Academic Appeals: Challenging Decisions at University, Study notes of School management&administration

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Academic Appeals

If you are unhappy with a decision made by the University, you can use the appeals process to contest it in certain circumstances.

Specifically, students can use this procedure to challenge the following:

• Examination Board decisions
• Extenuating Circumstances Panel decisions
• Academic Misconduct decisions

If you think you may wish to appeal one of these decisions, please seek advice as early as possible. The Students’ Union Advice Service is here to help.

This section also includes:

• What are the grounds of appeal?
• What is a material error and what is not a material error?
• What is meant by ‘undisclosed Extenuating Circumstances’?
• What happens if you have new evidence in an Academic Misconduct appeal?

Stages of Appeal

The appeals process is made up of 3 stages. The following pages provide more detail on each stage of the procedure and answer to some frequently asked questions.

• Stage 1 - Preliminary Review Meeting
• Stage 2 - The Appeals Panel
• Stage 3 - Formal Review
• FAQs

Types of Appeal

Examination Board Appeals

This is when you want to challenge a decision made by the Award and Progression Examination Board. This decision could be made at any stage of your course (Semester 1, Semester 2 or a resit period) and could relate to your final award, your right to progress to the next stage or if your studies have been terminated.

Extenuating Circumstances Appeals

You can appeal against any final decision of the Extenuating Circumstances Panel. Often claims are rejected because the evidence was vague or did not fit the specific timeframe of the claim, or because the claim was submitted late without a valid reason being given.

Undisclosed Extenuating Circumstances

The University will consider any appeal based on extenuating circumstances under a 2 part test:

1. Are there valid and evidenced reasons for you not to have only disclosed your extenuating circumstances before your appeal?
2. Are there valid and evidenced extenuating circumstances?

A successful appeal will need to satisfy both parts of this test. The University do not consider simply being too embarrassed or ashamed as a valid reason not to have made a claim or disclosed this by the relevant deadline. You should be aware that the longer you take to make the University aware of any extenuating circumstances, the greater you risk it being considered out of time or unconvincing.

New Evidence for Academic Misconduct Appeals

This ground is only available for Academic Misconduct appeals. Like with undisclosed extenuating circumstances, you must have a valid and evidenced reason to explain why the new evidence was not available during the initial investigation. This ground is not listed on the online form at the moment, but the Academic Registry has advised that you can use the appeal summary to explain your situation.

Stage 1

Preliminary Review Meeting

To start an appeal, you need to book an appointment with your Course Director to discuss the decision you want to challenge. You have 10 working days to contact your Course Director from the date of your result or decision. If you do not make contact within 2 weeks, you may not be able to start the appeal process.

You should receive a response within 5 working days of your request which should invite you to a face-to-face meeting with your Course Director. You would normally meet your Course Director alone, unless you have a good reason that you would need to be accompanied (which you could evidence).

In the meeting, your Course Director should discuss your situation, explain any relevant University policies or procedures and direct you to the University’s support services if necessary. You should take all evidence that you feel supports your case to the meeting so that your Course Director can review it with you.

After the meeting, your Course Director will make a record of what was discussed on the University’s appeals system. You should receive an email within 5 working days of your meeting confirming what you discussed and your Course Director’s recommendation about your next steps. This recommendation will be either:

• There is no case for appeal. This can be because the matter has been resolved by your Course Director or because you do not meet the grounds for appeal.
• Your case can’t be resolved by your Course Director so you should continue to Stage 2.
• Your appeal is out of time and has been raised too late without valid reason for you to go to Stage 2.

This is just a recommendation, so if you are unhappy with what your Course Director has suggested you may still take your appeal to Stage 2.

Stage 3

Formal Review

This is the final part of the University’s appeals process. To progress to Stage 3, you must make your request within 5 working days of the Stage 2 decision. The grounds to request a formal review are:

• There has been a material or identifiable error by the University in the way they have handled your appeal
• The outcome of Stage 2 was unreasonable

These are quite restricted grounds, which means you have to be very clear and provide evidence to show what went wrong with your appeal at Stage 1 or Stage 2 as well as how this put you at a disadvantage.

The University considers a decision to be reasonable if all factors have been considered in a balanced way. You cannot simply say you disagree with it, you must explain why it is unreasonable.

An Academic Reviewer will be appointed to consider your case. If they are satisfied that your appeal was conducted reasonably and in line with University procedure, they will send you a Completion of Procedures letter rejecting your appeal at Stage 3.

If they are not satisfied your case was dealt with properly, they will send it to the Pro Vice Chancellor’s Review Panel to be considered. This panel should meet within 10 working days of the Reviewer’s decision. You will be invited to attend this meeting and can take a friend or representative from the Students’ Union with you. After the panel has made its decision, the University will write to you within 5 working days to tell you the outcome, which will be one of the following:

• Appeal upheld
• Appeal rejected
• Appeal returned to Stage 2 for reconsideration

This is also a Completion of Procedures letter as it shows the University’s appeal process has come to an end.

FAQs

My appeal relates to issues with my Course Director, do I have to contact

them at Stage 1?

Even if your problem involves your Course Director, you should still make initial the contact with them within 10 working days. Your Course Director can then pass your request on to an alternative member of academic staff to meet with you instead.

I can’t attend a Preliminary Review meeting; does this mean I can’t appeal?

If you’re not in the country or can’t attend a meeting in person, you can ask for this meeting via email, phone or Skype. However, if you do not have some form of meeting with your Course Director, you may not be able to progress further with the appeals process.

What happens if my Course Director doesn’t offer me a Preliminary Review

meeting or send me their recommendation?

If your Course Director fails to take all the steps in Stage 1 within the set timeframes, the University will consider you to have entered Stage 2 of the appeals process. You should contact the Appeals team at [email protected] to tell them the problems you have had in Stage 1 and they will direct you to the online form you need to complete for Stage 2.

Can anyone help me submit an appeal?

Yes. The Students’ Union Advice Service can help and advise you on the best way to put forward your case. We can go through the appeal form with you if you are unsure about how to complete it. We can also discuss what evidence you should try to include in your appeal.

However, we cannot write the appeal for you. This is your appeal and must be in your own words.

I’ve submitted my appeal but it’s taking a long time, is there any way to

speed up the process?

Unfortunately not. Appeals are dealt with by the University in the order they are submitted, so the best way to get a quicker response is to submit your appeal and evidence as soon as possible.