Academic appeals - taught

For all students on taught programmes a student may appeal against:

(a) one or more of the following recommendations of a Board of Examiners:

• the mark awarded for any assessment component or the overall module;
• the overall outcome of a programme of study, e.g. degree classification;
• failure at any stage of a programme of study (including progression decisions);
• decisions in relation to submitted exceptional circumstances;
• action taken a a result of the Student Attendance and Engagement Policy

(b) a procedural irregularity in the way the University followed and applied its academic regulations and procedures which either affected your ability to undertake assessment(s) or which led to your assessed work not receiving the mark it merited;

(c) the decision to terminate your studies as a result of a perceived failure on your part to enrol or re-register for your studies by the required deadline, or as a result of you exceeding the maximum period of registration allowed for your programme under regulation C1.

For all students on taught programmes appeals may only be made on the following grounds:

(i) procedural irregularity in the conduct of the assessment or examination board processes, or the application of the Student Attendance Monitoring procedure

(ii) exceptional circumstances, providing that:

• the circumstances were not already considered by an Exceptional Circumstances Panel;
• the circumstances can be verified by appropriate evidence (see University guidelines); 
• there is a valid reason for not submitting an Exceptional Circumstances claim relating to these circumstances (and/or appropriate evidence) by the specified deadline in accordance with the relevant provisions of Regulation B.3. (see note about exceptional circumstances below)

Note about exceptional circumstances

The Appeals Panel Committee will reject your claim even if your ECs are valid, if there is not a genuine reason why the EC claim was not brought forward at the appropriate time. Reasons such as reluctance to reveal exceptional circumstances, wanting to find out the outcomes of assessment or shyness are not normally accepted as valid reasons for not submitting ECs at the appropriate time.

Please click the link for a list of Common Student Appeal Scenarios.  These are some of the types of typical cases that the Appeals Panel receive on a regular basis. These types of appeals will be accepted/not accepted for the reasons given.

You must submit your appeal on the approved Appeal Form no later than 10 calendar days (not including University closed days or Bank Holidays, but including weekends) from the date of the email or letter sent to you informing you of either the decision of the Board of Examiners or actions taken under the Student Attendance and Engagement Policy or within 10 calendar days of the official notification that your studies have been terminated due to failure to enrol or re-enrol for your studies. If you submit your appeal later than 10 days after the official notification of results, your appeal will only be considered if you can provide valid evidence why you were not able to submit within the deadline. 

If you wish to appeal against an award you must inform the University of your intention to appeal before Senate confirms the decision of the Board of Examiners. Information of how to do this will be given in the email or letter informing you of your award. Your name will be removed from the list of awards submitted to Senate for approval. You should note that this could mean that you will be unable to graduate at the next available opportunity.

Upon receipt of your appeal, the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team will email (to your Keele email account) to confirm its arrival. If you do not receive an email within two working days of sending your appeal, you must contact the team to check that your form has arrived. As the staff can be very busy processing appeals at certain times of the year (particularly June/July and September), it would be appreciated if contact is by email if possible. Emails will normally be responded to, within the same working day. During the processing of your appeal, the Team will communicate with you via your Keele email so please check your email on a daily basis.

Appeal cases will be considered by an Appeals Panel.  The consideration of an appeal consists of an assessment of readily available documentation which will include your appeal submission with all submitted evidence, information held by us on your student record, previously submitted exceptional circumstances, reports and minutes from the relevant examination board and on occasion a report which we may request from the School or Service as appropriate. You will be given the opportunity to respond in writing to any reports  received from the School or Service where the panel deemed it necessary to request such a report.

Once if the Panel has reached a decision, based on the available information, you will be informed of this decision in writing, stating the reasons. 

The form for all students (apart from research degree students) to submit an appeal can be downloaded here :

Appeal Form (Taught) .

Guidance for filling in the Appeal Form is listed in the concertina below.

If you require the form or any other materials in an alternative format, please let us know. On request we can provide you with an electronic copy, enlarged print on coloured paper, audio recordings or Braille. 

If possible please complete the form by downloading it onto a computer and typing in the information required.  If you are unable to do this then please ensure that your handwriting is legible.

