The information on this page is for PGR students, supervisors, School PGR Directors, examiners, independent chairs and other staff. It covers:
The oral exam (viva) is an essential part of the assessment of PGR students and the awarding of a research degree.
Disabled PGR students can be offered reasonable adjustments for the oral exam through exam accommodations. Reasonable adjustments aim to ensure that a student with a disability can reach their full potential and that they are not disadvantaged in comparison with a non-disabled student.
The information presented on this page sets out how exam accommodations are requested and applied to a PGR oral exam. The aim is to provide a formal process so that accommodations are arranged in good time before the oral exam takes place. A PGR student completing a taught unit is covered by the rules on reasonable adjustments for taught students.
There is also a more general Policy on reasonable adjustments for teaching, learning and assessment (PDF, 146kB) covering all students.
Most exam accommodations are considerations that any PGR student might request – such as rest breaks or a quiet room. For a disabled student, these considerations can take on greater importance. Regular breaks, for example, might be essential for a PGR student who has chronic pain or who is neurodivergent and finds the oral exam format over stimulating.
Some accommodations, such as mock oral exams or where the student gives a short presentation at the beginning of the exam, are standard practice in some schools but not in all.
Accommodations for neurodivergent PGR students might appear puzzling without knowledge of the background of the request. Some neurodivergent students will have sensory issues with noise, lighting, temperature and/or odour, and a noisy room or harsh fluorescent light might significantly affect their ability to concentrate. Some neurodivergent students will have difficulties with concentration over time and they might need to use fidgets, doodle, walk around, or take breaks.
Some neurodivergent PGR students will have a strong need to understand upfront how the oral exam will run as it will be a novel situation for them. Seeing the room in advance and having a short mock viva with their supervisor can be useful tools. For some autistic students, having a social introduction with their examiners – a short Teams call to say hello ahead of the oral exam – can be effective.
The most significant accommodation, and one which requires the highest level of approval, is where examiners provide questions to the student in advance. The aim here is to support PGR students who have delays to auditory and/or cognitive processing, such as might occur in autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. When questions in advance are approved, the PGR student will receive a proportion of the questions (usually 6-8 for a doctoral viva) at least one week in advance. This will give the examiners the opportunity to see the student answer questions to their full ability. The examiners will also ask further, follow-on questions during the oral exam.
None of the accommodations listed on this page require the PGR student to provide evidence of their disability. The aim of this process is to ensure that relevant accommodations are in place where they are needed. There are however some accommodations (tier 1 and tier 2) that require assessment of need by Disability Services.
There is a list of exam accommodations for PGR oral exams. They are grouped into three tiers and require different levels of consideration and approval.
Organisation of the oral exam
Physical location of the exam
During the exam
The PGR student and their main supervisor discuss whether exam accommodations are required. Some accommodations require a study support plan from Disability Services.
The main supervisor requests the accommodations on the ARDE form - Appointment of Research Degree Examiners form (Office document, 81kB), which should be completed three months before the student’s intended submission date.
If the need for exam accommodations only becomes apparent after the ARDE form has been approved, the main supervisor can complete a separate request form - Exam accommodations for disabled pgr students (Office document, 56kB). This form must still however be completed and approved as early as possible before the oral exam is scheduled so that there is time to make any necessary arrangements.
The School PGR Director, when approving the ARDE form or the separate request form, determines which tier the requested accommodations fall in and acts accordingly.
The School PGR Director completes their section of the ARDE form, confirming the accommodations that will be implemented and that the examiners and, if appointed, the independent char have been informed. The School PGR Director must have obtained any required approval from the Faculty PGR Director before completing their section of the ARDE form.
The Faculty PGR Director completes their section of the ARDE form, confirming that they have approved any tier 2 accommodations and/or any accommodations not on the standard list.
The Research Degrees Examination Board will keep anonymised data on the number and type of exam accommodations for reporting purposes.
If you have a query about this process, please contact the PGR exams team (pgr-exams@bristol.ac.uk).
