GUIDE ONE

ACADEMICAPPEALS

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Contents

What is the appeals procedure?

What can I appeal and when can I do it?

Grounds of appeal

How do I fill out the academic appeal form?

Writing your appeal in S.2c

Hints and tips

What happens next?

What if I’m still not satisfied?

What can the Advice Service do to help?

Important links

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The information in this guide only provides general guidance on academic support and University policy. The leaflet should not be regarded or relied upon as a complete or authoritative statement of University policy or procedures. The University of Manchester Students’ Union advice service will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of information in this guide.

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What is the appeals procedure?An academic appeal is your way of asking the University to reconsider a recent decision made that affected your studies such as a mark or exclusion from University. Your case must fit certain criteria and you must provide information and evidence to support your case. This booklet explains how you can submit an academic appeal and what process you should follow.

You must speak to your Personal Tutor, Supervisor, Head of Programme or other appropriate person in the School to try and resolve the matter on an informal basis in the first instance.

The University of Manchester Students’ Union advice service can help to clarify what you are aggrieved about and help to prepare you for these initial meetings. If the matter is not resolved at this level, you may decide to initiate the formal appeals procedure.

Before beginning this process…

manchesterstudentsunion.com/adviceservice

What can I appeal and when can I do it?An Academic Appeal can only be submitted once you have received formal notification of results or a decision. The results will be available online after unit marks have gone through the board of examiners or within 5 working days of any meeting that you have had with the University. You may have already been told informally that you have failed or you have been withdrawn from the course, but you will still need to wait until the formal notification has been received – Although students can still contact the advice service during this time and we can help to prepare your Appeal in advance; ensuring that you are gathering the correct information and evidence.

Once you have received formal documentation, you must submit your appeal to the appropriate Faculty Office within 20 working days of the date stated on the letter.

Before you can appeal formally to Faculty, as explained in this booklet, it is important that you try and resolve the matter informally with your School. An informal appeal may be a letter to your School or an informal chat.

However, the informal appeals process differs from School to School, therefore, it is important that you check with your School as to what their informal appeals process is.

In the case of refusal to allow you permission to take an examination on the grounds of unsatisfactory work and attendance, the appeal must be submitted within 10 working days of the date stated on the notification of the decision to allow sufficient time for the appeal to be considered.

Can I appeal a pass mark?

In theory, you cannot usually use the appeals procedure to appeal against a pass mark as the University respects the academic or professional judgement of those charged with the responsibility of assessing a student’s academic performance and/or professional competence. However if you feel that there were circumstances that affected you at a particular point during the assessment that contributed to you achieving a lower mark, then you could still choose to submit an appeal – it might be wise to contact an Advisor if you think this is something you might like to explore.

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What can I appeal and when can I do it? {cont}To submit an academic appeal you must have relevant “grounds” for appeal. To start your appeal you could include a sentence or two (with evidence) explaining why you did not make this information known to the Progress Committee, Graduate Committee or Board of Examiners earlier. These are explained in detail on the next page.

Before you submit an appeal, you should consider the potential outcomes. Even if the appeal is in your favour, a fail mark cannot usually be ‘overturned’ and made into a ‘pass’. The University can usually only endorse a ‘first attempt assessment’ and often can only allow a reassessment opportunity.

If you have already been offered a reassessment opportunity you may not wish to pursue an academic appeal as the outcome is potentially going to be the same. However, if you feel there has been an error or you have been disadvantaged in some way, the appeal could be used to request an alternative outcome, such as a first attempt submission rather than a reassessment.

This can be useful as it means the mark won’t be capped at the pass mark or compensation mark and could mean a difference in degree classification at a later stage.

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There are four grounds ‘allowing’ students to make an academic appeal, each one is detailed below with a short explanation as to how your circumstances may be applied. Please note that students can appeal on more than one ground:

(a) That there exists or existed circumstances affecting the student’s performance of which, for good reason, the Board of Examiners or Committee may not have been made aware when the decision was taken and which might have had a material effect on the decision.

This ground relates to circumstances outside of your control which you feel affected your ability to perform in any assessment. Ideally you will have submitted ‘mitigation’ (see our guide on mitigating circumstances for full details on this) at the time your work was affected as there will be questions as to why information was not presented earlier. The ‘Mitigating Circumstances Procedure’ gives you the opportunity to inform the school of such issues and must be submitted before the beginning of an examination period.

