Regulations for the consideration of appeals against decisions of boards of examiners for taught courses 200708

Regulations for the consideration of appeals against decisions of boards of examiners for taught courses for 2007-08 appeals

Preamble

	Any candidate may present to the Academic Registrar information about mitigating circumstances that adversely affected her/his examination performance, provided that it is received within seven days of her/his last examination (including an essay, report, or dissertation) and is corroborated by official documented evidence. Since mitigating circumstances cannot result in a change to any mark, the Academic Registrar shall arrange for the relevant examination board to take such information into account either:
	(i)	when a candidate is in her/his final year so that the examiners can decide whether or not to recommend a higher class of award than the normal application of the relevant classification scheme would permit;
	or
	(ii)	when a candidate has failed a course so that the examiners can decide whether or not to condone or discount a failed attempt.
In all other circumstances the remainder of the Regulations will apply. ^

General

These Regulations govern the means by which a student may appeal against a decision of a board of examiners where the School is responsible for administering the examination(s) in question. There are no other or further means for making such a request within the School. The Regulations do not cover appeals in respect of examinations conducted or decisions taken by bodies other than the School.

These Regulations concern only decisions made by boards of examiners. Separate Regulations cover complaints or grievances about other matters, including teaching and supervision.

The School will not normally meet the legal costs of an appellant but may decide to reimburse the reasonable incidental costs incurred by a student who instigates a successful appeal.

Decisions in respect of which an appeal may be made

A student may appeal against any decision of a board of examiners that directly affects the assignment of a mark or grade (including absent, incomplete, or failure); and/or that provides or does not provide for any re-examination, and the circumstances thereof; and/or that recommends or does not recommend an award; and/or that recommends the final classification of any award.

Grounds for making an appeal

The grounds for making an appeal are that there was a procedural defect in the conduct of the examination and/or in the processing of scripts, and/or in the assessment of the candidate (including the proceedings of boards of examiners) as to render the decision of the examiners unsafe, and/or to introduce new medical or mitigating circumstances as set out in Regulation 7 below.

The grounds in regulation 5 shall include but shall not be limited to

6.1

miscalculation of marks.

6.2

failure of the examination board to consider any statement that both details any medical and/or mitigating circumstances experienced by the candidate and explains how such circumstances adversely affected her/his examination performance.

Exceptionally it shall be permissible for any candidate to present, as part of the appeal, new information about medical or mitigating circumstances that adversely affected her/his examination performance provided that it is corroborated by official documented evidence and that there was good reason for such evidence not to have been presented earlier.

The academic judgment of a board of examiners, having acted according to all relevant Regulations and procedures, shall not be called into question by these Regulations.

Procedures for making an appeal

An appeal under these Regulations shall be considered if the student concerned lodges it in writing with the Academic Registrar within four weeks of the date on which the decision against which the appeal is being made was posted to the student. Exceptionally, the Academic Registrar may use her/his discretion to accept an appeal after the four weeks period. The letter of appeal must be signed and dated by the student and state all of the following information:

9.1

the name of the student,

9.2

full contact details for the student during the period of the hearing of the appeal,

9.3

the decision of the board of examiners against which the appeal is being made,

9.4

the grounds of appeal, including the detail of any procedural defect claimed,

9.5

where relevant to the appeal, a statement presenting new information, corroborated by official documented evidence, about any medical or mitigating circumstances that adversely affected her/his examination performance.

10.

The Academic Registrar shall acknowledge receipt of the letter of appeal.

11.

The Academic Registrar shall consider the application submitted by the student and determine whether the student has identified valid grounds of appeal.

12.

If the Academic Registrar does not consider the grounds of appeal to be valid, he/she will return the application to the student with a brief explanation and grant the student seven days to resubmit his/her appeal.

13.

If the student resubmits his/her application and still fails to identify a valid ground for appeal, the Academic Registrar will reject the application. The student will have the right to request that a Deputy Director review the Academic Registrar's decision.

