Acknowledged personal circumstances

As the recommendation is binding, it is necessary to report any relevant personal issues in time.  

Extenuating personal circumstances include illness, pregnancy, functional disorders (physical, sensory or other), mental health conditions and family circumstances.

Are you facing personal circumstances that (may) lead to study delay? To ensure that the examination committee takes your personal circumstances into account in its decision on your bsa, you should do the following:

1. Report your personal circumstances to your academic advisor as soon as possible and at the latest within 20 working days.
2. After being referred by your academic advisor, make an appointment with the student counselor. Please note that there are deadlines for this, which depend on when your personal circumstances arose.
   • Did your circumstances arise in Q1, Q2 or Q3? If so, make an appointment as soon as possible but no later than 30 May.
   • Did your circumstances arise in Q4? Then make an appointment no later than 30 June.
   • Did your circumstances arise after 30 June? Then make an appointment with the student counselor within 10 working days of the circumstance arising.
3. Next to your appointment with the student counselor, submit a request for postponement of the bsa yourself to the examination committee of your program.
4. After your appointment with the student counsellor, send documentary evidence of your personal circumstances to the Central Committee on Extenuating Personal Circumstances.

Below we explain the different steps.

If you think you will be delayed in your studies due to personal circumstances, you need to report this within 20 working days after the discovery of the circumstance to your academic advisor and, after referral by your academic advisor, to the student counselor. In this way there is sufficient time to make a plan to minimize any delay in your studies.

If you report your circumstance after you have received your binding study recommendation (bsa), the bsa can no longer be adjusted. Therefore, report your circumstance on time so we can take it into account.

Next to your appointment with the student counselor, you submit a request for postponement of the bsa to the examination committee of your program. To come to a decision, the examination committee will ask the Central Committee on Extenuating Personal Circumstances(CPO) for advice. The CPO, which the student counselor is part of, will look at the nature of the circumstances and whether these have caused the study delay. The CPO will therefore ask you to provide information (evidence), for example proof of surgery or a diagnosis of a disability. You can submit supporting documents at cpo@remove-this.tue.nl. On the basis of these documents, the CPO will advise the examination committee on the relation between your personal circumstances and your study delay. The examination committee will then make a decision about a possible postponement of the bsa.

You can submit the following documentary evidence:

• For (chronic) illness, disability, pregnancy, mental health conditions: statement from a physician, psychologist or a midwife indicating the period in which the circumstances occurred.
• For exceptional family circumstances: written proof (for example divorce papers, obituary notice, medical statement).

If the examination committee acknowledges that there are personal circumstances affecting your situation, this may lead to the binding study recommendation being postponed for one year. In that case you can continue your studies. The examination committee will decide at the start of the second year which requirements you need to meet at the end of the second study year. At the end of the second year the examination committee will issue the bsa.

Want to know more? Contact ESA (Education and Student Affairs) at +31 40 - 247 4747 or via the contact form below.