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The diversity calendar includes a mixture of religious festivals as well as equality, diversity & inclusion related events and key dates and are not intended as a prescriptive list. Staff, students, parents or members of the public are welcome to contact the EDI Team to suggest other noteworthy dates.
At UCL it has been agreed that student requests to be absent due to religious commitments should be considered sympathetically by departments. Students should not be registered as ‘absent without good cause’ if they are absent due to religious commitments, provided this has been discussed and agreed in advance with their tutor.
Staff wishing to observe religious festivals and holy days should discuss this with their manager in advance. Managers in turn are encouraged to consider sympathetically requests for annual leave or flexible work schedules from staff wishing to participate in religious festivals and to be prepared to make changes to working arrangements as long as they don’t cause undue disruption in terms of service or unduly impact on others. Each academic year, a calendar of the main religious holidays is available so these can be taken into account by departments with reference to drafting teaching timetables, coursework deadlines and field trips etc.
Please note that the impact of these festivals will vary from person to person, and they will not necessarily impact on staff or students time whilst at university (for example they are celebrated in the evening or at weekends).