First stage of appeal

14.	If the student has identified valid grounds for an appeal, the Academic Registrar shall direct an investigation into the allegation. When the investigation is complete, the Academic Registrar shall:
	14.1	refer the appeal to the chair of the relevant examination board, providing details of the findings from her/his investigation to both the chair and the student, or
	14.2	where information coming to light during the investigation strongly suggests that the appeal will fail, write to the student to provide details of the findings from the investigation and to ask her/him to confirm within fourteen days that he/she wishes to proceed with the appeal. The student will also have an opportunity to provide any additional evidence in support of the grounds of the initial appeal within the same fourteen days period. If the student decides to proceed with the appeal, the Academic Registrar shall refer the appeal to the chair of the relevant examination board .
15.	The chair of the board shall expeditiously decide on behalf of the board, and without consulting it, whether the facts provided (including the reasons for entering late evidence of mitigating circumstances under Regulation 7) justify the board re-considering the matter with a view to confirming or adjusting its original decision and shall inform the Academic Registrar of his/her decision and the reasons for it, which the Academic Registrar shall convey to the student.
16.	If the chair decides that the board should reconsider the matter, the right to appeal shall be held to have been granted. The subsequent decision of the board, which will be invalid without ratification by the relevant School Board of Examiners, shall be communicated to the Academic Registrar and by the Academic Registrar to the student. In the case of intercollegiate, ERASMUS or General Course students, the board's decision may extend to making a recommendation to the student's awarding body. Provided that the Board has properly adhered to School procedures, there shall be no revival of the appeal and no action under Regulations 18 to 26.
17.	At the beginning of each calendar month after the appeal has been lodged (provided that more than three weeks have elapsed since its having been lodged) the Academic Registrar shall write to the appellant with a statement of progress in hearing the case, up to the point at which a decision has been made. ^
Second stage of appeal

18.

Subject to these Regulations a student may appeal against a decision under Regulation 15 not to refer the matter to the board for re-consideration.

19.

For such an appeal to be heard the student shall request the invoking of formal procedures for the second stage of appeal by a letter to the Academic Registrar, which must be received within fourteen days of the date of the letter of the Academic Registrar sent pursuant to Regulation 15.

20.

Exceptionally, at the proposal of the Academic Registrar, a Deputy Director may certify the notice of appeal as invalid where it appears that the facts of the case have been established beyond doubt and that reference back to the examination board would properly result in no new decision.

21.

On receipt of a valid request under Regulations 19 and 20 the Academic Registrar shall

18.1

acknowledge receipt to the appellant

18.2

call a meeting of the Appeals Committee as constituted under Regulations 28 to 33.

22.

The Appeals Committee shall meet as soon as is practicable. The meeting will normally take place within four term-time weeks of the receipt of the valid request. The Committee will invite the appellant and/or a representative to appear before it. In order to ensure that the meeting is as effective as possible, the Chair of the Committee at her/his discretion may seek to clarify and/or request new information from the appellant. The appellant will be provided with a copy of any written material to be considered by the Committee at least two days before the meeting.

23.

The Appeals Committee may ask any other person, including the chair of the examination board, to appear before it and/or to give written evidence if desired. Should the appellant wish to disagree with the statement of such a person the nature and extent of the disagreement should where possible be made known while that person is present and is able to respond.

24.

The Academic Registrar shall cause a record to be made of the proceedings of the Committee.

25.

The Committee may at its discretion and on behalf of the School make one of the following decisions:

25.1

that the appeal be allowed and the matter be referred back to the examination board, or

25.2

that the appeal be dismissed.

26.

The Academic Registrar shall by letter convey the decision under Regulation 25 with a brief record of the reasons to the appellant and, if the appellant is known to the Academic Registrar to be a student registered at another college of the University of London, also to that college. If it is a decision under Regulation 25.1, the Academic Registrar shall also inform the chair of the examination board and give him/her a brief record of the reasons why the appeal has succeeded. The chair shall then as soon as is practicable cause a fresh decision to be made in the light of all the evidence available to the board. Such a decision, properly made within the appropriate Regulations and procedures, shall be the final and authoritative decision of the School.

Further action

27.

The consideration of an appeal under these Regulations will exhaust the opportunities open to the student within the School. Following the completion of procedures at Regulation 16, 20 or 26, the Academic Registrar will issue a letter to this effect to the appellant. It will remain open to a student who remains dissatisfied with the outcome of the appeal process to direct a complaint to the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

Constitution of the Appeals Committee

28.

There shall be an Appeals Committee constituted for each case which shall be competent to act on behalf of the School according to these Regulations.

29.

The Committee shall consist of

29.1

an experienced chair of examiners, in the chair

29.2

two members of the academic staff

29.3

a student or sabbatical officer of the Students Union appointed by the appellant.

30.

No person shall serve as a member if s/he has during the past year been an examiner for the course in question (or, where classification is in question, for the programme concerned) or a member of the appellant's department.

31.

Membership for each case shall be determined by a Deputy Director who shall make appointments from a panel annually established by the Academic Board.

32.

All members shall act as their best judgment dictates, within these Regulations, without advocacy for or against the case advanced by or on behalf of the appellant.

33.

The quorum of the Appeals Committee shall be three, including the chair. Should a quorum not be present within thirty minutes of the time notified for the hearing to begin it shall be adjourned and notice of a meeting at a different time shall be issued under Regulation 21.2.

Schedule (not part of the Regulations)

The powers of the School under these Regulations shall be exercised in accordance with this Schedule.

Topic	Power exercised by
Examination board	as appropriate, the School Board of Examiners for BA and BSc degrees; or the Board of Examiners for LLB Degrees; or the Graduate School Board of Examiners.