Privacy Notice and how we will process your information

The information that you give in your appeal, together with any supporting evidence, will be processed by the following:

• Members of the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team who process your appeal;
• Representatives from your School(s) who may be asked what information your School(s) Exceptional Circumstances Panel knew about (if the information is not readily available in Evision) or to comment on any procedural irregularity. The information will only be given to those staff in your School who are able to respond to the issues raised. You will be allowed to see and comment on any information the School provides. 
• Any other person or service named in your appeal who we may need to contact to check the issue you have raised. g. Finance, Disability Services, I.T. Services.
• A member of the University Academic Appeals Committee who will consider your appeal at the filtering stage of the Appeals process to decide whether your appeal should be upheld.
• If your appeal is deemed to be straightforward and the evidence to be sufficiently compelling, your appeal will be referred to your School(s) Examination Board for consideration with a recommendation to uphold the appeal.

Other than verification checks (see Supporting Documentation below), your data will not be shared with any third parties without your further consent.

Please see Section D for information on what to do if you do not wish certain personal information to be made known.

Information Gathering

Once your appeal is received, members of the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team may seek information relating to your appeal so it can be considered.  This includes, but is not limited to, information on your student record, previously submitted exceptional circumstances, and information from your School (s) or any other staff member or service named in your appeal.  You will be given the opportunity to respond to any information submitted by your School(s) or staff member/service.

Our legal basis to process your appeals data

The provision of an appeals process is provided as part of the contract we have with our students; and as part of our public task as a University.

Where you have provided any sensitive personal data (Special Category*) we will need your explicit consent in order to process this information. If you do not consent to us processing your sensitive personal data, then we will remove this data from your submission and this will not be considered. Please also see Section D for information on what to do if you do not wish certain personal information to be made known.

*This includes data related to your health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sex life, sexual orientation or genetic/biometric data.

Personal Data of others

Please do not submit any unnecessary personal information, particularly about third parties.  For example, if your exceptional circumstance are based around the health of a family member, we do not need to see detailed information about that person.  Instead we need to see evidence about how the circumstances affected you.  If you do decide to give information and any supporting evidence about another person, it is your responsibility to tell that person that you have done this and how the University will be processing their information.

How long we will retain your data

As stated In the University’s retention schedule, information regarding your appeal will be kept securely for 6 years following the last action on the case.

Further privacy information

The University’s full Student Privacy Notice, which contains further information and details your rights (including withdrawing consent), can be found at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/informationgovernance/checkyourinformationisbeinghandledcorrectly/privacynotice-students/ 

SECTION A – Personal and Programme Information

Please write your full name as shown on your Keele card. 

Your student number is the 8-digit number that appears on your Keele card. e.g. 00987654

Please also state your programme of study, whether you are a postgraduate or undergraduate and your year of study.

SECTION B – Grounds for Appeal

You should tick the appropriate box to indicate on which grounds you are appealing.  You should then indicate the date on which you were notified of your results and the date on which you are submitting your appeal.  If you are submitting your appeal after the 10-day deadline, you must give a reason as to why you are submitting your appeal late.  If you submit the appeal late, without good reason, your appeal will not be accepted.

If you are appealing on grounds of exceptional circumstances you should then complete Sections C, D and F of the form.  If you are appealing on grounds of procedural irregularity, you should then complete Sections C, E and F of the form.

SECTION C – Nature of Appeal

You should indicate in this section exactly what you are appealing against, e.g. requirement to withdraw, failure of degree, degree class awarded, module mark(s), not being permitted a reassessment opportunity.  If you are appealing against a mark awarded for a module you should write the module name and code. 

If possible please complete the form by downloading it onto a computer and typing in the information required.  If you are unable to do this then please ensure that your handwriting is legible.

