Breakdown Academic Appeal processes

What is a Stage 1 (informal appeal)

If you have any questions regarding your examination board letter or PEC/SE (short extension) decision, or believe there may be an issue or need further clarification, please contact a staff member from Ask4Help. They may be able to help you understand the decision made, make contact with a marker or clarify things for you.

For questions related to your feedback, please reach out directly to the marker or module tutor, who will be able to help you.

It is essential that you raise any queries as soon as possible and always within 10 working days of receiving your decision.

You can contact Ask4Help by ‘Raise an enquiry’ via your Student Portal.

To speak to a staff member in person, please go to Student Central at City Campus, Coach Lane Library or on the ground floor at London campus.

Students are required to complete the stage 1 process first and following your enquires if you remain dissatisfied, you would need to submit a Stage 2 Formal appeal. 

Both Stage 1 and Stage 2 must be completed within 10 working days of receiving the decision you are appealing. Therefore, if your queries are taking longer at stage 1, do not delay submitting your stage 2 appeal. Deadlines are strict at the university. 

It is important that all appeals are based on at least 1 of 2 of the eligible appeal grounds. You will be required to complete a Stage 2 Student Appeals Form and send this with your evidence to studentappealsandcomplaints@northumbria.ac.uk.

You can find the appeal forms and student guidance Handbook of Student Regulations.

For examination board letter/PAB

a. correct procedures were not followed in your examination, other form of assessment (including coursework), or in the conduct of the exam board itself, and this significantly affected the outcome. If you are alleging that the exam board did not properly apply an approved PEC claim to your academic profile you should submit your appeal under this ground. However, once the exam board has properly applied an approved PEC claim to your academic profile it then uses academic judgement to make a decision about your academic performance and as this is a matter of academic judgement, this is not grounds for an appeal (see 7.2.3).

and / or

b. relevant information about your health or other personal circumstances was not made available by you to the exam board by submitting a PEC claim by the relevant deadline. In this case, you must provide and evidence a valid reason with your appeal for not providing this information by the relevant PEC deadline/s. If you submit evidence of your circumstances after the exam board has met, we will consider whether this evidences a good and valid reason for the delay. If a good and valid reason is not established, the evidence will not be considered any further.

For PEC/SE (Short Extension) requests

a. correct procedures were not followed when considering your PEC claim or Short Extension request and this significantly affected the outcome;

and / or

b. you have new information that could not be provided earlier, and this significantly affects the outcome. You must have a valid reason for why you could not provide the information before the decision on your claim or request was made, and evidence this where possible.

Please see our other guidance on Guidance on Writing your Appeal.

You will normally receive an outcome within 30 working days of submitting your formal appeal. These can take longer at busy times of the year. We are unable to request a earlier outcome or ask for the appeal team to be quicker.

It is important to be aware that the Student Appeals and Complaints team only determine if you have met the ground(s) you have based your appeal on.

If they agree that your case has met the ground(s), they will return this to the team who made the original decision to see if they want to reconsider this. A common outcome is granting resits when this opportunity had not already been granted.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your Stage 2 Formal Appeal, the only way to challenge this decision is by submitting a Stage 3 Request for Review or taking your case to the OIA.

Stage 3 Request for Review

For further information please see our section on Request for Reviews.

What is the OIA?

Further information can be found on our OIA page

The Advice Team are here to help you with your case. For personalised advice or to ask further questions please email su.advice@northumbria.ac.uk