by the University, such as an invigilation failure, incorrect information, or adjustments not being provided, are not an EC matter: the student contacts their School or the Wellbeing Team and the University investigates. (The one exception is serious IT failure by the University during an online exam, which the Policy treats as qualifying EC where the student contacted the IT Helpdesk at the time.) Do not advise students to submit an EC claim for University-caused problems; the system is not there to record grade changes. You should consult the Clerk of Senate (clerk-of-senate@glasgow.ac.uk) in these situations.
Delayed Assessment Permits
Short extensions have been replaced by Delayed Assessment Permits: 3 per student per academic year, each moving the deadline for one piece of coursework by 5 working days, requested in advance through the Extenuating Circumstances Portal, with no evidence needed and approval automatic. DAPs cover coursework only, not exams. Students registered with the Disability Service whose study support plan includes deadline flexibility have a higher allowance; the Portal shows each student their allowance.
Your changes to Gradebook and Moodle setup, including applying assessment tags on Moodle, are what allow DAPs to be automated. Information on the process is available on the step-by-step guide to Moodle Standardisation (see ‘Assessment Activity Tags’). You should make sure before the course starts that students are aware of the (generally very few) assessments you have which are DAP-excluded.
Remember that no deferral of a deadline may run beyond the date on which feedback is provided to the class, unless that feedback would not in any way advantage the student (in practice, work individual to the student, such as a dissertation or individual project). This date is a regulatory boundary. Note that this limit applies to moving a deadline for the same assessment. It does not prevent a deferred assessment under Extenuating Circumstances being scheduled after feedback is out, because a deferred assessment is a fresh attempt with different questions or activities.
DAPs do not carry over across academic years, and permits cannot be combined or ‘stacked’ on the same assignment. A DAP cannot be cancelled once requested, and cannot be requested after the deadline has passed. A student whose circumstances worsen after using a DAP may still claim EC for the same assessment, within 5 working days of the extended deadline (the DAP is not returned). A student who uses all 3 within a short period may be offered a supportive conversation, which can surface undisclosed difficulties.
EC After Grade Release replaces an appeals ground
The Code of Procedure for Academic Appeals has changed to match the new EC system. The third ground for appeal to College, where relevant medical or other adverse personal circumstances had for good reason not previously been presented, has been removed. From 2026-27, a student who wants circumstances considered after grades are released submits a claim through the Extenuating Circumstances system instead, known as EAGR (Extenuating Circumstances After Grade Release). The second ground has been reworded from “a failure to take account of medical or other adverse personal circumstances” to “failure to determine the appropriate academic outcome from an Extenuating Circumstances claim”.
For circumstances disclosed after grade release, the route is now an EC claim, which is more supportive and involves significantly less work for staff and students than preparing a full appeal pack. The evidence bar is deliberately higher for EAGR than for a claim made in time, because the student must show both that the circumstances would have justified a claim and a very good reason the claim could not be made earlier. Appeal remains the route where a student believes an accepted EC outcome was misapplied or a procedure was not followed. See the Code of Procedure for Academic Appeals.
We recommend you now read: Credit, GPAs and reassessment
Questions or feedback: policy@glasgow.ac.uk.