Student Academic Appeals

For Taught Students: The University’s policy is to consider academic appeals after student marks and progression decisions have been ratified by an Assessment, Progression and Awarding Committee (APAC). Therefore, you may only submit a formal stage appeal if you have received the formal notification of your final ratified marks and progression decision by the APAC. This will be released to you via the student record system, at which point you may choose to engage with this procedure if you feel you have grounds to do so. 

For Postgraduate Research students: You may submit a formal stage appeal if you have received formal notification of the outcome of an assessment for transfer from MPhil or MA by Research to PhD, the ratified Board of Examiners' decision following examination of a PGR thesis/dissertation or formal notification of a decision relating to your registration status, such as transfer to continuation status, change of mode of study, early submission of thesis, etc. 

For all Students, if you wish to submit an appeal you must do so within 10-working days of receiving the notification of one of these decisions.

You can appeal the following decisions made by the university; 

• a formal assessment result 

• a degree classification 

• a decision consequential to an academic failure (e.g. termination of registration) 

• postgraduate research students may also appeal against a decision relating to their registration status, such as transfer to continuation status, change of mode of study, early submission of thesis etc. 

• a decision reached which no reasonable body, properly directing itself, could have arrived at (for Mitigation Appeals) 

• a decision consequential to unsatisfactory academic progress 

The above areas may cover (but are not limited to): 

• Progression Conditions: If the university requires you to take reassessments or meet certain conditions to move to the next stage of your course or research. 

• Classification Decisions: If you disagree with the classification decision including class of honours awarded. 

• Extenuating Circumstances: If you disagree with the outcome of an extenuating circumstances claim. 

You can appeal more than one of these decisions at a time. 

You can also submit a group appeal if the information in Section 5.2 of Appeals procedure applies to you. The procedure requires the group to nominate a spokesperson and this individual should submit the application via the Student Records System (SRS). The nominated spokesperson should upload as part of their evidence a list of names of those other students who have consented to be part of the group appeal. Once the application has been received, we will correspond with the nominated spokesperson only and they will be responsible for updating the other members of their group. 

You can appeal based on specific circumstances, known as ‘grounds.’ You can choose more than one ground for your appeal. Here are the accepted grounds: 

a) Material circumstances affecting your performance of which, Assessment, Progression Awarding Committee / a Board of Examiners or the Education Board/Postgraduate Research Board (or the Dean acting on its behalf) had not been aware before reaching its decision, only if  you can present reasonable grounds why such circumstances had not been presented to the relevant Board in advance of its meeting (see 5.2 of the Appeals Procedure); 

b) Procedural Irregularity occurring in parts of the assessment procedures, or in reaching another academic decision, only where this procedural irregularity, which has disadvantaged the student, was significant enough to have materially affected the decision/recommendation made, rendering it unsound;  

c) Prejudice or Bias on the part of one or more Examiners and/or markers which took place, and can be proven, or if there are reasonable grounds to support the perception of prejudice or bias.  

The appeals process is an evidence-based process. Appeals are very rarely upheld without supporting evidence. Students can upload supporting evidence with their appeal application, and/or submit evidence later. The majority of appeals submitted to the University are accompanied by evidence, and this can increase the likelihood of a successful outcome (although it does not guarantee it). To maximise your chances of your appeal being upheld (or being successful) we recommend the following: 

For a) (Material circumstances) New Evidence: If your performance was affected by circumstances that were not known and could not have been known to the exam board at the time of their decision, you must explain why these circumstances could not be reported earlier. 

To use this ground, you should present evidence that your academic performance was affected at a time relevant to the assessment. You must also provide an explanation for why you did not tell the University about the illness or other factors at the time. Stating that you were unaware of the necessary support procedures, such as mitigation, will not in itself be sufficient. Similarly stating that you thought you could work through an issue or that you didn’t realise how affected you were until you were awarded a fail-mark is unlikely to result in a successful appeal outcome. To be successful with this ground, you must be able to demonstrate why you couldn’t present the evidence previously.  

