Academic Appeals

You can use the Academic Appeals Procedure if there is a problem in the way you have been assessed. For example: if there has been administrative error, if proper process wasn’t followed in relation to an assessment, if you received incorrect advice about an assessment, or if your results weren’t considered in line with the Regulations for Taught Courses. 

Academic appeals must be submitted to Student Casework within 10 working days of the publication of the results you are appealing.

Within this section you will find further information, the regulations and relevant forms should you wish to submit an appeal.

Our Regulations and Procedures outline the process we use for dealing with an appeal. 

Regulations and Procedures 2025/26

Forms

You may also find the following guidance documents helpful:

Previous years’ regulations are available on request from the Student Casework Unit. Please email: [email protected].

Academic Appeals Regulations

  • At 2.8, clarification is provided on processing group appeals relating to more than one assessment and/or cohort. 
  • At 2.12, reference has been removed to appeals impacting students’ attendance at graduation. Wording is supplemented about the need for students to return their degree certificates where an appeal has changed a classification. 
  • At 2.13-14, reference has been removed to students not being able to progress to the next year of study while an appeal is ongoing. 

Academic Appeals Procedure (Taught)

  • At 1.2-.8, minor clarifications are added around the functionality of a Support Person because meetings will usually not take place under this procedure.
  • At 3.4, the grounds for appeal have been updated. The scope of a) is widened to more clearly include arithmetical errors. Ground b) has been clarified to show that ‘process’ must relate to impact on academic performance. Ground d) has been clarified to explicitly reference the regulations for taught courses.
  • 3.13 has been removed, which stated that marks for assessments cannot be raised. Outcomes will depend on the individual circumstances of the case and there are circumstances in which this could be appropriate, outside of administrative/ arithmetical errors. 
  • At 4.7, the timescale for the Student Casework Unit to provide a decision on the eligibility of an academic appeal has been changed from ten working days to five, to align with other procedures. 
  • The section relating to the ‘Review Board’, previously situated between 4.9-.10, has been removed to be more concise and accessible. 
  • At 4.15, students are afforded an opportunity to provide a written representation to the Review Panel, in line with recent OIA advice.

Academic Appeals Procedure (Research)

  • It should be noted that changes to the Academic Appeals Procedure (Taught) are mirrored in the Academic Appeals Procedure (Research), other than where they are not applicable.
  • At 2.1 Change to ‘relevant member of staff’ in relation to signposting for research students to informally discuss any concerns about results.
  • At 3.3 Clarification that timescales, which are linked to each stage of the process, are identified throughout the Procedure.
  • At 3.5 Replacement of separate grounds for appeal for viva with one overarching set of grounds (a-f). The title of this section has been replaced more broadly with ‘Grounds for appeal against decisions made in relation to research’.
  • Also at 3.5 Removal of ‘error in calculation of results’ in ground a) as it was highlighted this would not be applicable for research.
  • At 3.9 Removal of step where appeals are referred to the Graduate School to assign a Faculty Nominee as this can be done directly. 
  • At 3.12 Change from ‘Head of Research’ to ‘Associate Dean for Research and Innovation (or Nominee)’.
  • At 4.6-7, there is a change in wording from University Secretary (or nominee) to Head of Student Casework (nominee), as the initial review for eligibility of a research appeal would sit more appropriately under Student Casework and allow for potential escalation.

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