Queen Mary is a diverse community of over 30,000 students and staff and we strive to ensure as far as possible that our policies are consistent across all needs.
Queen Mary is a diverse community of over 30,000 students and staff. With a variety of faiths and beliefs represented on campus, we are committed to tolerance, understanding and co-operation, as well as to ensuring as far as possible that our policies are consistent across all needs. Many religions and beliefs require their members to pray at specific times during the day, or have special festivals or spiritual observance days. We recognise therefore that students at Queen Mary often strike a balance between their educational and religious commitments.
One of Queen Mary’s fundamental aims is to provide an education that is judged internationally to be of the highest quality. It would be both impractical and inconsistent with our aims as a university to suspend teaching for reasons of religious observance, but we will accommodate students’ religious commitments where we reasonably can do so. This may include providing learning materials (potentially including QReview recordings) online and permitting students to attend classes at different times where there is availability.
Students are expected to stay engaged and up-to-date with their studies throughout their time at Queen Mary. Schools and Institutes should make their expectations for attendance and submission of coursework clear to students at the beginning of their studies, and students should inform themselves beforehand about the potential implications of missing learning and teaching activities. Students must also inform their School or Institute beforehand if they intend to miss any teaching. We will take religious commitments into reasonable account when reviewing students attendance, but we expect students to plan their studies so that they can submit coursework on time.
The following procedures apply in the event that a special festival or spiritual observance day would result in absence from a scheduled assessment.
Ahead of each formal Queen Mary Examination period, please notify us of any religious observance that takes place during the examination period that may impact on your ability to sit an exam on a particular date or range of dates by completing the religious notification form linked below.
The notification form will be accessible for completion ahead of each examination period, which are in January, May/June and August. From the first working day after an examination period has finished, students will be able to submit their form for the next one until the specified deadline.
Religious notification form: https://forms.office.com/e/rsWR6Y95wS
Please be reminded that this form should be used to notify the central Examinations Team of any religious observance impacting formal examinations held during the Queen Mary examination periods. It should not be used to notify the university about impact on any other forms of assessments that take place during or outside of the examination periods, including but not limited to coursework, midterms, in-class tests, QMplus quizzes, presentations and homework. Please contact the School/Institute managing that assessment to discuss this as they will not receive any information submitted via this form.
Please note that the form will close after each deadline and you will no longer be able to submit a request. Any requests received via any means other than the form will not be taken into consideration. Only information received via the form will be used to support exam scheduling. You should complete the form ahead of each examination period (if applicable) and do not assume that any information provided will be carried over to future examination periods.
We will make every effort to avoid scheduling a student for an exam on a date where they have notified us of a religious observance but, unfortunately, due to scheduling constraints this may not always be possible.
Note that events such as weddings or other personal appointments such as driving tests do not constitute exceptional reasons for exam timetabling purposes and should not be submitted using this form.
If you require further clarity or assistance, please contact the Exams Office via exams@qmul.ac.uk.