Academic Appeals

In order for an appeal to eligible for consideration by the University, your concerns must meet one or more grounds from a specific list. 

It is really important that your appeal clearly explains why you think that one (or more) of the permitted reasons for an appeal applies to you. It is not enough to be dissatisfied with your results. 

A Faculty Appeals and Complaints Panel (FACP) will only uphold (accept) an appeal if any of the following are found:  

1. Your performance was affected by EC’s not previously submitted. (To justify this ground, you will have to explain why you were not able to submit ECs at the time.) 
2. Exceptional Circumstances (EC’s) were not fully and properly considered 
3. Correct Procedure was not followed which undermined the validity of a result 
4. Prejudice and/or bias affected the academic result 
5. Significant changes were made to a course without being properly communicated or considered
6. The teaching, supervision or research training was insufficient 
7. The learning support provided was unsatisfactory or inappropriate 
8. Natural Justice dictates that the appeal be upheld 

You can request your preferred outcome but the final decision sits with the University. 

If an appeal is successful, possible outcomes could include: 

• The removal of late penalties, or retrospective approval of an extension
• A further attempt at one or more assessments 
• A removal of the reassessment mark cap
• Correction of a procedural error
• Removal or reconsideration of a plagiarism or collusion penalty if the case has not been referred to SSDC.
• A repeat of a period of study 
• (In the case of finalists only) an uplift of your degree classification if you are within a specific percentage of the next classification boundary
• For postgraduate research students; additional study, thesis submission, examination or upgrade opportunities

In most cases you can’t get a mark changed without doing a further assessment. If you think a mistake has been made in marking, you may be able to apply for a remark – find out if you’re eligible for this on our Results page.

You have 15 working days to submit an appeal.  

This timescale starts from the working day after you receive the outcome against which you are appealing. If you submit an academic appeal after the 15 working days without giving a reason or explanation for the delay, it will be deemed ineligible and you will not be able to submit another appeal - see the section below 'Late appeal submissions' 

To make a Stage One academic appeal, you must include two things: 

• A written statement demonstrating how your situation justifies one or more of the appeal grounds 
• Supporting evidence for your appeal, such as medical evidence, evidence from emails or supporting letters from friends or family 

Read through the information below along with our student guides, and prepare your supporting statement and evidence. 

When you are ready to submit, you must complete the UEA Stage One Academic Appeals and Complaints online form and upload your statement and evidence at the same time.  

If you are waiting for someone to send you additional evidence, you must say this in your statement and list the items you are expecting to receive. You may be asked to provide that evidence later if your appeal requires it. If you don't submit evidence at the time of your appeal, or don't mention in your statement that you're waiting for it, you will not have another opportunity to submit it later. If a Stage One academic appeal is submitted to UEA without sufficient information or evidence, it may be deemed ineligible and will not be taken to FACP. If this happens, you will not have another opportunity to submit your appeal. 

Think you’re ready to submit? Read through Quick Academic Appeal Checklist first to make sure you’ve got everything covered!

The University will not make any assumptions about how a situation might have impacted your studies or ability to stay well, so your statement needs to include all of the things you want them to know when considering your appeal. You need to be specific and provide relevant details, and your statement should clearly explain your circumstances and how you were impacted during the relevant period of study. 

Use our Guide: How to Submit your Academic Appeal for writing your supporting statement, including template suggestions and things to consider.

An appeal statement is usually around 1-2 typed pages, but this is only a guideline. You should ensure your statement is factual, specific and only includes relevant information. The University's appeal submission form mentions a one-page limit, but this is a guideline rather than a fixed rule. 

Supporting evidence is a crucial element of an appeal. Appeals may be rejected, or considered ineligible, if evidence is missing, insufficient or not relevant to the appeal grounds.  
Official evidence is preferred, but almost any document can be used to support an appeal.  

If you are submitting evidence about Exceptional Circumstances that impacted you: The evidence must demonstrate how the ECs specifically impacted your ability to prepare and participate in an assessment or assignment with the 3 weeks before the exam or assignment deadline If your appeal does not contain evidence within that timeframe, your appeal may be considered ineligible. We have information in the dropdown below about ineligible appeals.

Some of the most commonly-used types of evidence to support an appeal are: 

• Official medical evidence relating to the physical or mental health of you or a close friend or family member. 
• Copies of any written communication with university departments. 
• Letters, emails, text messages or social media chats where you or somebody else discusses your situation, and how it affected you. 
• Supporting statements from university staff, other relevant professionals, friends or family members. 

You can include screenshots of conversations via letters, emails, text messages or social media chats where you or somebody else discusses your situation, if it supports your claims regarding your illness and inability to complete or submit work on time.  
 
You may also wish to include statements from family, friends, housemates, course mates, UEA staff, physical or mental health professionals, or anybody else who can describe either a situation or an event which is relevant to your appeal.  
 
Screenshots can be submitted as they are, however supporting statements should be signed, dated, include contact details, an explanation of the writer’s relationship to you and consent for the statement to be used in your appeal. The writer of the statement should focus on their direct knowledge of the situation and what they observed about you and your behaviour. It is advisable for supporting statements to be emailed to you directly.  

