Illness

There are different rules about what to do if you become ill during your studies. Below you can read about the differences between sudden illness in connection with an exam and long-term illness which may cause your studies to be delayed.

Illness at the exam

If you are unable to attend and exam due to sudden illness, or if you need to leave an exam without completing it due to sudden illness, you will be given the opportunity to attend a re-examination due to illness, once you have become better. However, this requires that you send documentation of illness within the deadlines, which are mentioned in our Examination Regulations. If you do not comply with the mentioned deadlines, you will have used one of your exam attempts, and you will be signed up for the next upcoming exam.

Examples

  • If you are unable to attend an oral exam on the examination day, or if you are unable to hand in a written exam paper on the examination day due to illness, you must create a case in Studyservicedesk by the end of the examination day. No later than 1 week after the examination day, you must upload documentation of illness to the case in Studyservicedesk. Read more about documentation on this page.

  • If you fall ill during an examination, which is taking place at UCL University College (oral or written), you must inform an examination supervisor or the examiner that you are unable to complete the exam and must leave due to illness. NOTE: If you complete an oral or written exam despite sudden illness, you will have used up an exam attempt. No later than 1 week after the examination day you must create a case in Studyservicedesk and upload documentation of illness. Read more about documentation on this page.

If you are in doubt about, which rules apply to your specific situation, please contact your Student counsellor.

Long-Term Illness

If you suffer from an illness, which makes it difficult for you to complete your study programme within the scheduled time, please contact your Student counsellor for clarification on the rules about long or short-term sick leave and/or dispensation for postponement of exams etc.

It will always be necessary for you to send documentation of your illness, if you want to postpone whole semesters or single exams. Ask your Student counsellor about the type of documentation needed for your specific situation. Read more about documentation at the bottom of this page.

Finance during illness

If you receive SU, and if your illness means that you will delayed in your studies, you should be aware that you may only be 30 ECTS delayed (equivalent of 1 semester). If you become more than 30 ECTS delayed, your SU will be stopped, until you have passed enough exams to be only 30 ECTS delayed.

However, you can avoid having your SU stopped due to illness, if you apply for and are granted extra SU grant portions (1 grant portion = 1 month). You must apply for extra SU grant portions as soon as you can send documentation of your period of illness. You should not wait until you have used up all your SU grant portions. Contact our SU counsellors or see the SU website  for more information. Read more about documentation at the bottom of this page.

Re-exam due to illness

Only your own illness will give you the right to attend a re-examination due to illness. Such a re-examination is a replacement exam for the exam, which you were unable to attend due to illness. Therefore, you must contact your Doctor, Psychiatrist or Emergency room if you suddenly become ill and send us a declaration or medical journal as documentation of the fact that you were too ill to attend the exam on the examination day. You must pay for such a document yourself. Read more in the Instructions for students about medical documentation.

Long-term illness

Only your own illness will give you the right to take sick leave. Sick leave means that your studies can be paused for one or more semesters, while you are still signed up for the study programme. Therefore you must ask your Student counsellor, whether you need to send us a Doctor´s note, a declaration from your Psychiatrist or hospital Doctor etc. You must pay for such documentation yourself. Read more in the Instructions for students about medical documentation.

Extra SU grant portions due to illness

Only your own illness can give you the right to apply for extra SU grant portions. NOTE: The SU rules require that you send an actual Doctor´s note from your own Doctor or Psychiatrist. It may not be from a Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Physiotherapist, Chiropractor or other types of medical staff, who do not hold an officially approved Medical education. Also, it may not be a transcript of a hospital journal, medical journal or similar. You must pay for the Doctor´s note yourself. Read more in the Instructions for students about medical documentation.

Special circumstances

If you want sick leave due to other reasons than your own illness, there are two options:

  • If you have been involved in a situation, which has influenced your mental health to such an extent that your Doctor is able to confirm that you have been too affected by the situation to be able to concentrate on your studies, attend exams etc., then you can send a Doctor´s note in accordance with the above mentioned rules. For instance if you have experienced death in your immediate family, or you have been through a stressful divorce during an exam period. In such a case it is not enough to send a Death certificate or a Divorce letter, because we need your Doctor to confirm that you have been too influenced by the situation to be able to study, attend exams etc.
  • If you have been involved in a situation, where it is not relevant to contact your Doctor as described above, you cannot follow the instructions mentioned on this page. However, if you are able to get hold of other types of documentation of special circumstances, you can apply for dispensation. For instance if you have terminated your internship due to difficulties at the work place, or if you have been forced to care for a sick spouse for a certain time period. In such case you must send documentation to prove the difficulties at your internship company, your spouse´s illness etc.