Accessible & Inclusive Learning Policy
Appendix C. Reasonable Adjustments and Examination Arrangements
The Disability Service assesses students' needs and agrees the appropriate support and reasonable adjustments required for study and the exam diet or viva. It is the responsibility of Disability Coordinators to cascade information on reasonable adjustments to all colleagues involved with the student’s teaching and to ensure that adjustments at School level are implemented timeously. Where clarification is required, the Disability Coordinator should contact the Disability Service. In terms of assessment, it is the responsibility of Disability Coordinators and Registry to ensure that the recommended examination or assessment arrangements are made at School level, including any accommodation or equipment requirements for examinations. Disability Coordinators must also ensure that colleagues (including internal and external examiners) directly involved in providing a student’s support receive the information they need to enable this to happen. The Disability Service and Registry can be consulted with any enquiries about information sharing.
Disabled students, including but not limited to those with a chronic medical or mental health condition, autism, sensory or mobility impairment, or learning difference (such as dyslexia) should contact the University's Disability Service at the earliest opportunity to allow adequate time for a needs assessment, and for Academic Schools to be informed of reasonable adjustments to a student’s teaching and assessment, https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/disability/support/.
The University is required to make a case-by-case assessment of students’ disability-related support needs in relation to programme requirements. For this reason, there can be no fixed inventory of standard/allowable adjustments, as all adjustments which do not compromise genuine competence standards, and which the University may reasonably be capable within its institutional resource of providing, must be available. Where Disability Advisers anticipate that implementing the adjustments a disabled student requires may present significant resource, practical or pedagogical difficulty, they will contact the School to discuss the adjustments before finalising them in the student’s MyCampus Disability Report. The Disability Service can be contacted with any enquiries relating to the implementation of reasonable adjustments.
Common recommendations for assessment include use of a computer, additional time, the use of a scribe and/or reader. For any exam taking place on campus and where a student has been recommended the use of a computer, there is a centralised facility in the University Library for this purpose. This computer cluster is the responsibility of IT Services and Registry organises the booking of places for this facility. Invigilators for any on-campus exam are provided centrally and coordinated by Registry. It is vitally important that all invigilators are made aware of approved examination adjustments for disabled students, whether in the main examination hall or in a separate room. Additional comments for invigilator awareness are included in the MyCampus Disability entry.
Where a student has a short or medium-term illness or injury from which they are expected to recover, the Clerk of Senate should be notified by the Head of School or their nominee if examination arrangements are required. All arrangements for students who are ill or injured must be approved by the Clerk of Senate. The remit of the Disability Service does not extend to students who are not disabled, such as those with broken limbs or fractures which cause handwriting difficulty. If there is uncertainty as to whether a student is disabled, or is ill/injured, please contact the Disability Service for advice.