Remember: If you are waiting for someone to send you additional evidence, you must say this in your statement and list the items you are expecting to receive. You may be asked to provide that evidence later if your appeal requires it. If you don't submit evidence at the time of your appeal, or don't mention in your statement that you're waiting for it, you will not have another opportunity to submit it later. 

Evidence will be submitted separately when completing the academic appeal form on myUEA – there is a question which asks for evidence to be uploaded.

Stage One Academic Appeals must be submitted within 15 working days of receiving the result or academic outcome that you are challenging.

Appeals submitted after the 15 working days may be considered, but only if a clear and valid reason for the delay is provided, including supporting evidence. If an academic appeal is submitted late without an explanation why, it will be deemed ineligible and you will not have another opportunity to appeal the same thing. 

If you cannot submit your academic appeal within the deadline for valid reasons, such as waiting for guidance from advice(su) or not having access to your student IT account, you should include a clearly marked paragraph in your appeal supporting statement at the beginning. Explain the reason for the delay, outline what you have done to try and minimise the delay - for instance, contacting advice(su), or asking the SIZ to reinstate your IT account - and provide evidence of this. Evidence could include screenshots of emails or livechats.

In addition, when you complete Question 16 in the Academic Appeals form, include a sentence like “A full explanation for this late appeal is included in my statement.”

Once you have submitted your academic appeal, the Academic Registry will acknowledge that it has been received. Depending on your appeal, it may be considered through Delegated Authority by Academic Registry, or referred to a Faculty Appeals and Complaints Panel (FACP).  

 This meeting will not be more than 20 days from the date of the appeal submission (for taught programmes) or 30 working days (for postgraduate research students). You will usually receive an outcome letter within 10 working days of the FACP meeting, complex cases may warrant a longer timeframe and Academic Registry will let you know as soon as they are able if this is the case. 

A stage two academic appeal is used in circumstances where a stage one appeal has been rejected.  

It can only be submitted if you believe either or both of the following apply to your situation: 

• Correct procedures were not followed at stage one of the appeal process, often referred to as procedural irregularity. For example, where the evidence you provided to support your appeal was not fully and properly considered. 
• You would like to share new evidence with UEA which was not available when you submitted your stage one appeal. An explanation as to why the evidence was not available at the time should be included in the appeal statement. This is where it may be valuable to show the timeframe of when ACR advised you to submit a stage one appeal, in line with the deadline they’ve referenced in the outcome letter. 

A stage two appeal is not an opportunity for you to resubmit your stage one appeal. If a stage two appeal is accepted, the original stage one appeal is reconsidered in light of the stage two evidence and outcome. 

Similarly to a stage one academic appeal, to make a stage two academic appeal you need: 

• A written statement explaining what your grounds for appeal are and setting out the reasons for your appeal 
• Supporting evidence

If a Stage One Academic Appeal does not evidence, or if the evidence is not sufficient to demonstrate how the grounds for appeal can be met, the appeal will be considered 'not eligible for further consideration'. If an appeal is submitted for any reason apart from the clearly defined grounds, it will also not be eligible for consideration. You will be issued a Completion of Procedures letter.

A Completion of Procedures letter marks an end to the University's internal appeals process, and you will not be able to submit a Stage Two Academic Appeal or a further Stage One appeal using the same grounds and evidence.

You may be eligible to apply for a review of your case by the independent student ombudsman, Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA).

Using our student guides to construct your academic appeal is the best way to prepare and present your situation clearly. 

If you would like your stage one academic appeal to be reviewed before submitting, you can request a statement review from advice(su). We expect students to have made use of our guidance and template documents before requesting a review - the better prepared the statement and evidence, the more effective our review will be.

We ask that students complete our enquiry form (select Stage One Academic Appeal) to be sent an automatic email with all of our guidance and recommendations. You will not receive any personalised advice or guidance at that stage. The automatic email you receive will give you access to the appeal review request form. 

You must include a draft of your supporting statement when requesting this review, and we encourage you to also consider your evidence in advance. 

Supporting statements must be written in your own words, which means we can only recommend changes or additions to your statement once we have reviewed your draft. We cannot write the statement for you.  

If you have questions about the stage one academic appeal process, or what it means for you, please include these in the request form. 

Our advisors will review your statement and:

• advise whether your situation justifies any of the appeal grounds and if so, which ones 
• explain possible outcomes of the appeals process 
• provide feedback on the structure and content of your statement
• advise on what sort of evidence would best support your circumstances 

If you would like support with a stage two academic appeal, including identifying whether your case meets the relevant grounds, please complete our advice enquiry form. You should include a copy of your stage one academic appeal statement, and your stage one academic appeal outcome letter. We will not be able to consider whether your circumstances meet the grounds for a Stage Two appeal without these. 

If you have been withdrawn from your course and cannot access myUEA to complete the academic appeal form, please contact the Student Information Zone  who can reopen your account for a limited time period.