What is an academic appeal?

You can submit an appeal if you want the College to review a decision they’ve made about your studies. You have 15 working days from the date on the official notification letter to appeal. You can appeal against:

• A decision made by the Board of Examiners
• A penalty given for exam and assessment offences
• Termination of registration
• A decision made by the Fitness to Practice Panel
• A decision made regarding access arrangements assessments
• Decisions made by an upgrade panel or an MPhil/PhD/DPS/DClinPsy/Masters by Research viva panel

The College won’t investigate an appeal against academic judgement or a request for work to be remarked.

How do I submit an academic appeal?

We can help you with your appeal, how to fill in your form, the type of evidence you need to submit and provide you with general support. Please remember that submitting an appeal doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get the outcome you want.

• To appeal, you’ll have to fill in an appeal form and have evidence to support your claim. Without evidence your appeal isn’t likely to be upheld. If the evidence you have isn’t in English, then you’d need to submit a certified translation with the original copy. Scanned copies of evidence are accepted by the College when you submit your appeal via email.
• In your appeal form, please make sure you explain the circumstances of your appeal in as much detail as possible, because this is your only opportunity to put across your case to the Investigating Officer to consider, you won’t be able to have a meeting to put your case across.
• If you had extenuating circumstances (ECs), you can discuss these in the appeal form as well. ECs are unexpected circumstances outside of your control which affected your studies. ECs may impact on your ability to do your work to the usual satisfactory standard. You’ll need to have evidence of these, you can discuss with the Academic Advisor the type of evidence you’re required to submit.
• Late appeal submissions aren’t likely to be accepted by the College. If you can’t get hold of the evidence you need before the deadline, then you should still submit your appeal by the deadline, explain that you have evidence pending and when you’ll be able to submit the evidence by.

More information about appeals can be found on this webpage. There is also the hyperlink to the appeals form on the webpage. You email your form to appeals@royalholloway.ac.uk and can attach your evidence in the same email as well.

Once you’ve submitted your appeal, you’ll receive an email confirmation that your appeal has been received within five working days. The College aims to get an outcome out to you within two months of you submitting your appeal. But, during busy times of year it might take longer when there is a higher volume of appeals.

What if I have a complaint about the appeals process or the outcome?

If after this process you still feel there is an injustice then you can speak to us about the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA).

The OIA is an independent body which reviews student complaints. The College will issue a Completion of Procedures letter once a decision is made on your appeal. Your appeal won’t be investigated any further by the College. If the outcome isn’t what you had hoped for then you can ask the OIA to review your case. You have 12 months from the date on the Completion of Procedures letter to request the OIA to review your case.