Assessment Appeal Procedure

Before submitting an appeal at stage 1 or 2, you should speak to the Students’ Union Advice Centre who can provide you with independent advice and guidance on completing your appeal form.

8.5 Procedural Introduction

8.5.1 You can use this procedure to appeal the outcome of a progression assessment, transfer assessment or a final thesis examination outcome.

8.5.2 We expect you to keep to the deadlines within this procedure, unless you have compelling, independent evidence to explain why you could not do this.

8.5.3 We are also expected to meet deadlines in responding to your appeal, but there will occasionally be times when we are unable to do this for good reason. Where this is the case, we will explain why and keep you informed of when you can expect to receive your outcome.

8.5.4 There may be occasions when you appeal an assessment result and you also feel that something earlier in your candidature contributed to the result but this was not directly linked to the examination. This aspect of your appeal may be better handled through our complaints procedures. In these circumstances, please include all aspects of your complaint and appeal in the appeal form and forward this to RegistryResearch@hud.ac.uk. We will look carefully at your application and may decide to combine the appeals and complaints procedures and look at this under one process. We will keep you informed of the decision we make and explain why.

8.5.5 If your assessment outcome confirms that you are to be withdrawn, you will lose access to your University accounts within 10 working days of the withdrawal being processed. If you intend to appeal, please let us know as soon as possible, otherwise you will lose access to your University accounts. To download your training records from SkillsForge, please log in, go to "My Training, Development & Skills", then select "Development Summary" for a complete list by date of Training and Courses which you have attended. Alternatively, select "My Completed Activities" for an overview of the last couple of years divided by Researcher Development Framework skill areas and from where you can print off the details of the sessions if required.

8.5.6 There are two stages to the assessment appeal process, as outlined below.

8.6 Grounds for a stage 1 appeal

8.6.1 For your stage 1 appeal to be successful, you must provide independent evidence to demonstrate at least one of the following grounds:

That there was a procedural irregularity in the way we handled your assessment that affected your outcome; and/or
That you have extenuating circumstances which - for good reason - you could not have told us about before the outcome of your assessment. Please see our Supporting Evidence Guidance for PGRs for information about appropriate standards of evidence for extenuating circumstances; and/or
That there was bias (or a reasonable perception of bias) in the way you were assessed.

8.6.2 The burden of proof in substantiating your appeal arguments rests with you.

8.6.3 You are not able to challenge the academic judgement of the examination team. Academic judgement is an assessment of the standard of your work in relation to learning outcomes and academic integrity that can only be made by someone who has relevant academic expertise. Any elements of an appeal that question academic judgment will not be successful and will be processed without consideration.

8.7 How to submit a stage 1 appeal

8.7.1 To appeal the outcome of a progression monitoring assessment or of your final thesis exam, you need to submit a completed PGR Assessment Appeal Form, along with supporting evidence, to registryresearch@hud.ac.uk no later than 10 working days from the date you received your exam outcome.

8.7.2 If your appeal is submitted later than this, without a good reason, your appeal will not be successful.

8.7.3 If you have a good reason for submitting your appeal late, you must provide independent evidence to support this. Please see our Supporting Evidence Guidance for PGRs for information about appropriate standards of evidence.

8.7.4 You must continue to work on any amendments that have been required as part of your assessment outcome whilst your stage 1 appeal is considered.

8.7.5 Your appeal will be investigated by a member of Registry Staff. You will receive a response providing reasons for the decision normally no later than 20 working days from the date you submitted the appeal form and associated evidence. You should read the content of the outcome letter carefully.

8.7.6 If your appeal is successful, we will explain what will happen next. When we notify you of this decision, we may provide you with a deadline by which you are required to confirm that you accept the outcome. If you fail to accept the offer by the specified deadline, we will write to you and confirm that the offer has been withdrawn.

The decision may have an impact on your assessment outcome
It may alter the type of attempt(s) you have remaining for an assessment.

8.7.7 If your appeal is not successful,

We will confirm that your assessment outcome stands. You may wish to discuss the outcome with the Students’ Union Advice Centre who can independently guide you through the decision.
You may request a review of the decision made at stage 1, by submitting a stage 2 assessment appeal.

8.7.8 Once you have received your stage 1 outcome, you must continue to work on any amendments that have been required as part of your assessment outcome, even if you are submitting a stage 2 appeal.

8.8 Grounds for a stage 2 appeal

8.8.1 If you are not satisfied with the decision made at stage 1, you can ask for this decision to be reviewed.

8.8.2 The scope of a review would be to determine whether the stage 1 decision was arrived at correctly, based on the information you submitted at stage 1.

8.8.3 You should not submit new arguments or evidence at this stage, unless you have a very good reason for doing so, which you can support with independent evidence. For example, if you introduce new evidence for your stage 2 appeal, you must explain why you did not provide this evidence with your stage 1 appeal.

8.8.4 For your stage 2 appeal to be successful, you must provide independent evidence to demonstrate at least one of the following grounds:

There was a procedural irregularity in the way we considered your stage 1 appeal; and/or
The decision we reached was unreasonable in light of the evidence provided for stage 1; and/or
You have submitted new evidence that, for a good reason, could not have been provided at stage 1 and would have materially affected the outcome. Please see our Supporting Evidence Guidance for PGRs for information about appropriate standards of evidence.

8.9 How to submit a stage 2 appeal

8.9.1 To request a review of the stage 1 decision, you should complete the stage 2 section of your original appeal form and submit it, with supporting evidence if appropriate, to registryresearch@hud.ac.uk no later than 10 working days from the date you received your stage 1 appeal outcome.

8.9.2 If your appeal is submitted later than this, without evidence or a good reason, it will not be successful. If you have a good reason for submitting your appeal late, you must provide independent evidence to support this.

8.9.3 A member of Registry staff who was not involved in the stage 1 decision will consider your stage 2 appeal.

8.9.4 We will normally issue an outcome within a Completion of Procedures Letter no later than 20 working days from the date the appeal and evidence were received.

8.9.5 If your appeal is successful, we will explain what will happen next.

When we notify you of this decision, we may provide you with a deadline by which you are required to confirm that you accept the outcome. If you fail to accept the offer by the specified deadline, we will write to you and confirm that the offer has been withdrawn.
The decision may have an impact on your assessment outcome.
It may alter the type of attempt(s) you have remaining for an assessment.

8.9.6 If your appeal is not successful;

You may wish to discuss the outcome with the Students' Union Advice Centre who can independently guide you through the decision.
You may request an independent review of the stage 2 decision.

8.10 OIA Independent review of our decision

8.10.1 Our stage 2 decision is final and cannot be appealed any further within the University. However, you can request an external, independent review of this decision by sending your Completion of Procedures Letter to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) within 12 months of receiving it.

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