From time to time, difficulties may occur which affect your ability to continue with your studies or to sit examinations and, as a result, can disrupt normal academic progression. Such difficulties may include illness, bereavement and other personal circumstances.
Alternatively, you may wish to interrupt your studies in Trinity College for academic reasons, such as, spending time abroad to improve competency in a foreign language. In all such situations, it is essential that you discuss the issue and practical options, with your Tutor who will submit your request to Records and Case Management Team via studcase@tcd.ie.
If you are a postgraduate student, you should contact your supervisor or course director who will on your behalf log a case with PG Student Cases via pgcases@tcd.ie.
Absence From Exams
In the event that you do not attend an examination you should contact your college tutor immediately. Please refer to the Senior Tutor's website for more information. If you believe that an illness may prevent you from attending an examination (or any part thereof) you should consult a medical advisor immediately.
Where a medical certificate is issued, in addition to any other relevant information, it should confirm that you are unfit to sit examinations during the specified period. A medical certificate must be presented to your tutor within three days of the beginning of the period of absence from the examination. The tutor must immediately forward the certificate to the Record and Case Management team in the AR.
Where your tutor is not available to receive the medical certificate, it may be presented directly to the Senior Lecturer's Office or to the Senior Tutor's Office. Medical certificates will be held in confidence. Medical certificates will not be accepted in explanation for poor performance. If, for medical reasons, you are permitted to withdraw from examinations you may be required to present a certificate of fitness before being permitted to present for examination at a future session.
Off Books & Re-admission
You may not repeat any academic year more than once within a degree course and may not repeat more than two academic years within a degree course, except by special permission of the University Council.
As a student you are expected to pursue your undergraduate course continuously unless permitted by the Senior Lecturer to interrupt it, normally for a period of one year, either by going ‘off-books’ or by intermitting your studies for extra-curricular reasons.
If you wish to interrupt your course and go ‘off-books’ you should apply through your tutor to the Senior Lecturer. During the period of interruption you are not required to keep your name on the College books, and do not pay an annual fee or a replacement fee. Should you be a Junior Fresh student who is seeking to discontinue your course before 1st February you will normally be required to withdraw.
If you have been permitted to go off books you may return to College, as detailed below, depending on circumstance.
Fresh Students with permission from the Senior Lecturer to go off books from 1st February and who wish to be re-admitted to the same course of study at a specified date must apply for re-admission before 1st August by completing the re-admission application form and submitting to the Admissions Office .
If you, for reasons of ill-health, have gone off books you will only be re-admitted, even in the current academic year, at the discretion of the Senior Lecturer. Such students will be required to submit to the Senior Lecturer before 1st August a certificate of fitness from a medical referee, nominated by the Senior Lecturer, as evidence that they can continue their studies.
If you have permission from the Senior Lecturer to go off books for an academic year and sit examinations in that year you must pay an examination fee of €382. If you are an off books student with permission to take examinations, you are advised to consult with your school, department or course office before the end of Michaelmas term to confirm your examination and/or assessment requirements while off-books. Such students are not required to apply for readmission and should register for the following academic year as set out in the general regulations concerning registration.
If you have permission from the Senior Lecturer to go off books for one or more academic year(s) for reasons other than medical you are not required to apply for re-admission and are expected to register for the academic year that you are due to return to College as set out in the general regulations concerning registration. A requirement to undertake a period of professional re-orientation may apply in the case of certain undergraduate courses which have clinical or practice components and which are subject to accreditation by external professional bodies. If you have been off-books, with the permission of the Senior Lecturer, you may be required to complete a course of professional reorientation before proceeding to the next year of your course. Such professional re-orientation courses may not be repeated in the event of non-satisfactory completion, and the student will be required to withdraw from their course.
You must register for the academic year and pay a professional re-orientation fee but will not be liable for the student contribution and related levies.
Withdrawal
If you decide to withdraw from College you must notify the Senior Lecturer, through your College Tutor, by using the Exit/withdrawal form which can be downloaded below.
UG Withdrawal from College form. (52KB)
The data collected regarding reasons for a student's withdrawal will be held on a confidential basis and will be used in anonymous format for statistical purposes only, to inform College initiatives in the area of student support and retention.
