Fitness to Study

What is the Fitness to Study policy?

It may be the case that interrupting studies or finding alternate methods to study are more beneficial for you. The Fitness to Study policy sets out guidance for these situations. This can either be triggered if the students themselves has raised an issue which causes concerns or a staff member notices concerns through the students behaviour or academic performance.

There are three different stages to the policy and potential outcomes.

1. Initial or Emerging Concerns which are low level concerns. Students will have an informal meeting within their department to discuss concerns. Common outcomes could include agreeing an Inclusion Plan, signposting to relevant support agencies or agreeing a short break of a couple of weeks.
2. Continuing and/or Moderate Concerns which are for either repeated issues or moderate concerns. The student will meet with a panel comprised of staff from a few different departments. Possible outcomes could include a recommendation of assessment deferral or Interruption of studies, regular appointments with the Student Wellbeing Service or escalating to Stage 3.
3. Severe and/or Enduring Concerns which are concerns which need immediate or emergency intervention. This is again in a panel format and will be convened as swiftly as possible. Potential outcomes could include deferral of assessments, interruption of studies or withdrawal from studies.

At any point, the school can decide to temporarily suspend a student if they believe the student poses a serious risk to their own health or that of other students or staff.

The important thing to remember is that this procedure is not a punishment in any way, it is a way for LSE to ensure that students are supported and their wellbeing looked after.

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What can you do?

You will be discussing your situation with the school and can feedback to any decisions made throughout the process. If you disagree with decisions made, you can appeal any decisions.

You can appeal decisions based on three grounds:

1. New evidence,
2. the outcome being unreasonable or disproportionate,
3. or a procedural flaw which compromised the fairness of the process.

For the full guidance, please read the policy.

Download the policy(Opens in a new tab)

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What can we do?

Our advisers would be more than happy to attend any panel meetings with you as a silent member. We can also provide advice and support on the policy and process itself.

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