Sometimes you may not have realised that an event or incident had a negative effect on you at the time of sitting an examination or making an error in judgement. Therefore you should explain why you failed to submit mitigating circumstances. Plus you should explain how your circumstances impacted on you and effected your studies. It is important that you provide evidence. Examples of this may be a death in the family (this is likely to require a death certificate) or personal circumstances such as severe illness.

(b) That there had been a material administrative error or procedural irregularity in the assessment process or in putting into effect the regulations for the programme of study of such a nature as to cause significant doubt whether the decision might have been different if the error or irregularity had not occurred.

Examples of this could be, but are not limited to:

• Not being informed of an assessment deadline – although it is the student’s responsibility to find out this information if not presented.

Grounds of appeal

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• Where the University has not followed the correct procedures within their regulations during the process of the student’s grievance which has had an adverse effect on their studies/outcome; e.g. timescales not followed, particular process avenue not explored.

• Placement assessments not being carried out in line with regulations – e.g. absolutely no indication of cause for concern or failure of placement until very last observation / assessment.

It is essential that you attach evidence to support this ground – e.g. photocopy page from University booklets/programme booklets etc.

(c) That there is evidence of prejudice or bias or lack of proper assessment on the part of one or more of the Examiners.

It is often quite difficult to submit an appeal on the basis of bias as it can be difficult to prove. You should detail the events and provide any evidence that you have. Again it is important that you submit any evidence to support the ground that you are appealing on, for example any emails suggesting lack of proper assessment/bias. If there were verbal conversations, you should state the time, date and location of these and state who was present and what was said as precisely as possible.

(d) That the supervision or training of the student in respect of research for a dissertation or thesis or equivalent work was unsatisfactory to the point that his or her performance was seriously affected.

Supervisors and/or tutors have written guidelines as to how they should conduct the relationship with you with regards to responsibilities and expectations. A mutual arrangement should be made between you and your supervisor to ensure that these responsibilities and expectations are mirrored, creating a productive and effectual working relationship. If you do not feel that your Supervisor has provided the correct support and this has been detrimental to your studies then you could consider appealing. You must be as clear and concise as possible with why you feel you have received inadequate supervision. Try to include examples and explain how this impacted on you. All communications should be evidenced and we recommend that you keep all emails between you and your supervisor and records of meetings should be signed by both of you.

Grounds of appeal {cont}

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How do I fill out the academic appeal form?If you have decided to submit a formal appeal to faculty, then you should complete a Formal Notification of Academic Appeal Form. This form is available from your School office or online. Alternatively, you can follow the link on page 15 of this guide. There are four sections plus personal details, which must be filled in.

2 a) Please state the decision against which you are appealing.

Insert here the module or individual piece(s) of work you are concerned with and/or the decision against which you are appealing. You should copy details like module number and assessment title directly from results notice. For example, an exclusion or requirement to resit a year or if you are appealing against a mark.

2 b) Please tick the box(es) below to indicate on what grounds you are appealing.

With regards to the section stating why information has not been available to the board before this time (2b: i); state this as clearly as possible and add ‘see attached letter’ to expand on any details.

2 c) Please give details of your appeal here.

This is where the main body of your appeal should go and is where you should set out your appeal case.Most students do need more space than given on the form and this can be expanded within a word document. You should aim to put in as much detail as possible regarding the circumstances leading to and including the decision/result that you are appealing and how they are pertinent to the grounds stated.It needs to be written in a formaltone. Remember that the personreading your appeal knows nothingabout the circumstances surroundingyour appeal. Make sure you includeenough information so the reader canunderstand your case. Try to make aconnection between your situation andthe appeal grounds and identify relevantevidence. At the end of this section it is useful to state the remedy that you would like to receive. The remedy is often the most difficult part – as what can you ask for? It has to be realistic and it needs to relate to the failed piece(s)/decision.

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How do I fill out the academic appeal form? {cont}2 d) Please indicate what supporting documentation you are submitting in support of your appeal (e.g. medical certificate, correspondence etc) and attach it to a hard-copy of this form, duly signed.

This is quite straightforward – make a list of each document you are sending with this form. Some students number each document in an appendix for clarity.

2 e) Please outline any steps that you have already taken to address the issues raised in your appeal informally within your School (include names of staff). If you have not contacted your School informally please provide the reason why.

If you spoke to your course director or School office to try and resolve the issue informally, mention who you spoke to, when and what the outcome was. If you did not try to resolve matters informally then state why.

