27 Nov Assessing Compassionate or Compelling Circumstances
When international students’ circumstances change while they are studying in their enrolled courses and they require to request a change to their study plan, the National Code 2018 requires their education providers to assess their request based on students’ compassionate or compelling circumstances before making a decision for either approving or rejecting student request.
A number of CRICOS providers define compassionate or compelling circumstances as situations that lie outside a student’s control and significantly affect their well-being or studies. While framing the criteria in this manner can be beneficial for both providers and students, it is crucial for providers not to restrict their assessment of a student’s circumstances solely to those falling within this definition. Provider policies should not be too restrictive about what may be considered compassionate or compelling and should allow the decision-maker to make a professional judgment based on individual student circumstances.
When determining whether the circumstances are compassionate or compelling the important factor to consider is the evidence that is provided by the student to support their claims. Quite a number of CRICOS providers include examples of what may be considered as an acceptable evidence within their policies and guidelines. Though this is helpful and guides both your students and staff to understand the evidence requirements, it’s important to not limit your acceptance of evidence documents to just those listed within your policies.
The most commonly used evidence in these situations is the medical evidence. Some providers state in their policies that they won’t accept medical certificates issued by GPs and instead they require students to provide evidence from a medical specialist and some providers require students’ medical evidence to be verified by the provider’s preferred GP or a specialist.
Providers need to be mindful that they don’t impose unnecessary requirements for the type of evidence or the amount of evidence that students need to provide to support their claims.
Providers should be mindful that medical information is sensitive personal information and students should not be made to share their medical information or the diagnosis if they don’t wish to.
Watch this video to understand how you assess overseas students’ compassionate/compelling circumstances. To watch more videos related to CRICOS requirements, go here.
Other related videos:
Reporting Student Visa breach on PRISMS
Standard 7 Overseas Student transfers
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