Disputing a Board decision – Review and Appeal

Asking for a Review if you are unhappy with a Board of Examiners decision

Student Services - Male student making notes.

The Advice Service and International Advice Service are independent services located within the University of Lincoln. We offer a free confidential and impartial legal service to all students at the University of Lincoln.

If you are considering requesting a review or an appeal you can speak to specialist advisers in the Advice Service. To book a confidential telephone appointment please email: advice@lincoln.ac.uk

If you are an international student please email: internationaladvice@lincoln.ac.uk

The Board of Examiners make academic judgements about a student’s academic attainment and progression. Once you have received your results there may be occasions when you might wish to dispute the decision of the Board of Examiners.

Please note that you cannot request a review simply because you disagree with your mark or grade. Mitigating Circumstances issues must be dealt with under the Mitigating Circumstances process. Mitigating Circumstances do not constitute grounds for a Review or Appeal.

You should initially raise any concerns informally, for example, by speaking to your Personal Tutor, Module Coordinator, Programme Leader or Student Services. If you are unable to achieve an informal resolution of your concerns, you may then access the formal Review and Appeal procedure.

You can find further information about Reviews and Appeals on the Governance website at the following link Academic Reviews and Appeals. You can also read the following link to the University General Regulations about Review and Appeal.

Review

You can request a review of the Board’s decision within 10 working days of you formally receiving the Board of Examiners decision (receiving your results). The Review Request Proforma is available on request from an Academic Appeals Officer. Once you have completed the form you will need to forward it and any supporting evidence, to an Academic Appeals Officer in Governance.

A successful request for a review will usually include evidence to support your claim. You should include all the evidence that you want to have taken into account. You will not be able to include new evidence at a later stage.

If you know you cannot get the evidence within the 10 working day deadline, you should put in your review request ON TIME and explain that you will have to send the evidence later, e.g.

“I will submit a letter from my GP explaining how my illness affected me, unfortunately she is on holiday at the moment so I cannot have the letter until she returns in 10 days’ time”.

To be effective, your evidence should be relevant to the time when your studies were affected.

A Review will normally be completed within 20 working days. In exceptional circumstances a further 15 days may be required. If at the end of that time your Review has not been completed, you can proceed directly to the Appeal stage.

Appeal

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the review and wish to appeal then you must submit your request within 10 working days of receiving your Review outcome letter.

You can get an appeal form by a request in writing to an Academic Appeals Officer. Further details can be found at Academic Reviews and Appeals.

There are only three specific grounds on which an Appeal can be made:

There was a procedural irregularity in any part of the assessment or other relevant process to which the claim relates, including the interpretation and application of the relevant regulations.
There was evidence of prejudice or of bias.
There was an error in the calculating or recording of the marks upon which the original decision was made.