Academic Appeals

Appeals must be submitted within TEN working days of the publication of your confirmed results following the University Progression and Award Board.  Forms submitted outside of this timeline will be deemed to be invalid and will not be progressed. 

You must make an appeal in writing on the Academic Appeal Form 2025 26 identifying the grounds for appeal and providing relevant dated documentary evidence. 

Your claim may be deemed invalid if you fail to provide enough information or evidence for the panel to consider your case. 

In exceptional cases, if you are incapacitated (either due to a physical or mental illness) and therefore not able to complete the appeal form yourself, the form may be completed on your behalf by a member of staff (eg Personal Tutor, Programme Leader).

Information about submitting an Stage 2 Appeal can be found in Academic Appeals Procedures (Appendix 5 of the University of Cumbria Academic Procedures and Processes within the Academic Regulations), available at https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/Student-Life/Your-Studies/Assessments/Appeals/

If you  have completed a Stage 1 Appeal  and your are not satisfied with the outcome  you may wish to have a Stage 2 appeal considered. To do so, you must submit the appeal form, with accompanying evidence, within TEN working days receiving the outcome for Stage 1

The Stage 2 Appeal  is where the student can appeal to have their case considered by a panel  for a review of the process of the to make sure that:

• • appropriate procedures were followed
  • that the decision was reasonable
  • to consider any new evidence that could make a difference to the outcome of the stage 1 consideration which could not be provided earlier.(in this instance the appeal may be referred back to the initial reviewing officer for consideration of the new evidence to ascertain if this makes a material impact on their initial finding.

The appeal at stage 2 will be considered initially for eligibility on these grounds only and must have appropriate evidence attached. 

Academic appeal form Stage 2 2025-6

If your case is not eligible you can be provided with a Completion of Procedures letter to have concerns you have raised regarding the University's processes  considered by the Office of the independent Adjudicator.

An appeal submitted on the grounds of extenuating circumstances (ECs) will be reviewed by the EC Appeals Panel at stage 1 of the appeal process.

The EC Appeals panel will be looking for an explanation as to why you did not submit an EC claim at the appropriate time of submission under the EC procedures.

EC Appeal will include circumstances where a student can evidence that they were not capable of understanding that their performance was likely to be affected seriously by ill health and/or its treatment and this view has the written support from a psychiatrist or mental health practitioner who has been treating the student over a period of time.

A GP may also give support if they are aware of

(a) treatment or referrals to such specialists

(b) an incident close to the assessment date that may have temporarily affected the student’s capacity to take decisions. 

The EC Appeals panel will also be looking for independent evidence to verify these circumstances. A good reason would be if, for example, you had been incapacitated at the time you should have submitted an EC claim.  Ignorance of the EC procedure or not engaging with discussion of possible extensions with programme teams will not be classed as an acceptable reason.

If you have submitted an appeal and it is being progressed, you have the right to continue with your programme, provided that: you have sufficient credit to progress, you are not in debt to the University and you have satisfied fitness to practice procedures until such time as a decision has been reached.

Students on professional courses such as midwifery and nursing are not able to undertake any placement activity whilst an appeal is ongoing.  Placements can resume if an appeal is upheld. This right is designed solely to ensure that a student is not academically disadvantaged and it should not be interpreted as a guarantee that the appeal will be upheld.

An Academic Appeal enables you (where there are grounds) to request that a decision about an assessment outcome is reconsidered. This differs to the Complaints Procedure which is concerned with the quality of delivery of programmes and services.

If you feel you have been treated unfairly or discriminated against, or that the quality of delivery of your programme has affected the outcome of an assessment, you need to use the Student Complaints Procedure as soon as possible.

If you submit an Academic Appeal and you reference quality of delivery as a reason, your appeal may be deferred until the complaint has been investigated. The outcome of the complaint may impact on the outcome of the Academic Appeal.

The Students’ Union are able to provide advice and assistance on the content of your appeal.

The Assessment & Awards Team are responsible for the administration of the appeal and can help with queries relating to submission of the form or progress of the appeal.

For examples of what constitutes documentary evidence for appeals made on grounds of ECs, please refer to our extenuating circumstances section of MyCumbria. 

Any appeal made on grounds of administrative error or regulatory or procedural irregularity should be supported by independent verifiable evidence which is pertinent to your claim.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) runs an independent scheme to review student complaints. The University of Cumbria is a member of this scheme. If you are unhappy with the outcome you may be able to ask the OIA to review your appeal.

You can find more information about making a complaint to the OIA, what it can and can’t look at and what it can do to put things right here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/students.

You normally need to have completed the complaints procedure before you complain to the OIA. We will send you a letter called a “Completion of Procedures Letter” when you have reached the end of our processes and there are no further steps you can take internally. If your appeal is not upheld at the end of the process, we will issue you with a Completion of Procedures Letter automatically. If your appeal is upheld or partly upheld you can ask for a Completion of Procedures Letter if you want one.

You can find more information about Completion of Procedures Letters and when you should expect to receive one here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/providers/completion-of-procedures-letters.