Getting help when things go wrong

We hope that you’ll enjoy your project, and everything will go smoothly - but if things go wrong, we’re here to help.

Problems with your supervisor

If you have any problems with your supervisor, contact Mike and Sarah. If you’ve been trying to contact them, please forward your last email to them - please note that we never expect supervisors to reply to emails/contacts out of working hours, over weekends or during holidays.

If you think you’re falling behind

Sometimes students start falling behind and stop attending supervision, because they’re embarrassed or don’t want to let their supervisor down. While we understand, we strongly recommend you keep going to supervision and be honest with your supervisor about what’s happening and why, as they can’t help you unless they know how you’re feeling.

We also recommend you talk to your personal tutor or the Student Wellbeing Service, as they can help you get back on track.

Extensions

If you think you might need an extension, you can find all the information you need on the University Coursework Extension page. Please note: you will need to provide evidence of why you need the extenstion - if you need any help talk to the School Office. Make sure you let your supervisor and personal tutor know what is going on. Please note: the deadline for applying for extensions is 48 hours before the due date.

If you get an extension, your viva date may be changed, so your markers can read your report before they viva you. This may be re-arranged at late notice, depending on when you hand in.

Usually you can apply for an extension for a maximum of 3 weeks (although talk to the School Office if you are applying for 2 or 3 weeks extension as it may not be possible). Please note: if you get an extension of more than 2 weeks, we cannot guarantee that you can graduate in July, because it may not be possible to mark your work in time, although we will do our best.

If you want to defer your submission to the next submission date (usually July) you must email the Senior Tutor copying in the School Office. You would need to have Exceptional Circumstances (see below) for this to happen.

Exceptional Circumstances

Exceptional circumstances are unexpected, unavoidable and make it difficult to attend or complete assessments, for example if you have physical or mental health issues. If you experience these during your project, you can ask the exam board to consider the impact they may have had.

We recommend applying for these alongside an extension request - the information about what they can and can’t do is on the University Exceptional Circumstances page.

If you fail

If you fail your project, you will usually get the chance to resit it, although depending on your circumstances, this may be during the summer vacation or in the next academic year. If you have Exceptional Circumstances agreed, this may be an uncapped resit, but without these, it will be capped so the pass mark is the highest mark you can get (40 for BSc, 50 for MEng).

There is more information about resits on the University resit page. Decisions about resits are made by the Exam Board, and there is more information about their decisions on this page.

The important thing is if you think you are at risk of failing, talk to your supervisor and your personal tutor as soon as possible.

Mental health

It is important not to overwork yourself; you will not do better work just by working longer hours, so think of the project as a marathon, not a sprint. Your mental health is important, and the university will support you with it wherever it can.

Your main contacts for mental health support are:

The Student Wellbeing Service
Your GP, for example at the student health service.