Term-Work Petitions

How to Submit a Term Work Petition

Step 1. Acquire Documentation

Documentation is a Faculty requirement and assists the Faculty with making petition decisions. Students must submit proper, timely documentation acquired during the time of impact.

The supporting documentation must be relevant to your situation. It should outline your situation and the dates you were affected. If the documents are in a language other than English, you will also need to provide notarized translations. Strong documentation typically equals a stronger petition case.

Medical Documentation:

• U of T Verification of Illness or Injury (VOI) Form is the only official method to document and verify an illness or injury. The VOI form informs the Faculty of how this affected a student’s ability to fulfill their academic obligations and the time involved. The Faculty takes the severity, duration and date of the illness into consideration when reviewing a petition.
• The VOI form must be completed by a medical practitioner: physician, surgeon, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, psychotherapist, psychologist or social worker. Practitioners must be licensed in Ontario or hold an equivalent license in another Canadian province or territory. The Faculty may verify the form with the medical practitioner.
• If you are experiencing a medical circumstance, it is important to see a licensed health care practitioner as soon as possible. Students must have the form completed during the time of illness or injury.  Forms completed afterward, including those in which a student informs a medical practitioner after the fact, are typically insufficient. VOIs signed after the impact of an acute illness will not be accepted.
• The Faculty does not accept “doctor’s notes”; students must submit the VOI form. Except in rare cases (such as becoming ill while out of the country), the VOI is expected to be signed by a medical professional in Canada.
• It is inappropriate to upload photographs of injury or illness or to describe symptoms explicitly to support a petition. Students are not permitted to upload these personal images, and doing so may result in the denial of the petition due to inappropriate or insufficient documentation.

Self-Declaration of Illness:

• Undergraduate students can file one term work petition per term without documentation (i.e., self-declare their own illness) under the following restrictions:
  • A petition supported by a self-declaration of illness (i.e., without medical documentation) may not cover a period of longer than three calendar days.
  • Any missed term work valued at 15% or greater will require students to provide a completed and signed Verification of Illness (VOI) form.
  • A student may not self-declare an illness if they miss an exam. All final exam petitions require supporting documentation.
  • A student may only self-declare their absence once per term.

Non-Medical Documentation:

• For non-medical emergencies, students may submit documentation with the writer’s official letterhead, including contact information and an official stamp (if available).
• Some examples include:
  • A death certificate or funeral notice
  • A police accident report
  • A letter from an academic lead or employer
  • A travel ticket, itinerary and/or email confirming the date of booking (only essential travel is eligible)
• Non-medical documentation should include: student's full name; writer's relationship to the student; relevant circumstances or events with severity of impact; writer's direct first-hand knowledge of the circumstances; relevant dates; student's signature to indicate they gave the writer permission to share the information in the document.