Religious observance and study

Queen Mary is a diverse community of over 25,000 students and staff. With a variety of faiths and beliefs represented on campus, we are committed to tolerance, understanding and co-operation, as well as to ensuring as far as possible that our policies are consistent across all needs. Many religions and beliefs require their members to pray at specific times during the day, or have special festivals or spiritual observance days. We recognise therefore that students at Queen Mary often strike a balance between their educational and religious commitments.

 

One of Queen Mary’s fundamental aims is to provide an education that is judged internationally to be of the highest quality. It would be both impractical and inconsistent with our aims as a university to suspend teaching for reasons of religious observance, but we will accommodate students’ religious commitments where we reasonably can do so. This may include providing learning materials (potentially including QReview recordings) online and permitting students to attend classes at different times where there is availability.

 

Students are expected to stay engaged and up-to-date with their studies throughout their time at Queen Mary. We will take religious commitments into reasonable account when reviewing students attendance, but we expect students to plan their studies so that they can submit coursework on time.

The following procedures apply in the event that a special festival or spiritual observance day would result in absence from a scheduled assessment.

 

In the case of an in-class test or assessment, students may request permission in advance from the Education Services Team (maths@qmul.ac.uk) to be absent on that occasion. The Education Services Team (maths@qmul.ac.uk) will consider whether reasonable adjustments can be made, for example by permitting late submission or rearranging the test. It is important to submit requests well in advance, in case reasonable adjustments cannot be made.

Students may notify Queen Mary of any special festivals or spiritual observance days that fall during formal examination periods by submitting the relevant form by the deadline specified in the Academic Calendar. We will accommodate such requests where we reasonably can do so. We are not able to make allowances for routine religious observance during formal examination periods.