Privacy Notice and how we will process your information

The information that you give in your appeal, together with any supporting evidence, will be processed by the following:

• Members of the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team who process your appeal;
• Representatives from your School(s) who may be asked what information your School(s) Exceptional Circumstances Panel knew about (if the information is not readily available in Evision) or to comment on any procedural irregularity. The information will only be given to those staff in your School who are able to respond to the issues raised. You will be allowed to see and comment on any information the School provides. 
• Any other person or service named in your appeal who we may need to contact to check the issue you have raised. g. Finance, Disability Services, I.T. Services.
• A member of the University Academic Appeals Committee who will consider your appeal at the filtering stage of the Appeals process to decide whether your appeal should be upheld.
• If your appeal is deemed to be straightforward and the evidence to be sufficiently compelling, your appeal will be referred to your School(s) Examination Board for consideration with a recommendation to uphold the appeal.

Other than verification checks (see Supporting Documentation below), your data will not be shared with any third parties without your further consent.

Please see Section D for information on what to do if you do not wish certain personal information to be made known.

Information Gathering

Once your appeal is received, members of the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team may seek information relating to your appeal so it can be considered.  This includes, but is not limited to, information on your student record, previously submitted exceptional circumstances, and information from your School (s) or any other staff member or service named in your appeal.  You will be given the opportunity to respond to any information submitted by your School(s) or staff member/service.

Our legal basis to process your appeals data

The provision of an appeals process is provided as part of the contract we have with our students; and as part of our public task as a University.

Where you have provided any sensitive personal data (Special Category*) we will need your explicit consent in order to process this information. If you do not consent to us processing your sensitive personal data, then we will remove this data from your submission and this will not be considered. Please also see Section D for information on what to do if you do not wish certain personal information to be made known.

*This includes data related to your health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sex life, sexual orientation or genetic/biometric data.

Personal Data of others

Please do not submit any unnecessary personal information, particularly about third parties.  For example, if your exceptional circumstance are based around the health of a family member, we do not need to see detailed information about that person.  Instead we need to see evidence about how the circumstances affected you.  If you do decide to give information and any supporting evidence about another person, it is your responsibility to tell that person that you have done this and how the University will be processing their information.

How long we will retain your data

As stated In the University’s retention schedule, information regarding your appeal will be kept securely for 6 years following the last action on the case.

Further privacy information

The University’s full Student Privacy Notice, which contains further information and details your rights (including withdrawing consent), can be found at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/informationgovernance/checkyourinformationisbeinghandledcorrectly/privacynotice-students/

SECTION A – Personal and Programme Information

Please write your full name as shown on your Keele card. 

Your student number is the 8-digit number that appears on your Keele card. e.g. 00987654

Please also state your programme of study, whether you are a postgraduate or undergraduate and your year of study.

SECTION B – Grounds for Appeal

You should tick the appropriate box to indicate on which grounds you are appealing.  You should then indicate the date on which you were notified of your results and the date on which you are submitting your appeal.  If you are submitting your appeal after the 10-day deadline, you must give a reason as to why you are submitting your appeal late.  If you submit the appeal late, without good reason, your appeal will not be accepted.

If you are appealing on grounds of exceptional circumstances you should then complete Sections C, D and F of the form.  If you are appealing on grounds of procedural irregularity, you should then complete Sections C, E and F of the form.

SECTION C – Nature of Appeal

You should indicate in this section exactly what you are appealing against, e.g. requirement to withdraw, failure of degree, degree class awarded, module mark(s), not being permitted a reassessment opportunity.  If you are appealing against a mark awarded for a module you should write the module name and code. 

SECTION D - Details of appeal case relating to exceptional circumstances

You will first need to indicate whether or not you made your exceptional circumstances known to your School(s) before the Exceptional Circumstances Panel met.  If you did, you will need to indicate what documents you provided to the School and how you submitted them.   If you did make your circumstances known to your School(s) you should state why you believe these circumstances were not considered.  If you did not make your circumstances known, you should state why you did not do so at the time.  Failure to give a valid reason will mean that your appeal will be turned down.

You should then tick the appropriate box(es) to indicate the type of circumstances that you are bringing forward in your appeal.  You should also indicate the time period during which you have been affected by these circumstances and list all the relevant evidence that you are submitting in support of your claim.