For b) ( Procedural Irregularity) The ‘burden of proof’ rests with the student. This means that it is the student’s responsibility to demonstrate that the grounds have been met. It is not the responsibility of the University to prove that a procedural error did not occur, where there is no evidence provided to indicate one. 

c) (Prejudice or Bias) can only be used if you can provide evidence of prejudice or bias, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe it occurred. You need to provide a strong argument for this; simply disagreeing with the opinions or judgements of members of the academic boards is not enough. Appeals should not simply be based on a student’s opinion or assertions. 

If you are struggling to know what evidence to provide, we recommend that you speak with the Students’ Guild or Student’s Union for advice, or refer to the Evidence Guidance document. 

Academic judgement: It is a principle of the University that appeals cannot be made against the academic judgment of either an internal or external examiner of the University, that is, a decision made by academic staff on the quality of the work itself or the criteria being applied to mark the work (rather than the administrative examining process). 

Academic judgement is a decision of an academic body about a matter, such as assessment, degree classification, research methodology, or course content/outcome, and is a judgement made about a matter where only the opinion of an academic expert will suffice. The fact that a student believes that they deserve a different outcome cannot constitute a ground for appeal. 

Complaints: If you have a concern about feedback, teaching, supervision or anything to do with the delivery of your programme, this should be raised as soon as possible so that it can be addressed through the Student Complaints procedure rather than considered as an academic appeal. 

Late or ineligible applications: Appeals are eligible where they meet the timeframes for submission, and provide evidence that further consideration of the grounds is warranted. Examples of appeals which are not eligible include (but are not limited to):  

1. Appeals based on provisional results (too early).
2. Appeals which are out of time (too late). Appeals submitted late will only be considered where there is a compelling reason and supporting evidence to demonstrate that you were prevented from making an application within the appropriate timeframes. 
3. Appeals against academic judgement (do not meet the grounds). 
4. Appeals that fall outside the scope of the Appeals Policy (typically, applications which actually fall under the Student Complaints procedure).
5. Malicious or vexatious appeals. 

Before submitting a formal appeal please read our Procedures Relating to Academic Appeals on our website and the Timeframes section below.

You can submit an appeal application, via the Student Records System (SRS) using your normal IT sign in details. You can also access this from the ‘More’ tab in the MyExeter app. More details of how to submit an appeal can be found in the student guide here: Students' Guide (Appeals)

For the duration of the investigation into your Appeal, the original decision of the Examination Board or Postgraduate Research Committee or relevant body will remain in place while the appeals process is ongoing.

If you wish to submit an appeal, you must complete and submit your application within 10 working days of your final results being notified to you (see Timeframes section below).

Please note, it is not possible to appeal against provisional marks. You can only appeal when you have your final, ratified results.  Provisional results are summative assessment results that have been communicated to you, but that have not yet been confirmed or ratified by the Assessment, Progression and Awarding Committee (APAC). It is also not possible for Postgraduate Research Students to appeal an outcome which has not yet been ratified by the relevant Board.  

Typical APAC dates for Taught programmes are: 

Undergraduates:  at the end of term three, or the reassessment APAC in September. 

Postgraduate Taught: at the end of their stage of study, for standard masters programmes this takes place in October, although it may be possible for you to appeal following the reassessment board if you sat in-year referrals. 

For details as to when your programme APAC takes place, please contact your Hub or Info Point. This is especially important if you are enrolled on an online programme or a programme with non-standard start dates. 

Final results These are results which have been through the University’s quality and standards procedures and ratified by the APAC (or relevant board) and then formally notified to you. 

If you wish to submit an appeal, you must complete your application on the Student Portal within 10 working days of your final results being notified to you. 

The appeal application and supporting information must be received by 23.59 (London time) on the deadline day. For example, if you are notified of your final results on Tuesday 17 June 2025, you must submit your appeal by 23:59 on Tuesday 01 July 2025. 

