Dispensation Requests

Several of the dispensation requests relate to if you need to suspend your studies, to adjust your academics accordingly, such as:

• Carry forward of marks when suspending studies: most cases this happens automatically, but check out our advice on suspending studies to see circumstances where an dispensation may be required
• Overstanding for honours: if you have suspended for more than six terms (equivalent to two academic years) since matriculation, then you are considered 'overstanding for honours' and therefore cannot be eligible for a classified honours degree. You can request to change this via dispensation.
• Previous syllabus: request for you to sit your papers based on what you were taught if the content of a course has changed whilst you were on suspension
• Suspension: if you are an non-matriculated undergraduate student, requests for extra terms of suspension beyond those which can be approved by the board

Dispensations may be granted relating to your assessment, such as:

• Illegal combination of examination papers: request for you to be able to take a combination of examination papers not usually permitted in the regulations for your course - typically, this happens because a mistake has been made and you've already studied for an incorrect combination of papers
• Major adjustments to assessment: if you need a change to the assessment beyond what the Proctors can offer you (such as changes to the format or timing of the assessment) then this would need to be approved by the Education Committee via a dispensation request. This includes things such as spreading teaching and assessment for a course over a longer period than usual or replacing some written examination papers with other forms of assessment (such as extended essays or take home papers) - see further advice in our Exam Adjustments pages
• Resits: request for you to have exceptional resit opportunities, such as an exceptional third attempt in the First Public Examination (first year exams) and/or outside of the ordinary timeframes

There are other dispensations you may need to apply for, such as:

• • Matriculation deferral: request to defer your matriculation beyond your third term of study. This is generally used for part-time students who spend limited time in Oxford
• • Recognised or Visiting student status: if you need to request an extension to your status as a Recognised or Visiting student or need to request to hold visiting or recognised student status despite previously matriculating
• • Anything else: If you need any other adjustment to the Examination Regulations, then this can be requested via the Dispensation Process.
• There are other dispensations which only apply to postgraduate research students, which are covered under the Research section of this website

   

As soon as you are aware you need a dispensation.

You aren't able to apply for dispensation yourself, and it instead done by the following parties:

• Matriculated Undergraduate students: your College
• - Matriculated Postgraduate students: your Department/Faculty/divisional Graduate Studies Assistant (or, when appropriate your College)
• - Non-Matriculated students: your department

If you feel you will need a dispensation, it is therefore recommended you reach out to those who will be able to do your application on your behalf explaining clearly:

• - You are looking for an dispensation
• - Explain any extenuating circumstances impacting your studies; you don’t need to go into lots of details but you need to be able to briefly describe what has/is impacting you, and give specific examples of how they are impacting your studies
• - Explain why you feel a dispensation is the best decision for you given the circumstances
• - Share with them any evidence you have to support the application

They will either complete the dispensation form entirely on your behalf, or, ask you to draft it so that they can submit it. If you do need to draft it yourself, then include the same information we've described above.

Part of the form is to ask for an explanation of how the dispensation would happen in practice. If they are supportive, your College/Department can generally help to discuss this plan with you to come up with a solution that works for them and therefore is more likely to be accepted.

You are able to draft the form yourself following the advice above. You'd then need to send this in to your College/Department for them to submit to the Education Committee, which they should do despite them not agreeing. On the form, there is a section which your College/Department need to fill out explaining whether they do or do not support the application. Once they've filled this in, they can send it into the Education Committee.

Part of the form is to ask for an explanation of how the dispensation would happen in practice. So, if you don’t have the College/Department on board, you need to be clear yourself on what exactly you are requesting. For example, if you are requesting a major adjustment to assessment such as to spread one year of teaching and assessment over two years, you'd need to provide a detailed proposal of how this would be done.

It takes at least two weeks to hear back, but more complex dispensation requests will take longer to be considered.

The outcome of your application will be shared with your College/Department (whoever applied for you). Occasionally, they can forget to update you, so every month or so it might be worthwhile checking with them if they have heard back.

If you are unhappy with the outcome, you can submit an appeal.