Academic Appeals

Policy

If you are unhappy with a decision made by the Unit Assessment Board, Board of Examiners or an Extenuating Circumstances Officer, you may be able to appeal. An appeal needs to be submitted within 10 working days of receiving a grade or decision.

There are limited grounds for appeal, these include:

• If there had been a material and significant administrative error in the information received and considered.
• If the assessments had not been conducted in accordance with the approved regulations for the programme of study.
• If some other material irregularity has occurred in the procedures.
• If the decision made by the Extenuating Circumstances Officer was unfair by reference to the evidence supplied by the student.
• If the student had been prevented from attending or submitting an assessment by illness or other good cause that related to the student’s personal circumstances, that they were unable to disclose before the deadline for extenuating circumstances.

Procedure

It is helpful to talk to your Personal Tutor/Supervisor, to identify whether you have the grounds to appeal.

Informal Appeal: Once you have identified the grounds of your appeal, you will need to arrange an informal meeting with your Head of Department. This will be a chance to discuss your case. If you are unhappy with the outcome of this meeting, you get a further 10 working days to submit a formal appeal.

• Formal Appeal: Your formal appeal will need to be sent to : academicappeals@port.ac.uk
• OIA: If you are not happy with the final outcome, you can choose to contact the Office of Independent Adjudicators, and they will investigate whether the process has been followed correctly.
• Complaint: Or you can submit a complaint - please see our guide to Student Complaints.