Patterns of special consideration requests at a UK university: reasons given and associations with demographic factors

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of students in the sample.

	Number making at least one special consideration request, n (% of total sample)	Remaining students
Gender
Female	388 (24.73)	1181
Male	71 (24.74)	216
Not stated	2 (66.7)	1
Ethnicity
White	326 (24.81)	988
Other ethnicity	126 (23.73)	405
Not stated	9 (64.29)	5
Student status
Undergraduate	241 (23.33)	792
Postgraduate	220 (26.63)	606
Mode of study
Full-time	435 (26.54)	1204
Part-time	26 (11.82)	194
Total	461 (24.80)	1859

Table 2. Reasons for requesting special circumstances by type.

Category	Example documentation	n (% of total) – all requests	Students who made one SCR, n (%)	Students who made multiple SCRs, n (%)	n (% of total) – individual student
Mental health	Doctor/health practitioner’s letter	638 (30.0)	44 (18.5)	41 (18.4)	85 (18.4)
Physical health	Doctor/health practitioner’s letter	431 (20.3)	48 (20.2)	49 (22)	97 (21.0)
Bereavement	Order of service, death certificate	150 (7.1)	17 (7.1)	11 (4.9)	28 (6.1)
Family issues (incl. carer responsibilities)	Doctor/health practitioner’s letter	114 (5.4)	17 (7.1)	11 (4.9)	28 (6.1)
Victim of crime	Doctor/health practitioner’s letter, Police/crime reference number	37 (1.7)	4 (1.7)	2 (0.9)	6 (1.3)
Financial problems	Finance statement	2 (0.1)	2 (0.8)	0 (0%)	2 (0.4)
Diagnosis of disability*	Doctor/health practitioner’s letter	61 (2.9)	2 (0.8)	3 (1.3)	5 (1.1)
Other	Letter from employer or doctor	693 (32.6)	104 (43.7)	106 (47.5)	210 (44.6)

*The University has a stipulation that students can ‘backdate’ for consideration work where they have been diagnosed with a disability (e.g. dyslexia) during the course of their studies

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.