Special Consideration, Special Arrangements and Simple Extensions

Are you having difficulty meeting the requirements of your degree? Your work may be affected by sickness – ranging from a bad cold to a more serious illness – or your study routine may be disrupted by moving house or as a result of additional demands on your time caused by the illness of a family member or close friend. These are circumstances beyond your control and the University takes such matters into account.

We are aware that you may, on occasion, need extra time to complete an assessment task, or you may have to sit an exam outside the scheduled exam period. We are also sympathetic to students who may have managed to complete their work on time – despite their difficulties – but are then concerned that it was not up to their usual standard.

Some problems can be dealt with at the Unit of Study level, by reporting to your class teacher or Unit of Study coordinator. You should do this, for example, if you have missed some tutorials because you were unwell. Other problems need to be processed through the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on-line application system, at http://sydney.edu.au/arts/current_students/online_application.shtml

Through this system, you can apply for:

• Special Consideration (#spec) – for serious illness or misadventure
• Special Arrangements (#arr) – for essential community commitments
• Simple Extension (#ext) – an extension of 5 working days or less for non-examination based assessment tasks on the grounds of illness or misadventure.

The Counselling Service and Disability Services are available to help you further if you have long-term difficulties. Disability includes mobility problems (ongoing or temporary), specific learning disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, chronic medical conditions and hearing or vision impairment, among other problems. Your registration with Disability Services is VERY important. They are committed to help you in many ways. Please visit their site at: http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/disability/assis.shtml#arts They also have an on-line extension request form, which you should use if you need an extension because of the effects of the condition for which you are registered.

International Student Support Unit (ISSU) (http://www.sydney.edu.au/stuserv/issu/)

Are you an international student? Living and studying in a foreign country, away from all your usual support people, can be a real challenge. It’s easy to get lonely and isolated, stressed about finances and about doing well academically and to feel that you have no one you can talk to about your experience, nowhere to go for help or advice.

Well, good news! The International Student Support Unit (ISSU) is here for you. We are a team of professionally qualified psychologists with many years of experience working with students from different countries and different language backgrounds. You can get free, confidential personal counseling at ISSU. We are friendly, non-judgmental and it’s easy to make an appointment for a counseling session with of the team. We can help you deal with whatever issues come up for you and we can help you access other support services on campus as well.

You can contact us by phone on 8627 8437 by email on or by coming in to our office on level 5 of the Jane Foss Russell Building in City Road.

You don’t need to have a problem to see an ISSU Counsellor. Sometimes it’s good just to come and have a chat with someone about your experiences here. If there is something that’s bothering you, remember it’s best to deal with it early.

We have lots of good information on our website http://www.sydney.edu.au/stuserv/issue as well as a monthly e-Newsletter just for international students.