Appeals procedure

A Stage One: Formal Appeal can be defined as a claim for a review of the decisions of the official Central University Assessment Board. The Central Assessment Board schedules are available on the University’s Policies page under “Academic and Student”.

Students have 15 working days from the date of being notified of the decision against which the student wishes to appeal - normally, this would be the official results email received on the Results Publication date. Details of the results publication dates are available in the Central Assessment Board schedules, which are available on the University’s Policies page under “Academic and Student”. A completed Appeals form and any accompanying evidence should be submitted to appeals@bathspa.ac.uk. Appeals sent after this deadline will not be accepted.

Exceptional Circumstances are defined as: unforeseen or unpreventable circumstances that significantly affect a student’s performance in an assessment.

We recommend submitting a Retrospective Exceptional Circumstances Claim. Retrospective claims for exceptional circumstances can be submitted up to 10 working days following the receipt of the official University results email.

The claim should be submitted via MyServices and should be accompanied by a clear explanation as to why it was not possible for the student to submit the claim on time – for example, the student was in hospital and unable to access their computer in order to submit their claim.

There are three grounds for appeal:

• That there is evidence of an administrative error in the assessment process, to the extent that the assessment outcome would likely have been different had the error not occurred.
• That there is evidence that the assessment of the programme of study was not carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations or published programme material
• That there is evidence of demonstrable prejudice or bias against the student by one or more examiners

These grounds are listed on the Appeals Claim Form. Students can choose to submit a claim under more than one of the above grounds in the same Appeals claim. We encourage students to submit as much evidence as possible to support each grounds of appeal, as indicated on the claim form.

• That there is evidence of an administrative error in the assessment process, to the extent that the assessment outcome would likely have been different had the error not occurred.
  This could include (but is not limited to): missing marks for an assessment; an incorrectly entered mark or missing results communication which led to a missed reassessment opportunity
• That there is evidence that the assessment of the programme of study was not carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations or published programme material
  This could include (but is not limited to): the marking criteria used in assessment did not adhere to the information provided in the module handbook; the programme of study was not offered in accordance with the guidance provided (and suitable alternative procedures were not put into place)
• That there is evidence of demonstrable prejudice or bias against the student by one or more examiners
  This could include (but is not limited to): evidence of prejudice or bias against a student by a tutor or examiner, to the extent that the student feels that they were treated unfairly or significantly differently from the rest of their cohort.

Depending on the nature of your claim, we recommend that you consider submitting Retrospective Exceptional Circumstances, a Formal Complaint or contacting the Students’ Union for further advice and information. If you submit an appeal that does not fall under one of the three specified grounds for appeal, your appeal claim will not be accepted.

Academic judgement refers to judgement that is made about a matter where only the opinion of an academic expert will suffice. For example, a judgment about assessment, assessment criteria, a degree classification, fitness to practise, research methodology or course content/outcomes. (This means that a mark or outcome cannot be challenged on the grounds that, in the opinion of the student, it is not what the work deserved).

It is not possible to submit a Stage One: Formal Appeal on the grounds that students do not agree with academic judgement. However, if a student feels that they can provide evidence which could establish grounds for any of the three grounds of appeal below and these grounds are upheld during the Appeals process, a possible result may be that the student is given the opportunity to retake a module or resubmit assessment(s), which may in turn result in a higher award classification (once the new submissions have been ratified by a Central Assessment Board).

• That there is evidence of an administrative error in the assessment process, to the extent that the assessment outcome would likely have been different had the error not occurred.
• That there is evidence that the assessment of the programme of study was not carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations or published programme material
• That there is evidence of demonstrable prejudice or bias against the student by one or more examiners

In the first instance, we suggest that students contact their tutors to ask any queries that they may have about the assessment feedback or grading that they have received. It is not possible to ask for work to be remarked as part of the Stage One: Formal Appeals process, as this is a matter of academic judgement and there are robust marking and moderation processes in place.

Suitable evidence could be:

• Email correspondence between students and tutors
• Turnitin receipts
• Screenshots of information.

These should be sent as attachments alongside the completed Appeals claim form to appeals@bathspa.ac.uk.

Bath Spa University Students’ Union provides a comprehensive appeals advice and support services, details of which can be accessed on their Students’ Union Advice page.

Once the Appeals team has received a completed Appeals claim form and any accompanying evidence, these will be reviewed by the Assistant Registrar and an initial response will be sent to the student within 10 working days. If it is recommended that the appeal claim should be taken to a full Appeals Panel meeting for a decision, this process will be confirmed to the student and the Appeals Panel meeting will normally take place within 25 working days. Students are given the opportunity to attend the Appeals Panel meeting to give a representation of their claim and further details of these procedures will be given on an individual basis to the student by the Appeals team. Following the meeting of the Appeals Panel, the student will normally receive an Outcome email within 5 working days, which will confirm the decision of the Appeals Panel and any relevant recommendations.

A Stage Two: Review is an opportunity for students to request for a review of the decision of one of the following three Stage One Panels:

• Stage One: Formal Appeals Outcome
• Exceptional Circumstances Panel Outcome
• Academic Misconduct Panel Outcome

Students have 10 working days from the date of being notified of the decision of one of the Panels below. Students should submit a completed Review Form to reviews@bathspa.ac.uk.

• Stage One: Formal Appeals Outcome
• Exceptional Circumstances Panel Outcome
• Academic Misconduct Panel Outcome

Students should include all relevant information from the outcome of the relevant Stage One Panels below, to include original applications, evidence submitted with the original application and Appeals forms, where relevant:

• Stage One: Formal Appeals Outcome
• Exceptional Circumstances Panel Outcome
• Academic Misconduct Panel Outcome

Additionally, students should indicate on their Review form whether:

• That there is new evidence that could not have been, or for good reason was not, made available at the time of the Appeals Panel/ Academic Misconduct Panel/Exceptional Circumstances Panel and that sufficient evidence remains that the case warrants further consideration
  and/or
• That evidence can be produced of significant procedural error on the part of the University in considering the appeal/ academic misconduct/ exceptional circumstances and that sufficient evidence remains that the case warrants further consideration

Once a student has submitted a request for a Stage Two: Review, this will be reviewed by the University Secretary and a decision will be made as to whether the request for a Stage Two: Review will be granted. If the request is granted, this will be confirmed to the student and the review request will be taken to a Stage Two: Review panel and the decision by the Panel will normally be made within 20 working days.

No member of the Review Panel will be a member of staff from a department of the University previously involved in the case, or someone who has been directly involved in the case.

A Completion of Procedures letter will be sent by email to the student, which will confirm the decision of the Stage Two: Review Panel’s and will provide any relevant recommendations for further actions.