An Academic Appeal is a request for a review of your results, progress or award decision agreed by the Programme Assessment Board (PAB).
Please find the University's academic appeal regulation and guidance on the appeals process below:
You can also read Your Advice Service's guide on how to write your academic appeal.
The deadline to appeal is within ten working days of your result release date. Your appeal statement should be well written, include evidence supporting your statement, and explain the ground(s) on which you are appealing and how you meet them.
Grounds For Appeal:
- Procedural Irregularity: The University made a mistake or did not follow the regulations. For example, added up marks incorrectly
- Improper Assessment: Your marks were affected by prejudice or bias. You cannot challenge the academic judgment of the marker. For example, appeal because you feel you deserve a higher mark.
- Extenuating Circumstances: You were affected by events outside of your control and could not apply for an extension or a deferral at the time. For example, you were very ill.
Reasons You cannot Submit an Academic Appeal:
- To challenge the outcome of an academic misconduct case - see here for more information about appealing an ACO judgement
- If you disagree with the mark and think your work deserved a better grade
- If your results have not yet been officially released
- If you don’t meet the grounds
- If you have no evidence
- If the grade you are appealing is an "AB" or Absent mark - apply for a retrospective deferral using the Extenuating Circumstance Request process in this case.
- After 10 working days, unless you have serious problems which meant that you were unable to submit an appeal on time. Your statement will need to explain this and include evidence of this, as well as evidence to show how you meet the ground(s).
The Appeal Process:
All student should submit their appeal as soon as possible using the correct appeal form and to the correct email address.
You can find the academic appeal form here and this should be emailed, along with your evidence to ArgAppeals.reg@coventry.ac.uk (If you are accessing the academic appeal form links off campus, you will need to be connected to the VPN. Find out how to use the VPN here).
You must submit all your evidence in time, the only allowance to this would be awaiting medical evidence where an additional allowance of 5 working days is given. Students are advised to request medical evidence upon the release of provisional grades on AULA in readiness for an appeal.
If you're struggling to write your appeal take a look at our academic appeal template.
Once your appeal is received, it will be checked to make sure it meets the guidelines. If it does, the ARG (Assessments Review Group) will consider the appeal and decide whether to reject the appeal, uphold the previous decision, or change the decision.
Appeals can take up to 90 days to process, though many are dealt with more quickly. It's important that you follow the advice provided on SOLAR in the meantime.
Challenging the Outcome of an Academic Appeal:
If you are unhappy with the outcome of an academic appeal, you have the right to appeal within 10 working days on the following grounds:
- Additional grounds which add a new dimension to the case and were not considered at the review stage, only came to light after the review process had been completed and could not have been made available earlier
- Significant new evidence, which adds a new dimension to the case, was not considered at the review stage, only came to light after the review process had been completed, and could not have been made available earlier
- There was a mistake in the review process, or the University did not follow the rules properly, and this disadvantaged you.
Your appeal statement must explain how you meet the ground(s) above and include evidence.
Your Students’ Union Advice Service are happy to proofread appeals if you are able to send us a draft a few working days in advance of the deadline by completing an enquiry form. When doing so, please include the original outcome letter and the ground/s you intend to appealon, if you know them.
If the appeal is not granted, you will be issued a Completion of Procedures (COP) letter that will enable you to take your case to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIAHE).