Personal Circumstances

What should I know about Personal Circumstances?

The Personal Circumstances procedure applies to everyone studying at Strathclyde, regardless of your course or level of study, and you can access the portal via Pegasus under the ‘personal’ tab.

Using this function is the only way to formally inform the University of what’s happened and be sure that it’s taken into account – telling or emailing a lecturer, your department, or another member of staff is not enough, even if they reply to acknowledge it.

Let the University know as soon as possible when something’s happened to make sure that you are supported appropriately, and that academic support can be put in place to make sure your studies aren’t affected too much. You can submit at any point during the year, but if something has affected you during the exam period, then you must submit within 5 working days following your final exam/assessment.

There are certain things that will be considered and some that won’t. Things that won’t be considered include minor illness such as a common cold or headache, the timetabling of exams close to each other, losing work that was not backed up on, for example, a cloud server or external hard drive, and going on holiday or attending events such as weddings or birthday parties.

The University will also expect you to submit supporting evidence that demonstrates that your circumstances as reported are accurate. This could be a UK registered doctor’s letter if you are ill, a death certificate in the case of a bereavement, jury service summons, for example. This is not an exhaustive list by any means and if you’re not sure if your circumstances will be considered or don’t know what evidence to provide, the Advice Hub can help.

What is the process for Personal Circumstances?

The first and most important thing to do is log into Pegasus, visit the ‘personal’ tab, and submit a self-certificate detailing your circumstances clearly and concisely.

When you have completed the simple form, you will see a summary page that shows the self-certificate and a column that shows whether you have submitted evidence or not related to that circumstance. Click the upload button to attach your supporting evidence. 

Evidence

The Personal Circumstances portal allows you to submit up to 10 individual pieces of evidence per uploaded circumstance. You should ensure that you only submit relevant evidence that documents or verifies your circumstances. Check out the linked procedure below for guidance on what the University considers to be appropriate evidence. 

We recommend scanning or screenshotting (in the case of emails, etc) your evidence where possible, but clear colour photos can also be submitted where necessary.

What's next?

Once this is done, you’re all set! You won’t get a notification of receipt or that your circumstances have been considered, but if they are logged on Pegasus, you can rest assured that they will be passed to the relevant Personal Circumstances Board to be taken into account.

Submitting can benefit students by, for example, awarding them a discounted attempt at an unsuccessful assessment (i.e., redoing it as a first attempt, not a second attempt) or awarding them further opportunities to complete a component of a course. It’s also often a required element of requesting an extension on a piece of work – check your course handbook to see what process you should follow!

When you receive your results at the end of the year, you will be able to see if any discounts or other decisions have been applied to you.

How can the Advice Hub help me with Personal Circumstances?

Our advisers work with the Personal Circumstances procedure on a daily basis, so we know it inside and out! We can help you navigate the policies and procedures to understand what you need to do, including how to submit, what to say, evidence that you can submit, and how your circumstances may be taken into account.

Useful resources

Strathclyde Personal Circumstances Procedure