Academic Appeals
After an assessment period has ended, all grades are confirmed by a Board of Examiners before being finalised and sent out to students at the end of each assessment period. You have the right to appeal the Board of Examiners decision if you believe there has been an error or circumstances that have impacted your studies that have not been considered.
Requirements for an Appeal:
- Must have received your confirmed results.
- Circumstances must fall within the grounds of appeal. (Please see further on)
- Evidence to support your appeal.
- The appeal must be submitted within 10 working days of the results being or by the University Appeal deadline. This should be available online. released.
FSAC Appeals
-
Grounds for Appeal
There are 3 grounds on which you can appeal:
- New evidence has become available which could not have been provided to the Board of Examiners (BoE) meeting (evidence that a student chooses to withhold from the Board of Examiners will not normally be accepted as new evidence at an appeal).
- There has been a procedural irregularity. You need to be able to explain how this impacted on your academic outcome.
- For Postgraduate taught students only: that there was inadequate supervision of the thesis/dissertation element of the Postgraduate programme. An appeal will not be considered on this ground, unless there is good reason to show why such issues were not raised by the student promptly at the time they first arose.
Appeals that are submitted under any other ground or that do not fall within one of the above grounds will not be considered. Any appeal that challenges academic judgement will also be rejected.
You may also wish to ask your School for a 'clerical check' to make sure the correct marks have been applied against your name. There is a small charge, usually £10, for this. Please note, your School will not remark the assessment, they will merely check that the grade awarded to you is accurate to one noted on the assessment.
- How to submit an Appeal
You will need to submit an appeal form to be considered by the Faculty Student Appeals Committee (FSAC) at appeals@qub.ac.uk or send it by post to send the form to Academic Affairs, Level 6, Administration Building, Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN. Please remember to send any evidence alongside your appeal form.
If you would like someone to review your form before submission, you can send this to SU Advice. We are happy to provide feedback and comments to help ensure your appeal is as strong as it can be given your circumstances.
- Appealing outside of the deadline
There are some circumstances where students may not submit an academic appeal by the deadline. In these cases it is possible to submit a late appeal. However, a late appeal will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances and where evidence of these circumstances can be provided. Please contact SU Advice to discuss this further.
- What happens next?
On receipt of the appeal, the Director of Education Student Services or nominee, and a senior colleague (the Sifting Panel) shall consider each appeal form, and any supporting documentation submitted before the FSAC deadline, and shall decide whether:
The student has raised a prima facie case (this means if you appear to meet the grounds in the first instance.
or;
The student has not raised a prima facie case; for example*, where a student:
-
- Does not cite a ground of appeal
- Clearly does not meet grounds
- Fails to submit necessary supporting documentation (eg medical evidence) before the FSAC deadline
- Requests an outcome which is not within the remit of the FSAC to grant (see paragraph 33).
*The list is not exhaustive.
If the appeal submitted by the student is determined not to present a prima facie case, then the appeal will be rejected at this stage.
If the appeal is found to raise a prima facie case, then it will be sent by Academic affairs to the FSAC, who will either:
- Dismiss the appeal, with reasons, and confirm the original decision against which the appeal was made.
- Refer the matter back to the Chair of the Board of Examiners, with or without recommendation.
- Uphold the appeal in part or in full, and may permit the student to re-sit or re-take a failed module(s)
-
CSAC Appeals
If your appeal is dismissed at this stage or you feel the outcome of the appeal is not fair, then you can appeal the decision made by the FSAC and submit an appeal review to the Central Student Appeals Committee (CSAC). There are two grounds under which you can do this and it must be made clear under which you are appealing.
-
Grounds for Appeal
The two grounds are:
- New evidence has become available which could not have been provided to the FSAC (evidence withheld from the FSAC will not normally constitute new evidence).
- There has been a procedural irregularity in the FSAC procedure which has had a demonstrable impact on the outcome.
This appeal must be submitted within 5 working days of the FSAC outcome using the CSAC appeal form which can be found online. This will need to be sent to appeals@qub.ac.uk and appeals will only be accepted if they are submitted using the correct form and within the specified deadline.
- The CSAC may:
- Dismiss the appeal, with reasons, and confirm the original decision against which the appeal was made.
- Refer the matter back to the Chair of the Board of Examiners, with or without recommendation.
- Uphold the appeal in part or in full, and may:
- Permit the student to re-sit or retake a failed module(s)
- Apply, on the student’s behalf, for a concession to the Regulations.
- Take any other decision deemed by the CSAC to be fair and appropriate in the circumstances.
If your appeal is not successful at this stage, your only option is to submit a complaint to the Northern Ireland Public Service Ombudsman (NIPSO).
If you want to submit an appeal and would like advice on this, please contact SU Advice.