Application system for Academic Appeals After submitting an appeal on the MyExeter app, you will receive an automated email confirming that it has been received. If you do not think you have received the confirmation please check your spam or junk folders, or log into the student portal to confirm that your application was submitted.  

You can normally expect to receive a decision about whether or not you have identified valid grounds to appeal (i.e. that your application is eligible) within 5 working days, although at peak times it may take the administrative team a little longer to acknowledge receipt of a legitimate appeal. In most instances, you will receive an email, or you can log onto the system to see how your application is progressing. 

It can take up to 30 calendar days to reach an outcome on your appeal. Therefore, adjustments may not be made before the Reassessment (referred/deferred Assessment) Period or for referred/deferred appeals before the start of the academic year. The team will do their best to issue a timely outcome but if this will impact your reassessments or registration on the next year of study, the team will advise you in the outcome letter. 

Review Stage Appeals If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your Formal Stage Appeal, you will find details in the outcome letter as to how you can request a Review of that decision. An application at the Review Stage should be made within 10 working days of your formal stage outcome being issued, and such an application can be made within the Student portal. Please note, it will not be possible to raise a request for a review until you have been issued an outcome at the Formal Stage.   Please see the following guide detailing how to submit a Review Stage Appeal: Students' Guide - Review Stage Appeals.

Raising your concerns externally The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education is the independent student complaints scheme for England and Wales. This applies to concerns raised under either of the University’s Student Complaints or Appeals procedure. You normally need to have completed the University’s internal procedures, and have a Completion of Procedures letter, before you can take a case to the OIA. https://www.oiahe.org.uk/  

Students are encouraged to submit evidence to support their case. The Regulations do not restrict this to any particular type of evidence, but the staff considering your Appeal will be able to rely on some types of evidence more than others. It is your responsibility to provide all the information and evidence you wish to be considered in support of your application. 

If your evidence was not originally produced in English, then a certified translation must also be provided with your application, the cost of which should be borne by the student. 

A detailed guide (Evidence Guidance) for students has been produced which explains the types of evidence you may provide to support your appeal. We recommend that you read this carefully, and if you have any questions, you may find it helpful to speak with the Students’ Guild or Student’s Union for advice.   

For answers to other Frequently Asked Questions please click Appeals FAQ. 

The following details primarily relate to Appeals from students on Taught programmes.

Appeals may, within limits and depending on your academic outcomes, and only in cases where sufficient evidence if found to support the resolution: 

• Allow you to make a new assessment attempt that will replace your old attempt, subject to the rules around reassessment eligibility. 

• Allow for a reassessment cap (on a referred assessment) to be lifted, allowing you a new assessment attempt for an uncapped mark, as if it were the first attempt rather than a capped referral. 

• Allow you to repeat a portion of the year (or academic stage), as if for the first time. Sometimes the disruption you experienced was so extensive the Board may decide it is reasonable and appropriate for you to retake an entire stage of your studies. This would void your previous results and you would keep only your new results. 

• Remove caps which, through the consideration of the Appeal, have been found to have been applied incorrectly to your record. In such cases your marks would be recalculated and, if applicable, your progression status reviewed and updated.  

The outcome of an Appeal cannot result in: 

• A review of or change to your academically awarded mark(s) - within our regulations we only mark based on your actual performance and would not allocate a mark based on what your performance might have been in other circumstances. 

• A change to your outcomes more than the rules for your programme of study allow - sometimes the design of your programme means that some options are not available in your academic circumstances. For example, if a failed module can be condoned then a student will be progressed without the chance of a further opportunity to achieve the pass mark. Equally, if a module is listed as non-condonable for your programme of study, you will not be permitted to progress with outstanding assessments for the module on your record. Non-condonable modules must always be passed in your current stage of study before you can progress and/or receive your award. 

