Academic Appeals - Falmouth

This guide aims to provide you with a clear understanding of the appeals process and how the SU Advice Team can support you throughout the journey.
Student talking to member of SU staff.
The information set out in this Appeals Guide is general guidance for Falmouth University students. It should not be seen as a definitive statement of the University's Appeals policy and procedure. A copy of the University's Appeals policy and procedure is available here.
 

How can the SU Advice Team help you with your Falmouth University appeal?

  • Discuss grounds for appeal with you and help you make sense of the appeals process.
  • Provide knowledge and guidance regarding academic regulations, policies, and procedures.
  • We can read appeal drafts and make suggestions to ensure your appeal is as clear as possible and contains all the relevant information (as long as they are submitted to us in time).
  • Students should endeavour to write their own appeals from their own unique perspective, but we are here to provide support and guidance all the way through the process.

What is an Academic Appeal?

An appeal is a request made by a student for the university to review a decision they have made about you. This decision will have been reached through the application of one of the universities policies, procedures, or regulations. For example, you may appeal against:

  • The results agreed at an Assessment Board, which includes the results of an Extenuating Circumstances application.
  • A decision reached by an Academic Misconduct Panel.
  • A decision reached through the Attendance Monitoring Policy.
  • A decision reached through a disciplinary process.
  • A decision reached through the Health Wellbeing and Support for Study process.

How does the appeals process work?

There are 3 steps to making an appeal:

Step 1. Early Resolution

 

You should always try to resolve any issue by communicating with the staff member or team who was responsible for your result/feedback or outcome before submitting a formal appeal. If there has been a mistake or misunderstanding, this can hopefully be resolved without having to make a formal appeal.

- TIP – Be sure to record everything in writing, using your university email account for all communication is best, this way you have a record of exactly who you have communicated with and when. If you speak to someone in person or on the phone, you can send them a follow up email that confirms all the points you discussed. All this can then be used as evidence if you need to proceed to Step 2.

Step 2. Formal Appeal

This needs to be made within 20 working days (see below for more detail) so if you haven’t reached a resolution during Step 1 before the 20 days is up, then you will need to submit a formal appeal.

Step 3. Appeal Review (More details on this are included in the next section)

If your appeal is not upheld, or you aren’t happy with the outcome and you have further evidence/sufficient grounds, then you can initiate Step 3.

More information about Step 3 - the appeal review step

If your appeal is not upheld, or you aren’t happy with the outcome you may be able to initiate Step 3.

You have 10 working days from the day you receive your Step 2 Outcome.

You will receive instructions on how to do this in your Step 2 Appeal Outcome letter.

The grounds for a Step 3 - Review are:

  • There was an error or irregularity in the conduct of Step 2 of the Appeals Procedure;
    and/or
  • You have new evidence that you were unable, for valid reasons, to provide by the original Step 2 appeals deadline.

You can't request a review of the Step 2 decision simply because you disagree with it, you will need to show evidence of an error in the appeals process, or new evidence supporting your original appeal, and have valid reasons why this evidence couldn’t be provided during Step 2.

Falmouth University appeals resources

You can find more information on the Appeals Process on the Falmouth University Student Dashboard.

On the Student Regulations Page, you can find the full Appeals Policy and Appeals Procedure as well as the Formal Appeal Form. You can also find all other policies and procedures; some may be relevant for your appeal.

Third Party Consent

You can also find the Third party consent form on the Student Regulations page, which you can fill in if you wish to give consent for the University to share your details with a named third party. You can also give permission for a third party to act on your behalf if required, where there is a valid reason. This means you could have a friend, family member or someone from the SU Advice team to act on your behalf if needed.

Reached the end of the Appeals process and still not happy with the result?

Once you have exhausted the Universities appeals process, you should be issued with what’s called a ‘Completion of Procedures’ letter. The University will no longer be able to consider your appeal. But if you are unhappy with the result, you may wish to take your complaint to the OIA:

OIA – The Office of Independent Adjudicators for Higher Education.

Falmouth University subscribes to an independent scheme for the review of student complaints provided by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA). You will need to raise any complaint with the OIA within 12 months of receipt of your Completion of Procedures letter. The OIA will normally only consider cases which have been through the University’s own procedures first.

Visit the OIA website to visit to find out if you are eligible and how to make a complaint.

 

 

Falmouth University Appeals Checklist

To be able to make an appeal you must:

Have received a formal outcome or result.
This needs to be in form of an official letter or document, not provisional marks or word of mouth.
Be appealing within the correct time frame.
This is 20 working days from the date you were notified of your official outcome, or the date official assessment results were released on MyFalmouth in the ‘Latest Assessment Outcome’ area (working days don’t include weekends or bank holidays). Late appeals will not normally be considered unless you can provide an exceptional reason why.
Early appeals will also be declined – for example, if you have had provisional marks for an assessment but these marks have not yet been confirmed by the official Assessment Board, you will need to wait until after your official results have been released in MyFalmouth to make an appeal.
Have grounds on which to make an appeal.
There are two grounds for appeal:

a) That there has been a material error or irregularity in the formal conduct of the process in reaching the decision and/or,
For example: Perhaps you have evidence of uploading a document for a submission, but it has disappeared from the system. Perhaps you have evidence you were given the wrong assignment hand-in date. You may have a different example.

b) That your performance was negatively affected by extenuating circumstances which you were unable, or for valid reasons, unwilling to share before the decision concerned was reached.
For example: A student may have had a sudden trip to hospital or unexpected flare up of a condition that meant they weren’t able to use the necessary processes for ECs.

Challenging ‘academic judgement’ does not constitute a ground of appeal.

Universities employ academic staff who are experts in their field. Academic staff are employed to use their academic judgement when marking students’ work. If a student who is awarded a mark of 45% thinks their work deserves a mark of 55%, this does not constitute a ground of appeal. But you can appeal if you believe that this judgment was not made fairly or according to the correct University process. Academic judgement may relate to, but is not limited to:
• Assessment marks.
• Assessment feedback.
• Degree classifications.
• Academic misconduct.
• Research methodology.
• Course content and/or learning outcomes.
Have evidence to support your grounds.
Appeals without evidence are likely to be rejected. If you can’t get your evidence in time, submit the appeal within the 20 working days timeframe and let the appeals team (QAE@Falmouth.ac.uk) know you will provide the evidence as soon as it’s available. You will need to satisfy the University that you have a valid reason for any delay in submitting evidence or they may reject your appeal. Evidence examples including but not limited to:

- Medical evidence (e.g. medical report, doctor’s letter).
- Death certificates.
- Correspondence (e.g. email, letters).
- Police reports.
- Court documents.
- Official summary of support needs.
- Extracts from relevant regulation, policy and/or procedure documents.
- Emails or other written correspondence.
- Assessment briefs.
- Module guides.
- Assessment feedback.
- Screenshots.
- Doctors' notes.
- Copies of extenuating circumstances information and evidence submitted.

 

For help writing the appeal itself, please see our Guide to writing an effective appeal and if you still need support please book an SU Advice appointment with us.

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