Student Appeals
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The Appeals against Assessment/Progression Board Decisions procedure is intended to provide a formal means for reviewing a decision made on student progression, assessment and award in order to resolve the student's concerns in a fair and consistent manner.
Grounds on which you may appeal
Appeals against the decision of an assessment board are only permitted on the following grounds:
- If there had been a material and significant administrative error in the information received and considered by the Extenuating Circumstances Officer, the Assessment/Progression Board and/or the Board of Examiners.
- If the assessments had not been conducted in accordance with the approved regulations for the programme of study.
- If some other material irregularity had occurred in the procedures of the Extenuating Circumstances Officer, the Assessment/Progression Board and/or the Board of Examiners.
- If the student had been prevented from attending an exam or submitting coursework by illness or another good reason that related to the student's personal circumstances, but could not apply for extenuating circumstances by the deadline.
- For a student with a disability or additional need, the initial needs assessment was not correctly carried out, or the support identified was not provided, or the agreed assessment procedures for that student were not implemented.
What is not covered by the procedure?
The appeals procedure does not cover the following categories of appeal for which separate procedures exist:
- Grievances relating to personal harassment or discrimination on sexual, religious, racial or other grounds seek advice from a member of staff within the School
- Academic complaints e.g. course delivery (see Part 14, Manual of General Regulations);
- Appeals against decisions taken under disciplinary proceedings (see Part 12, Manual of General Regulations);
- Extenuating circumstances claims (see Part 6, Manual of General Regulations);
- Appeals against decisions of Assessment Misconduct Investigating Panels (see Part 8, Manual of General Regulations).
Disagreement with the academic judgement of a Board of Examiners' decision cannot, in itself constitute a reason to Appeal. Academic judgement is a judgement that is made about a matter where only the opinion of an academic expert will suffice. For example, a judgement about assessment or degree classification or a judgement about a decision where a student is required to repeat or take further assessment will usually be academic judgement, and a student cannot appeal simply because they believe they ought to have received a higher grade or mark.
For further information on the scope of this procedure, please refer to section 4 of Part 7 of the Manual of General Regulations.
Before you appeal
You may wish to contact the Students' Union Advice and Information Service, however, deadlines in this policy should be adhered to; do not delay dealing with your appeal waiting for a Student Union appointment. You may contact the Advice and Information Service on +44 (0)20 8223 7025 or email studentadvice@uel.ac.uk.
Appendix C presents the full Appeals Procedure as a flowchart for your information.
If you decide to appeal
Formal conciliation with the Chair of Assessment/Progression Board
If following conciliation, a student wishes to progress their appeal to the next stage of the procedure, they should sign the appeal form at section one and forward it to appeals@uel.ac.uk within 5 working days of receiving the Chair's decision.
A student wishing to appeal against a decision of the extenuating circumstances panel must submit her or his appeal to Institutional Compliance within 10 working days of the publication decision.
Further information for students
Students wishing to appeal should carefully read the following Part 7 Manual of General Regulations Appeals Against Assessment Board Decisions detailing the Appeals Procedure, as well as the Appeal Guidance for Students document before submitting an appeal form.
If you require the Notification of Appeal Form in a different format to that available then please contact Institutional Compliance.
If you are a student studying at a partner institution or studying your programme by distance learning and have a query regarding the Appeals Procedure please contact Institutional Compliance who will be able to advise.
Further information for Chairs of Assessment Boards
Chairs of Assessment Boards should read the following Guidance for Assessment Board Chairs before conducting conciliation meetings.