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1) Students facing circumstances that constitute grounds as set out in Section 8 may submit a request for academic concession. Students are responsible for submitting their requests as soon as possible.
2) Requests for academic concession may be made to the instructor of the student’s course, their graduate supervisor or graduate advisor for their graduate program, or the academic advising office of their academic unit as appropriate and as set out in the attached procedures. If concurrent academic concessions are sought in more than one course, the request should be made directly to the academic advising office or equivalent.
3) Requests for academic concessions shall be determined on a case-by-case basis and in a timely manner by the instructor, academic advising office, or dean (on the recommendation of the graduate supervisor or graduate advisor for graduate students in programs administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies). For graduate students in programs administered by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, all requests resulting in a change to the student academic record must be directed to the Dean and Vice-Provost of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
4) Determination of whether to grant an academic concession and which type of academic concession is most appropriate will depend on the student’s individual circumstances. One or more of the following considerations may apply:
- the nature and duration of the issue affecting the student;
- confidential consultation with other appropriate units that can provide professional opinion on the student’s situation;
- the scope and type of academic work affected;
- the proportion of prescribed academic work having been completed at the point in the term or program when academic work is affected; and,
- the student’s achievements in the course or graduate or professional program to date.
5) Providing an academic concession shall not lower the academic standards of UBC, its courses, or its programs, and shall not remove either the need for evaluation or assessment or the need for the student to meet essential requirements.
6) Courses and programs with continuous assessment and those that assess the development of graduate attributes and standards of professional conduct and of patient care may be constrained in the form of academic concession they can offer.
7) In some credit courses, such as some practica, internships, and field-work courses, there may be steps required for approval and authorities involved in requests for academic concessions in addition to those described in this policy.
8) Grounds for Academic Concession:
Grounds for academic concession exist when one or more of the conditions below unexpectedly or unavoidably leads to a situation or conflict that hinders participation or attendance at a class session or examination, or an inability otherwise to fulfill the requirements of a course or academic program in a timely manner, particularly where the requirements are assessed as part of a grade.
Grounds for academic concession may exist when a student enters an academic term but may also arise when a student’s circumstances change unexpectedly during the term.
Where a request for an academic concession has been found to be based on a protected ground covered by the BC Human Rights Code, the University has a duty to grant an academic concession unless doing so will create undue hardship (as that term has been interpreted under BC law) for the university. Other university policies may apply in these circumstances (see Related Board Policies SC7 and SC17; Joint Board and Senate Policy LR7; Senate Policy J-136).
Grounds for academic concession fall into one or more of the following categories