“An intelligent response to the modern student”: Enhancing flexibility with an institution-wide, no-questions-asked extension policy

Students are coming to university from non-traditional backgrounds and have substantial caring and work commitments. Our university recently introduced an extension policy that enables students to access a no-questions-asked, automatic 7-day extension on a single assessment item for each subject they enrol in. There is no requirement for students to provide a reason or supporting documents, or for academic approval. The aim of this study was to explore the value and impact of the extension policy from the perspectives of students and academic staff. In 2024, 19,469 students accessed at least one automatic 7-day extension. The most common enrolment type was undergraduate students studying part-time (41% of all students enrolled). This group had a significant increase in success rate across 2024 if they accessed the extension (6%, P