• An opportunity to mark work which was not submitted in line with our assessment and submission regulations – within our regulations we allow for students to correct submission errors within a certain timeframe, but where caps are applied for late or incorrect submissions it will not be sufficient for a student to provide evidence with an appeal that they completed their intended submission on time. We may mark only that which you submitted to the relevant system by the deadline.  

The Academic Appeal procedure pertains to a number of different types of appeal, and students can submit appeals against decisions made by committees other than the APAC and PGR Exam Boards. These other types of appeal cannot be submitted to the Student Record System and therefore students should ensure that they are using the correct method to submit their appeal. 

To help you understand which is the correct form for your circumstances we have created a list below. Using the correct form ensures that the grounds on which you may appeal can be correctly identified (the grounds for Academic Appeals do not necessarily apply to other types of appeal).  

In particular, do not use the 'Appeal against withdrawal of procedure' form unless you have had an appeal cancelled as a result of circumstances such as those described in sections 1.8 and/or 1.9 of the procedure listed above. 

Which method to use, and where to send your application:   

• For Students wishing to appeal a decision made by an Assessment, Progression and Awarding Committee or Board of Examiners please log in to the MyExeter app via the Student Record System to submit an Academic Appeal Application (this applies to Undergraduate, Taught Postgraduate and Postgraduate Research students).  For those unable to access the MyExeter app via the Student Record System (SRS) they may submit a Formal Stage Appeal form. Anyone with access to the system must submit their application online via SRS.   

• This system may also be used by Students who have received an outcome for a Formal Academic Appeal, where they wish to request a review of that decision – the Appeal Review section (relating to section 7 of the Procedures listed above) will appear in your MyExeter app only after you have received a Formal Stage outcome. For those unable to access the MyExeter app via the Student Record System (SRS) they may submit a Review Stage Appeal form Anyone with access to the system must submit their application online via SRS. For Guidance about how to submit a Review Stage Appeal please see:  Students' Guide - Review Stage Appeals.

• For INTO students seeking to appeal a decision on their INTO programme, they should submit a Formal Stage Appeal form and evidence to into.academicsupport@exeter.ac.uk. 

• For students who have been seen under the Unsatisfactory Progress procedure wishing to appeal against a withdrawal as a result of that process, please use the form in section 9 of the Procedures listed above. 

• To appeal against a temporary Visa interruption, please use the form in section 10 of the Procedures listed above. 

• To appeal against a withdrawal from a programme on Immigration Grounds, please use the form in section 11 of the Procedures listed above. 

• Postgraduate Research students only: To appeal against a decision with regard to University-wide funded extension schemes, e.g., Palestine/Israel conflict extensions or Covid-19 funded extensions or fees scholarships, including Appeals against programme extension decisions where the programme extension application was made as part of a funded studentship extension or fees scholarship application, please refer to section 12 of the Procedures listed above. 

For queries relating to the new system of Academic Appeals (found on the MyExeter portal) you may contact the relevant address from the list below, but please be aware that we are unable to accept forms and evidence via these mailboxes: 

• For all Research students (Postgraduate Research appeals only) please use pgr-student-cases@exeter.ac.uk. 

• For UG or PGT students based at our Penryn Campus please use Penryn-facultycases@exeter.ac.uk. 

For all other taught students: 

• If your programme is homed in Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy please use ESE-facultycases@exeter.ac.uk. 

• If your programme is homed in Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences please use HASS-facultycases@exeter.ac.uk. 

• If your programme is homed in Faculty of Health and Life Sciences please use HLS-facultycases@exeter.ac.uk. 

If you are unclear which Faculty you belong to (or are unsure if you are an INTO or PGR student) please login to your student portal and check your student record. 

A Formal Appeal is the most common type of academic appeal at the University. It is one which is made against an academic decision or recommendation made by an Assessment, Progression and Awarding Committee (APAC, also known as Exam Boards). The decisions made at APACs relate to marks and progression on a programme of study, and following the notification of those decisions a student may choose to submit a Formal Appeal where they believe it has unduly affected their academic progress. The Formal Appeal stage is the first stage of appeal following an APAC.

