Assessment Appeals

Assessment Appeals review an academic decision in certain circumstances. That could include assignment marks, or a decision to withdraw you. If you’re dissatisfied with something non-academic, follow the Complaints Process instead.

Read the full UCB Assessment Appeals process online at UCB’s Policies page.

How do Assessment APpeals work?

There are 4 main stages to making an Assessment Appeal:

1. Speak to your marker or Head of Department to seek clarification or an early resolution
2. If it wasn’t resolved at Step 1, submit a formal Assessment Appeal
3. If there was a problem handling your Appeal at Step 2, request a review of your complaint by a senior member of UCB staff. This is the last stage of UCB’s internal process.
4. If you believe UCB haven’t addressed your Appeal properly in Steps 1-3, you can seek an external review from the Office for the Independent Adjudicator.

Grounds for Assessment Appeals

To be successful, your Assessment Appeal must explain good reasons for the decision you’re appealing to be reviewed. UCB normally only accepts the following reasons or ‘grounds’ for your Appeal:

• That you were affected by illness or other circumstances at the time that couldn’t have been reported sooner
• That there has been an error in the process that UCB followed
• That you have been treated in a biased way
• At Stage 3 only: that new evidence is available that couldn’t have been shared earlier

You cannot make an appeal based on ‘academic judgement’, such as a tutor’s view on the quality of your work.

Because we want appeals to be fair for all students at UCB, you must write your appeal statement yourself; we will not normally advocate for individual students as part of the formal process.

Submitting your Assessment Appeal

If you haven’t already, you should speak to your marker or Head of Department as soon as possible to start the process – you must complete this stage before moving on to Stage 2.

If you have already tried to get an early resolution, but it didn’t have the outcome you’re seeking, you should ensure that you have valid grounds for your Appeal. If you do, you can submit an Assessment Appeal by completing the Appeals form available on the UCB Policies page.

We Can Help

If you have a concern, you can come to us and we will provide you with initial advice relating to all kinds of issues. Such as:

• Decisions made against you based on allegations of academic misconduct
• An issue in the process of how your work was marked
• Failure to recognise valid Extenuating Circumstances

The Guild can help you at different points of the process to:

• Understand what to expect from the process
• Discuss your experience and its suitability for the Assessment Appeals process
• Identify staff to approach as part of Step 1
• Explain your Appeal at Step 2
• Escalate an Appeal to Step 3
• Accompany you to meetings if you need us there

Book a Meeting

If you’d like to speak to us, we would like to hear from you. Book a meeting here:

Non-Academic Complaints

The Assessment Appeals process only covers academic matters. If you’re trying to address a concern that relates to a non-academic aspect of your UCB experience, you need to make a complaint. These have some important differences, but follow a similar series of steps.