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Writing your appeal in S.2cThere is no set way to present an appeal but the following should be taken into consideration:

• Itneedstobewritteninaformaltone. Remember that the person reading your appeal knows nothing about the circumstances surrounding your appeal. Make sure you include enough information so the reader can understand your case.

• Weusuallyadvisestudentstowritethe main body of their appeal on the Notification of Academic Appeal form, available from your School/ Faculty Office, online following the link on page 12 or directly from the advice service.

• Evidencemustbeattachedwherever possible to support the reasons for appeal.

• TheAppealmustbesubmittedwithin 20 working days of date of notification of results/decision.

Although the advice service can provide advice and guidance, you need to look at your circumstances. Try to make a connection between your situation and the appeal grounds and identify relevant evidence. An Advisor can prompt you on using the information above and talking through any issues you may have.

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Hints and tips• Startwithanoteofthesituation

then look to see if it ‘matches’ with any of the grounds.

• Trytoincorporatevocabularyfromthe relevant grounds. For example: “I wish to make an Academic Appeal on the grounds that I believe I have mitigating circumstances which affected my ability to perform. These circumstances where….and I enclose (what) evidence. I was unable to inform the University beforehand of these circumstances because….and I include (what) evidence to confirm this.”

• Setoutafullandfactualaccountof the circumstances in question. Be logical and concise but include everything of relevance – if in any doubt about whether to include it or not – put it in as long as it is supportive. Ensure you include ‘what happened, when it happened and how exactly it affected your assessment.

• Ithelpstoassumethatthereaderknows nothing about you or your programme of study so be as descriptive as possible.

• Makereferencetoandattachevidence wherever possible. Take each point in turn and think about anything that can be attached or referred to that supports it.

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What happens next?A nominee of the Faculty Office will consider the appeal and whether it does fall into the grounds specified above. If they find that the appeal does not fit into any of these categories it will be rejected and they will notify you within 10 working days of the appeal being received. *There will be no further opportunity to appeal this decision within the University.

If the appeal is accepted for consideration on the specified grounds, the Faculty Officer will obtain comments from the appropriate person/s within the student’s school or Faculty. You will then be sent these comments to consider and will be asked to respond.

Once this process is complete, the Dean of Faculty or their nominee and a Senior Administrative Officer within the faculty will consider all of the information provided. The Dean or their nominee may feel that there are grounds and sufficient evidence to allow the appeal to go in your favour so they will refer the matter back to the original Exam Board to reconsider their decision. This does not necessarily mean that you will receive your desired outcome but it may be considered if it is allowable in the regulations.

It is also possible that the Dean or their nominee believes that there are grounds, but there isn’t enough evidence to fully investigate and decide on an appropriate outcome. In this case, an Appeals Panel can be called and you would be invited along. You will normally be notified of this within 20 working days.

The Appeals Panel can reject the appeal, refer it back or revoke the original decision. There is no further right to appeal within the University once the Panel has made a decision. You will be issued with a Completion of Procedures letter and can take the matter to the Office Of Independent Adjudicator, see ‘what if I am still not satisfied section’ following.

If the Dean or their nominee does not uphold the appeal, you have one further opportunity to appeal within the University. This will be directed to the Director of Teaching and Learning Support who will review all documentation regarding the case to ensure that it has been handled correctly and the decision is reasonable in light of the available evidence. The decision of the Director of Teaching and Learning Support is final.

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What if I’m still not satisfied?Once the University has issued a Completion of Procedures letter, you will not have any further right of appeal at the University.

Once you receive this letter you can appeal further to the OIA (Office of Independent Adjudicator). Please speak to an Advisor if you are considering this option.

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What can the Advice Service do to help?There are a range of ways that the Advice Service can support you through the appeals process:

• explainthefullprocesstoyouandguide you through the stages.

• adviseyouifyourcasefitsintooneof the grounds for appeal.

• reviewanydraftstatementsthatyouprepare and offer suggestions.

• monitortheprogressofyourappeal.

• adviseyouonappropriateevidenceto support your case.

• adviseyouonanappealtotheOIA.

Remember that the Advice Service is not part of the University, so it is completely impartial, independent and confidential. If you would like to speak to an advisor about your case, please arrange an appointment.

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Appeals flow charthttp://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=1910

Regulation XIX Academic Appealshttp://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=1872

Appeal form http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=1878

Faculty offices contact detailshttp://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/crucial-guide/academic-life/formal-procedures/contacts/

Director of Teaching and Learning Supportappealsandcomplaints@manchester.ac.uk

Important links

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