If you feel you have grounds to appeal you will need to submit a formal appeal application via the Student Record System, in line with the timescales laid out in the procedures. There are criteria you need to meet in order for your appeal to be eligible for consideration, and you will also be required to supply any relevant evidence to support your case. If you are unsure about any of this, there are support teams who can help you.

An Appeal Review is an appeal against the outcome of a Formal stage appeal. You can only submit an appeal review application if you have had a formal outcome to a formal stage appeal and you need to apply for appeal review within strict timescales, according to strict criteria.

This is a summary of the three grounds under which an appeal can be made:

1. Material circumstances affecting your performance which a Board of Examiners had not been aware of before reaching its decision, but only if you can present reasonable grounds why these circumstances had not been presented to the Board before its meeting (i.e. you must provide evidence demonstrating why you were unable to present these circumstances via the mitigation procedures).
2. Procedural irregularity in the application of assessment procedures.
3. Prejudice or bias by the Examiners and/or makers.

There are 6 areas relating to the process of assessment which can be appealed, four of which specifically relate to Formal Appeals for Taught Students:

1. A formal assessment result.
2. A degree classification.
3. A decision consequential to an academic failure e.g. termination of registration.
4. (This one applies just to research students) A decision relating to their registration status, such as transfer to continuation status or early submission of thesis etc.
5. A decision reached is one which no reasonable body, properly directing itself, could have arrived at (for Mitigation appeals).
6. (this one must be submitted via the Unsatisfactory progress form) A decision consequential to unsatisfactory academic progress.

There are some things which cannot be appealed. These include:

• Academic judgement for example of a marker, moderator or external examiner.
• Dissatisfaction with the Formative assessment of work by academic staff.
• Matters of dispute (these should be raised by the student under the Complaints Procedure).

Matters pertaining to the provision of a service, misinformation, issues with facilities or the quality of teaching or supervision, should be raised under the Student Complaint Procedure; these are not strictly speaking academic decisions and therefore will not be addressed under the Academic Appeals procedures.

More information on exclusions from appeal is at section 4 of the procedure.

Some students tell us that they had personal circumstances that affected them during their studies but that they didn’t know how to tell the board of examiners. This actually refers to the mitigation policy available to students throughout their studies. These procedures are the way in which the University takes account of situations where students find themselves facing difficult personal circumstances and/or personal health issues.

The options available to students via the mitigation policy are either assessment deadline extensions or deferral of assessments to another assessment period. During the course of the year the mitigation committee and its delegates will make recommendations on mitigation applications. It is the advice of the Mitigation Committee which is considered by the APAC, and by these means that the ‘Board of Examiners’ are made aware of material circumstances which may be affecting a student’s performance. It is not for the student themselves to present information to the Board of Examiners; so long as you have applied for mitigation at the appropriate time and provided all the necessary information within your mitigation application, due process can be followed.

Please note, the Appeals procedure states under 3.1 a) “It is not sufficient to say that the student was unaware of the procedure for submitting a mitigation request, or that they chose not to do so at the time.” We are unable to uphold appeals where students have simply chosen not to apply for mitigation at the point of their assessment.

Chapter 10.1.1 of the Teaching Quality Assurance Manual notes that the University “measures students’ actual achievement rather than potential achievement”, meaning the mark awarded for a formal assessment cannot be challenged and will not be changed on the basis of material circumstances. It is highly unusual for a student’s grade to be increased as a result of an appeal. The possibility of a deferral in the assessment/module appealed would be more a likely outcome and only if this were applicable to your case. In such circumstances we are careful to remind students that if the offer of a deferral is made and accepted as a result of an appeal, the mark from the original assessment attempt would be discarded and the mark for the deferral - whether higher or lower than the original assessment – would be retained.