You should then state in a clear and concise manner the details of the circumstances, in the box provided and how you believe that they have affected your studies.  It is not the role of the Appeals Committee or the Board of Examiners to determine this.  Do not continue on a separate sheet unless absolutely necessary.  If you are not sure what to include please seek the advice of either: the Advice and Support at Keele (ASK) service within the Students’ Union, or the Student Services Hub. Their contact details can be found on the appeals web pages at: www.keele.ac.uk/taughtcourseappeals.

This statement will be used to determine if you have grounds for appeal so it is very important that you include everything that you wish to be considered in your appeal, even if it is very personal or embarrassing.   In such cases, you can ask for the contents of your appeal only to be made known to the Appeals Committee, and the Head of School if necessary. Alternatively, Regulation B3 states that in very exceptional circumstances where you do not wish the circumstances to be revealed to your School(s), a letter from a doctor or counsellor confirming that the circumstances are very exceptional, and how these may have affected your ability to study, will be acceptable.  However please note that under normal circumstances the Counselling and Mental Health Support service at the University will only provide evidence for those already accessing on-going counselling.

SECTION E – Details of appeal case relating to procedural irregularity

You should state in a clear and concise manner the details of the procedural irregularity, in the box provided.  You should state what you believed went wrong during the assessment process or the academic warnings procedure, and how you believed this had an adverse effect on your assessment.  You should then list the supporting evidence that you are submitting to substantiate your claim and this should be submitted with your appeal form.

Supporting Documentation for Sections D and E

You must have evidence to support your appeal and this should be submitted with your appeal form. Examples of appropriate evidence include:

• A medical certificate clearly stating that you were unfit to take the examination or were ill at the time of writing the assessment.
• Letter from a counsellor (under normal circumstances the University Counselling and Mental Health Support service will only provide evidence for those already accessing on-going counselling).
• A death certificate; funeral director’s letter. You should also indicate your relationship to the deceased.

Detailed information on the exceptional circumstances criteria and evidence requirements can be found in the “Exceptional Circumstances Code of Practice” which can be found at: http://www.keele.ac.uk/ec/ 

Evidence can be scanned and submitted via email but you must retain original copies of all your evidence.  This is important as original copies may be required by the Appeals Committee at a later date.  The evidence also needs to be relevant to the time that the circumstances occurred.  For example a doctor’s note saying that you were ill for one week will not be acceptable if you are claiming that you have had medical problems for a month. If the evidence is not in English, an authenticated independent translation must also be attached.

If your evidence is not available at the time of submitting the form, you should indicate that you have requested it and when you will be able to hand it in.  Do NOT delay the submission of your form because you have to wait for a piece of evidence, if this means that you will miss the submission deadline.  

There will be circumstances where it is difficult or impossible to gain independent evidence.  If this is the case please indicate this on the form and say why you are unable to obtain any. 

We may contact the organisation that has issued any supporting documentation to verify authenticity.

Please note that the Appeals Committee reserves the right to reject an appeal if no evidence has been provided.

Section F – Remedial Action

In this section you should indicate by ticking the appropriate box(es) what you are requesting as the outcome of your appeal.

Declaration

Forms sent electronically must be sent from your Keele email account.  If you are not able to do this, you should print the form and sign it.  

False Claims

You should note that submitting an Appeals Form that contains false information, e.g. forged medical letters, will be regarded as an attempt to gain an unfair advantage in your studies.  This is academic misconduct and will be investigated under the terms of Regulation D4 by the Academic Misconduct Committee.   If proven, it is extremely likely that the penalty will be exclusion from the University. If you are registered on a programme that is subject to Regulation B5: Fitness to Practise you should note that any proven academic misconduct will also be referred to your Head of School so that any implications regarding fitness to practise may be considered.

If you require advice and support, please contact Advice and Support at Keele (ASK) in the Students' Union:

If you have any questions about the appeals process, please contact Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team.

The appeal should be emailed to the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team . In order to assist the team in processing appeals as quickly as possible, please send your email to  appeals@keele.ac.uk. Please note that appeals will only be accepted electronically if they have been emailed from your Keele email account. 

If your Keele IT account has been closed, please send the form using the non-Keele email account you added to your student record.

If it is not possible to email the appeal, please contact the team to discuss the matter further BEFORE the appeal deadline.