Exceptional Circumstances Deadlines | Registry Services

Schools have deadlines for exceptional circumstances applications. Applications made after the school deadline will not be considered unless there is an exceptional reason. Each semester has a final cutoff date for applications. Talk to your Student Support Team before submitting your application to get support.

School deadlines

Schools have a set of application deadlines. You must apply before the deadline for the school you belong to rather than the school that your course is part of. For example, if you belong to the Business School but it is an Economics course you need support with, you must apply before the Business School deadline.

Your application must be complete by your school deadline - this includes providing any supporting evidence.

Final semester deadlines 2025/26

Each semester, there is a final cutoff date for applications. This is the cutoff for late applications as described below - for your application to be considered on-time, it must be submitted by your School's deadline.

Semester 1

Friday 9th January 2026, 12 noon.

Semester 2

Friday 29th May 2026, 12 noon.

Resit diet

TBC

Taught Postgraduate dissertations

TBC

Applications made after the school deadline (late applications)

If you have missed the school deadline, your application will only be considered if there is an exceptional reason.

If you feel that you have an exceptional reason, you must provide:

the reason why you could not submit your application by the school deadline
additional evidence in the evidence section of the application, explaining why you could not meet the school deadline.

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Business

_{Undergraduate}

_Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Postgraduate dissertations:

MBA Capstone Project:

Centre for Open Learning

Access Programme	Semester one: Semester two:
Languages for All UG	Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon British Sign Language Stage 1 British Sign Language Stage 2 Introduction to Swahili Language and Culture Introduction to Ukrainian Language and Cultures Semester two: TBC
English Language Education	Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon English for International Business Academic English for Visiting Students 1 Semester two: TBC
Lifelong Learning (Open Studies Short Courses)	No longer credit bearing
International Foundation Programme	Teaching Block 1: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon Teaching Block 2: TBC
ELE Pre-sessional

Divinity

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

Economics

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Semester one:

Courses with February 2026 exams:

Semester two:

Postgraduate Dissertations:

Edinburgh College of Art

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12:00 noon

Semester two: Monday 25th May 2026 at 12:00 noon

Summer reassessments: Monday 17th August 2026 at 12:00 noon

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12:00 noon

Postgraduate MSc/MA Dissertation resubmissions only: Tuesday 24th February 2026 at 12:00 noon

Semester two: Monday 25th May 2026 at 12:00 noon

Summer reassessments: Monday 17th August 2026 at 12:00 noon

Postgraduate Dissertations: Monday 24th August 2026 at 12:00 noon

Edinburgh Futures Institute

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Postgraduate Dissertations:

Health in Social Sciences

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate Dissertations:

History, Classics and Archaeology

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Monday 25th May 2026 at 12 noon

Summer reassessments: Monday 17th August 2026 at 12 noon

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Monday 25th May 2026 at 12 noon

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

Law

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Diploma in Professional Legal Practice:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Friday 29th May 2026 at 12 noon

Summer reassessments:

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Friday 29th May 2026 at 12 noon

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate Dissertations:

Moray House

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Student-Led, Individually-Created Course (SLICC):

Semester one:

Semester two:

PGDE (all courses):

MSc Outdoor Education/Outdoor Environmental and Sustainability Education (August assessments):

Summer reassessments (excluding MSc Outdoor Education):

Postgraduate Dissertations:

Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026, 12:00

Semester two: Friday 22nd May 2026, 12:00

Summer reassessments: Monday 17th August 2026, 12:00

Semester one

Semester 1 assessments: Friday 9th January 2026, 12:00

Null sits for MSc Dissertations: Thursday 12th February 2026, 12:00

Semester two

All assessments: Friday 22nd May 2026, 12:00

Summer

Null sits for coursework: Monday 17th August 2026, 12:00

Summer period - MSc Dissertation: Friday 28th August 2026, 12:00

Social and Political Sciences

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

CAHSS Visiting Student Office

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Semester one:

Semester two:

College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

Biomedical Sciences

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Thursday 8th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one: Thursday 8th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Biomedical Sciences (Zhejiang University - University of Edinburgh Institute)

Undergraduate

BSc Integrative Biomedical Sciences
BSc Biomedical Informatics

Semester one: Friday 16th January 2026 at 12:00 noon

Semester two (Year 4 students only): Monday 11th May 2026 at 12:00 noon

Semester two (Year 1, 2 and 3 students only): Friday 12th June 2026 at 12:00 noon

Summer reassessments: Friday 7th August 2026 at 12:00 noon

Clinical Sciences

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Medical Education

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Medicine (MBChB):

Year 1 06/05/2026 at 17:00

Year 2 13/05/2026 at 17:00

Year 4 07/06/2026 at 17:00

Year 5 29/06/2026 at 17:00

Year 6 11/02/2026 at 17:00

HCP Medicine:

Year 1 10/07/2026 at 17:00

Year 2 09/07/2026 at 17:00

Year 3 02/07/2026 at 17:00

Semester one:

Semesters 2 & 3:

Dissertation:

Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semesters one and two: 

Please check with the School.

Semesters one and two: 

Standard PGT deadlines for the submission of Exceptional Circumstances applications fall approximately 3 weeks after the course end date, as follows:

Course delivery period	Earliest course start date	Latest course end date	EC Deadline
Online Term 1	15/09/2025	05/12/2025	05/01/2026 at 13:00
On Campus Semester 1	15/09/2025	01/12/2025	05/01/2026 at 13:00
Online Term 2	05/01/2026	27/03/2026	24/04/2026 at 13:00
On Campus Semester 2	12/01/2026	30/03/2026	27/04/2026 at 13:00
Online Term 3	06/04/2026	26/06/2026	24/07/2026 at 13:00

Exceptional Circumstances submission deadlines for courses that do not fit within the above delivery periods (eg. full year courses) will be published in the LEARN course.

College of Science and Engineering

Biological Sciences

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

Chemistry

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

Bayes Centre (Data Science, Technology and Innovation)

Postgraduate

See relevant course-owning School

Engineering

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Monday 25th May 2026 at 10am

Summer reassessments: Monday 17th August 2026 at 12 noon

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Monday 25th May 2026 at 10am

Summer reassessments: Monday 17th August 2026 at 12 noon

Postgraduate dissertations:

GeoSciences

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Friday 22nd May 2026 at 12 noon

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Friday 22nd May 2026 at 12 noon

Postgraduate dissertations and Block 5 courses: Monday 24th August 2026 at 12 noon

Informatics

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Friday 29th May 2026 at 12 noon

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two: Friday 29th May 2026 at 12 noon

Postgraduate dissertations:

Mathematics

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one:

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

Physics and Astronomy

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Semester one: Friday 9th January 2026 at 12 noon

Semester two:

Summer reassessments:

Postgraduate dissertations:

This article was published on 2024-09-12