For cases where grounds other than material circumstances were in question, such as a procedural irregularity in the marking process, the team would look for evidence that demonstrated that an error had been made on the part of the University. It would still be unusual for a student’s grade to be increased on this basis; it is more likely that the outcome would recommend a review of the marking of the piece of work. In such cases students should be aware that the mark may change as a result of a re-mark, but it may decrease or increase, or it may result in the same mark being agreed upon even after review, so students should not assume that requesting a mark increase is necessarily going to result in the desired end result.

The procedure lists under its grounds for appeal ‘Procedural irregularities occurring in parts of the assessment procedures, or in reaching another academic decision, and that this procedural irregularity, which has disadvantaged the student, was significant enough to have materially affected the decision/recommendation made, rendering it unsound’. This pertains to actions of the University or staff responsible for administering those procedures. It does not account for ‘human error’ or procedural irregularity on the part of the student.

Submitting a Formal Appeal does not normally in itself prevent you from attending graduation, but there are strict guidelines on who is eligible to attend. For example, students must have already obtained a certain number of credits to be deemed eligible, (more information can be found here). Therefore, if you do not meet these criteria at the point of appeal it is likely you will not be able to attend the up-coming ceremonies. There may however be the opportunity to attend a ceremony at a later date depending on the outcome of your appeal and any further study you are due to undertake. If you are unsure and want to check whether your attendance at the ceremony has been confirmed, you should contact SID@ex.ac.uk.

If you are in a position where you meet the criteria to be eligible to attend and you are making an appeal about your classification or similar, then it’s likely that you will still be able to attend the ceremony whilst awaiting the outcome of your appeal. You may receive an empty envelope pending final confirmation of your classification, but please be reassured, students are not processed in order of classification at the ceremony, and only your name and degree programme are mentioned when you cross the stage so nobody will be aware that your degree has not been conferred. Therefore, this should not impact on your experience.

If your appeal is subsequently upheld and details of your degree are updated, then your documentation may need to be updated in some way and you may be asked to return the original certificate and / or transcript and your new documents would then be forwarded to you by mail once the outcome of your appeal has been confirmed. This will not be a problem: the Student Information Desk handles this sort of thing.

For advice and information on graduation please visit Graduation | Graduation | University of Exeter or speak to the Student Information Desk.

We do understand that submitting an appeal can be a new experience for some students and the circumstances that they wish to raise may be stressful. As the team administrating the process the Faculty Cases Team can provide advice on the procedures but is unable to support students with the contents of their appeals. Instead, we recommend the following support teams:

the Students' Guild Advice Unit on advice@exeterguild.com or The Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union on advice@thesu.org.uk who give guidance on what students can expect from this process. If the complaint raises a wellbeing concern, the student can contact the Wellbeing service (Streatham and St Luke’s) or Student Support (Penryn) for support.

You may wish to seek support from the following as relevant to you:

• For Wellbeing support please see http://www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate/life/wellbeing/
• You may also consider contacting the Student Health Centre or your own GP / healthcare provider
• For students based on Streatham and St Luke’s campuses the Students' Guild Advice Unit can offer independent, confidential and impartial information, advice and support to Exeter students involved in a University procedure. To contact them please email advice@exeterguild.com.
• For students based on our Cornwall campuses the FXU can offer independent, confidential and impartial information, advice and support to students studying on our Cornwall campuses. To contact them please email advice@thesu.org.uk or call on telephone number 01326 255861.
• If you already engaging with one of the services on offer, such as your Welfare Advisor in your Hub or info point, we would encourage you to continue to engage with this support during the appeal process. They can be a great help during periods of personal difficulty in your studies.
• We are also able to assist students who require specific support. If you are a disabled student or require reasonable adjustments, we may be able to adjust our processes to help you. If you think we can help you by making some adjustments, please let us know as soon as possible. We will then consider what can be offered.

You will have a ten working-day window in which you may submit a Formal Appeal. This window begins on the day on which you are officially notified of an APAC decision. Typically, this will be the progression notification as the end of a stage of study, such as the release of your end of year results or, if required, the release of your reassessment results.

