What are the grounds for making an appeal?
Students must be clear about the reasons why they believe that an academic decision is incorrect before lodging an appeal. An appeal can only be brought on one or more of the following grounds:
- there existed circumstances affecting the student's performance of which the examiners were not aware when their decision was taken, and which could not reasonably have been presented to the examiners;
- there was a procedural irregularity (including administrative error) or other inadequacy in the conduct of the examinations, or processing of marks or grades, or the categorisation of an award of such a nature as to cause doubt as to whether the result might have been different had there not been such an irregularity;
- there exists evidence of prejudice or bias on the part of an examiner.
These are explained in more detail below. Please note that appeals cannot be made against the academic judgement of examiners. There is some variation in the wording of the grounds for appeal according to the different categories of appeal so please refer to the relevant appeal form to see the exact wording. The advice provided here is for general guidance.
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a) Circumstances affecting the student's performance of which the examiners were not aware when their decision was taken, and which could not reasonably have been presented to the examiners
The University recognises that sometimes situations will arise that prevent you from submitting a piece of work on time, or that affect the standard of work that you are able to submit. The usual procedure for dealing with such circumstances is to apply to the Mitigating Evidence Committee (MEC) as and when the situation arises.
Students intending to lodge an appeal on these grounds should note that, for an appeal to succeed, you will need to show that all three elements are met:
Circumstances affecting the student's performance ...
Evidence of these circumstances should be submitted, with a clear explanation of the period of time, and particular pieces of assessed work, that were affected.
... of which the examiners were not aware when their decision was taken ...
An appeal will not have strong grounds where the examiners were already aware of the circumstances described, and made their decision in the knowledge of those circumstances.
... which could not reasonably have been presented to the examiners
An appeal can usually only be considered where the student has been unable to follow the normal procedure for submitting evidence to the Mitigating Evidence Committee (MEC), and it would not be reasonable to have expected them to have done so. An example might be where there is evidence that the student was in hospital, or was suffering from mental health difficulties which meant that they were unable to prepare a submission to MEC at the appropriate time. It is not sufficient for you to say that you were unaware of the procedure for making a submission to MEC, or chose not to do so. Please note therefore that it is clearly in your interests to submit a mitigating evidence claim via the MEC process at the relevant time, rather than relying on the appeals process, as failure to do so may mean that a claim that would have been accepted via the MEC process may be rejected at appeal unless you are able to provide a compelling reason for not having submitted your claim via the MEC process at the relevant time.
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b) There was a procedural irregularity (including administrative error) or other inadequacy in the conduct of the examinations, or processing of marks or grades, or the categorisation of an award
An appeal may be brought where the student believes that the award or mark is incorrect because the University has made an error. It is not enough to show that an error has taken place - it will be necessary for you to show that the error resulted in an incorrect decision being made. If the error is clearly demonstrable, it can often be corrected without the necessity to go through a formal appeal process, so students are advised to seek urgent advice from their School in the first instance.
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c) There exists evidence of prejudice or bias on the part of an examiner
An appeal brought on these grounds should clearly identify the particular individual(s) considered to have shown prejudice or bias against you, and should be supported by evidence.
Students will need to be aware that an appeal cannot be made against a matter of academic judgement.