Academic Appeals
Academic Appeals is the university procedure that allows students to challenge the decisions made by either the Progression and Award Board (PAB - exam board), the Extenuating Circumstances Team or the Assessment Offences Panel.
They apply to Undergraduates and Postgraduate Taught Awards or Faculty Research Degrees Committees for Postgraduate/ MPHIL students.
What can I appeal?
Students can appeal against three different types of outcomes, each with their own grounds.
This information is categorised and outlined below:
Extenuating Circumstances (EC)
These are circumstances that have had an impact on your ability to submit or perform in your assessment. If your EC claim was rejected, you can appeal against the decision that was made.
Grounds for Appeal
- Your EC claim was submitted after the deadline.
- You were unable to provide evidence before the given deadline.
- You feel that the evidence you provided was not properly considered.
- No explanation was provided for the decision made.
Please note: You must provide evidence of why you could not submit an EC claim and/or your supporting evidence on time.
Progression of Award Board (PAB)
These are your published assessment results which you can usually access via ‘My Results’ on the Portal. Academic appeals against a PAB decision can only be submitted after you receive your exam board decision.
If you have an upcoming assessment that you aren't able to complete or think you'll perform poorly in you should consider submitting an Extenuating Circumstances Claim.
Grounds for Appeal
- There were extenuating circumstances that significantly impacted your performance, but you did not submit an EC by the given deadline.
- Procedural error - one of more parts of the assessment procedure was not applied or was applied incorrectly, and the procedural error has had a significant negative impact on the decision reached.
Please note: You cannot appeal your results solely on the basis that you are unhappy with them.
An appeal will only be considered if they meet at least one of the grounds listed above, supported by valid and relevant evidence.
Assessment Offences Panel (AOP)
This refers to the decision made by the Assessment Offences Panel regarding your suspected academic misconduct.
Grounds for Appeal
- The Assessment Misconduct Procedure was not applied correctly, therefore having a negative impact on the outcome.
- Substantial new evidence has come to light.
- The decision is unreasonable, based on the available evidence.
- The penalty imposed was disproportionate to the action.
Please note: You cannot appeal against an Assessment Offences Investigative Interview outcome.
In this case, you can request for your case to be escalated to an Assessment Offence Panel.
What if my appeal doesn't fit into these categories?
Academic appeals cannot be used to challenge a mark which you disagree with.
If you think your work has not been assessed correctly, ask for feedback first. If you’re still not satisfied with your mark, contact your Head of Department and explain why. In general, any decision on ‘academic judgment’ cannot be appealed (or complained about). But get advice to review your options.
Click here for the University’s current policy on Assessment and Feedback.
Get in touch with the advice service and we can advise if you are likely to have ground for your appeal.
Submitting your appeal
You can find the Academic Appeals Form here. As well as the form, you must also submit your evidence for your appeal. If you have exceptional circumstances which means you cannot submit your evidence at the same time as the form, you must submit it within 14 calendar days (2 weeks) of your form submission. If you will submit evidence later, we strongly advise you to make this clear on the appeal form.
Deadline
You must submit an Academic Appeal within 14 calendar days of recieving notification of either:
- Your Progression and Award Board results letter on student portal
- Your Extenuating Circumstances decision email
- Your Assessment Offences Panel decision email
Sometimes, in exceptional cases, late appeals will be considered, only if there is detailed supporting evidence explaining why the appeal was submitted late.
What happens next?
Once you have submitted your appeal, it will go through an initial filtering stage. It could be rejected if it doesn’t meet certain criteria. You can find details of the reasons it may be rejected in section 6 of the Academic Appeals Policy and Procedure.
If your appeal is accepted, it will be considered by an Appeal Investigation Officer. They should let you know if they have upheld or dismissed your appeal within 28 calendar days (4 weeks) of receiving your appeal. If they can’t reach a decision, the appeal will go to Stage 2 which involves an Academic Appeals Committee. Our advisors can tell you more about this if your appeal gets to this stage.
If you are not happy with the decision on your appeal, you can request a review of the decision under the Final Review Procedure. If this is a process you wish to engage with, contact our advice service for further guidance and information.
Useful Links
Further information and guidance regarding Academic Appeals can be found in the Academic Appeals Policy and Procedure.
The university have also created a useful guidance on how to submit your appeal.
What can the GSU Advice Service do for me during the process?
- Advise you on the Academic Appeals process
- Help you structure your form, including the reasons for your Appeal
- Advise on the most suitable evidence
- Read over your claim and suggest any changes
- Guide you through the process if you don’t agree with the outcome
Get in touch
If you need any further help and support please get in touch with the advice service by completing our contact form here.
Correct as of July 2024
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