As an example of the ten working-day window: if your end of year results and progression decision is notified to you on 17 June 2025; the ten working-day appeal period closes on 1 July 2025.

If you submit your appeal early i.e. before the ten working-day window opens, you will very likely be told that your appeal cannot be considered at this time.

Please be aware that assessment results released to you during the course of the year are indicative or provisional marks only i.e. they might still be subject to change. As such, the decisions relating to those marks are not yet formalised as the APAC will not yet have made their decision on those marks. The same applies to decisions made by the Mitigation Committee, who report into the APACs at the close of the academic year. Therefore, until those marks and decisions have been finalised by the APAC, any appeal will be deemed to be ‘too early’ and you will be advised to resubmit it following the formal APAC notification, if you still feel you have grounds to do so.

The main exception to this would be if your case relates to severe mitigating circumstances (such as hospitalisation) which meant that you were unable to apply for mitigation for your assessment(s) using the mitigation process at the normal time for mitigation applications. In such cases, you will be required to provide evidence that you were unable to apply for mitigation at the appropriate time, and a judgement will be made as to whether or not your appeal can be considered early.

An appeal submitted later than the ten working-day window will normally only be considered in very exceptional circumstances.

Such circumstances would likely be where you can evidence that you were unable to engage with the procedures at the appropriate time. In such cases, you will be required to provide evidence that you were unable to submit your appeal within the normal timeframe, and a judgement will be made as to whether or not your appeal can be considered late.

The University has strict timescales in appeal cases to be equitable to all students, and to ensure that the student body is treated consistently. The University can only accept a late appeal if a reasonable ground for late submission can be presented, as stated in section 4.4.

You can submit an appeal application, via the Student Records System (SRS) using your normal IT sign in details. You can also access this from the ‘More’ tab in the MyExeter app. More details of how to submit an appeal can be found in the student guide here: Students' Guide (Appeals)

For the duration of the investigation into your Appeal, the original decision of the Examination Board or Postgraduate Research Committee or relevant body will remain in place while the appeals process is ongoing.

If you wish to submit an appeal, you must complete and submit your application within 10 working days of your final results being notified to you (see Timeframes section below).

The University is unable to accept appeals submitted by third parties (including any health professions, parent, or tutor of the student concerned). Nor are we able to discuss details of an appeal with any third parties without the written consent of the student. This is due to data protection regulations and is intended to safeguard your personal information. All appeals must be received from students directly, ideally from their University of Exeter email address.

You can submit an academic appeal application, via the Student Records System (SRS) using your normal IT sign in details. You can also access this from the ‘More’ tab in the MyExeter app. More details of how to submit an appeal can be found in the student guide here: Students' Guide (Appeals)

For other types of appeal (for example Unsatisfactory Progress Outcomes) the appropriate forms can be found within the relevant section of the procedures.

Students are encouraged to submit evidence to support their case. The Regulations do not restrict this to any particular type of evidence, but the staff considering your Appeal will be able to rely on some types of evidence more than others. It is your responsibility to provide all the information and evidence you wish to be considered in support of your application. 

If your evidence was not originally produced in English, then a certified translation must also be provided with your application, the cost of which should be borne by the student. 

A detailed guide (Evidence Guidance) for students has been produced which explains the types of evidence you may provide to support your appeal. We recommend that you read this carefully, and if you have any questions, you may find it helpful to speak with the Students’ Guild or Student’s Union for advice.   

If you do not have all your evidence, it is possible for you to submit an appeal application and indicate that you will provide additional supportive evidence at a later date. You will still need to submit your appeal application within 10 working days following release of
your progression or awarding decision.

You can submit an appeal application, via the Student Records System (SRS) using your normal IT sign in details. You can also access this from the ‘More’ tab in the MyExeter app. More details of how to submit an appeal can be found in the student guide  here: Students' Guide (Appeals).  