Please be aware of the fee implications of withdrawal from College and you are advised that half fees will be claimed from the Higher Education Authority, in respect of those who are eligible for free fees under the 'Free Fees Initiative', who withdraw before 1st February.
Non-satisfactory Attendance and Course Work
You may be required to perform course work as part of the requirements of your course of study. The assessment of course work may be based on the writing of essays, the sitting of tests and assessments, attendance at practical classes and field trips, the keeping and handing in of practical books, the carrying out of laboratory or field projects, and the satisfactory completion of professional placements.
The school, department or course office, whichever is appropriate, publishes its requirements for satisfactory performance of course work on school notice boards and/or in handbooks and elsewhere, as appropriate. You are asked to fulfil the course requirements of the school or department, as appropriate, regarding attendance and course work. Where specific requirements are not stated, you may be deemed non-satisfactory if they miss more than a third of their course of study or fail to submit a third of the required course work in any term.
At the end of the teaching term, if you have not satisfied the school or department requirements you may be reported as non-satisfactory for that term. If you are reported as non-satisfactory for the Michaelmas and Hilary terms of a given year you may be refused permission to take annual examinations and may be required by the Senior Lecturer to repeat the year.
Repeating a Year
You may not repeat any academic year more than once within a degree programme and may not repeat more than two academic years within a degree programme, except by special permission of the University Council.
Application forms for eligibility requests for the Free Fees Initiative can be downloaded using the following links:
Fitness to practice
Situations may arise where there are concerns regarding a student’s fitness to participate in clinical or other placements, which are an essential component of the student’s course. Such concerns should be addressed to the student’s head of department or school (in the case of single discipline schools) so that they may consult with the Junior Dean or Director of the Disability Service, if relevant, in order to determine the appropriate mechanism to deal with the situation. Where an alleged disciplinary offence or matter of student mental health comes before the Junior Dean, the Junior Dean may decide to refer the case to the Fitness to Practise Committee of the relevant school if the Junior Dean considers this to be a more appropriate way of dealing with the case.
Where a fitness to practise issue arises in the context of an academic appeal, whether through a Court of First Appeal or the Academic Appeals Committee, the relevant body hearing the appeal may decide to refer the case to the Fitness to Practise Committee of the relevant school if it is considered to be a more appropriate way of dealing with the case. Refusal on the part of the student to engage with the procedure set out in relation to fitness to practise cases shall be regarded as misconduct for the purposes of S.1(1), Schedule 2 of the 2010 Consolidated Statutes. Where the school’s Fitness to Practise Committee decides that the concern is well founded, it may take one of the following actions:
- Recommend that the student be required to undergo testing at College’s expense, in respect of suspected drug or alcohol addiction. A student failing to comply with this requirement or whose tests confirm continued drug or alcohol use may be required to withdraw from their course or to go off-books until such time as they are certified by an appropriately qualified person to be fit to proceed with their course of studies.
- Recommend that the student be required to undergo a medical examination or assessment, which may include psychiatric assessment, by a doctor or specialist nominated by the committee at the expense of College for the purpose of obtaining an opinion as to the student’s medical fitness to continue with his/her studies or as to their ability or suitability to participate in their course to the standards required by College
Where a student fails to comply with this requirement, or where they are assessed to be unfit to continue with their studies or unable or unsuitable to participate in their course to the standard required by College, they may be required by the committee to withdraw from their course or to go off books until such time as they are certified by an appropriately qualified person, nominated by College, to be fit to proceed with their course of studies.
- Recommend that the student be suspended until such time as they are certified by an appropriately qualified person, nominated by College, to be fit to proceed with their course of study.
- Recommend that the student be suspended until such time as they are certified by an appropriately qualified person, nominated by College, to be fit to proceed with their course of study.
- Recommend that the student be required to withdraw from their course. Decisions of the school’s Fitness to Practise Committee shall be referred to the Senior Lecturer for approval. A decision of the school’s Fitness to Practise Committee may be appealed to the College Fitness to Practise Committee which is vested with the same powers as a school Fitness to Practise Committee and will hear the case as new. A student appearing before either committee is entitled to representation by their tutor, by the Students’ Unions, or by any other person of their choice.
Decisions of the College Fitness to Practise Committee shall be referred to the University Council and the Board of the College for approval. An appeal against a decision of Board in such cases shall be made to the Visitors of the College.