When you reach screen 3 of the application form you should indicate using the dropdown that ‘I haven’t got all of my evidence so will attach (more) later’.

You should carry on and complete the remainder of the form and submit your application. We will then provide you will a deadline by which to provide your additional evidence and this will be sent to your via email to your Exeter email address.

Where a student declares the pending evidence in their appeal form, we are typically able to allow up to two further weeks for students to provide additional evidence.  If you do not supply your evidence within that new timescale, it will very likely be necessary to consider your appeal without the remaining evidence, so you should ensure to contact the team if you think there may be further delays.

The 30-day response window would start at the point we received all the additional evidence, or from the evidence deadline, whichever is sooner. This does mean that additional evidence can cause a delay to the outcome for the appeal; therefore, the sooner you are able to provide this evidence the sooner we are able to proceed with your case. 

Please ensure that when you have provided all of your evidence that you indicate this on screen 3 of the form on the system by selecting on the dropdown that says 'I have attached all of my evidence.'

You can also submit a group appeal if the information in Section 5.2 of Appeals procedure applies to you. The procedure requires the group to nominate a spokesperson and this individual should submit the application via the Student Records System (SRS). The nominated spokesperson should upload as part of their evidence a list of names of those other students who have consented to be part of the group appeal. Once the application has been received, we will correspond with the nominated spokesperson only and they will be responsible for updating the other members of their group. 

If no member of the group is willing to act as the group spokesperson, they may appoint a member of the Students’ Guild or Student Union to represent them through the appeal process.

If you have an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) this will be visible to the staff considering your appeal application.

For all other information, it is your responsibility to provide this if you feel it is pertinent to your appeal. In some circumstances we may seek to clarify your evidence by cross referencing this with information held on file by other teams within the University, including the Wellbeing teams. We would only request information which was deemed relevant to the matters raised in your appeal, as per the General Data Protection Regulations.

If the evidence is already held by another team at the University (such as medical evidence you supplied with an earlier mitigation application), we may contact the relevant team to request a copy, but this can cause delays in our consideration of your appeal, so it is best if you provide such information with your appeal form if you can.

Appeal forms and evidence may be seen by senior Faculty staff such as the Senior Education Partner and Professional Services staff administering your case. Please be assured that Appeals and evidence are handled in strict confidence in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation requirements.

The Formal Stage appeal process is a paper-based exercise; the decisions of the APAC are notified to students in writing and the evidence required to support an appeal must be documented. Therefore, typically all consideration would be done without the need to meet with you or discuss your appeal with you directly. However, if it is causing you distress and you need to talk through your concerns with someone, there are Wellbeing teams who are happy to support you during this process.

When you have submitted your appeal application you will receive an email to your Exeter email address and you will receive further emails to update you as to where your appeal is in the process.

You will receive a formal response  to your appeal  within 30 calendar days of submitting your full formal submission. This response will include an email from the SRS system and this will be followed by an email with an attached Outcome Letter.

Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to guarantee a response sooner than 30 calendar days. Some appeals require lengthy consideration, and it may not be possible to provide a fair and reasonable outcome as quickly as you might hope. However, the team does take steps to identify priority appeals, such as those where future assessments may be impacted by the decision being made.

We do appreciate the situation can be stressful for students, so we do our best to provide outcomes as soon as reasonably possible.

Students who have planned assessment re-sits should prepare for those and if necessary, sit their assessment as expected while an appeal is pending, as there is no way of knowing if an appeal outcome will void these submissions until the outcome has been agreed. 

If you are not satisfied with the outcome to your Formal Appeal, you may submit an Appeal Review appeal against the Formal Appeal decision. If you believe you have grounds to request a review of the decision made at the Formal Stage, you should follow the procedures detailed in section 7 of the appeals procedure. Your Review Stage appeal can be submitted via the  Student Records System (SRS) and by selecting 'Reviews of Academic Appeals' and then selecting the Appeal for which you have received a formal stage outcome.