This page provides explanations of terms related to appeals and includes references to the Regulatory Framework and other sources, where relevant.
The terms related to appeals are listed alphabetically.
An academic appeal is a challenge to or request for reconsideration of a decision by an academic body regarding student progress, assessment and awards.
This is a formal approved document that sets out the procedures for processing student academic appeals.
Academic judgement is defined as an opinion that can only be given by an academic expert, for example, a judgement about marks awarded for assessment, progression, degree classification or the achievement of course outcomes.
Read more about what types of decisions are based on academic judgement.
The Board of Examiners can recommend one of the following actions as and if appropriate:
The application of condonement, compensation or trailing provisions is limited to a maximum cumulative total of 25% of the credit available for any stage.
You can read about each of these actions on this page.
This is a structured online document which you have to complete in order to submit your appeal. Appeal forms are different for each type of appeal.
Read more about different appeal types.
It is an academic body that reviews serious cases of academic misconduct, and applies an appropriate penalty.
An Academic Misconduct Committee consists of the following members:
Visit Academic Integrity website for more information.
This is the second and final stage in the formal appeals process at Kent. Its purpose is to review the decision made in the formal appeal stage. This means that the matters considered at the formal appeal stage will not be discussed and there will be no new investigation.
Appeal review requests are firstly considered by the Chair of the Academic Appeal Review Panel. Depending on the case, the chair can dismiss the request, uphold it or partially uphold it or decide to convene an Academic Appeal Review Panel.
You can submit an appeal review request if your formal appeal has been dismissed or partially upheld. If that is the case, we will give you all necessary information to submit the appeal review request, should you wish.
Read more about Appeal Reviews.
This is a group of academic members of staff who are involved in course delivery and make decisions about student progression and degree classifications.
Read more about an Appeal against the decision of the Board of Examiners.
This is a document that you will receive when your appeal has been completed. It will include information about your appeal outcome, investigation notes and any relevant documents that were considered.
The case file will not include documents submitted by you (such as a copy of your appeal form and any evidence) to minimise risks of data loss. However, if you want to receive a copy of your submission, please email appeals@kent.ac.uk. We aim to reply to you within 28 calendar days.
Read more about receiving appeal outcome.
This is normally a member of staff within the Quality Assurance and Compliance Office whose responsibility is to investigate your appeal as per the Academic Appeals Policy.
The Chair of an Academic Appeals Review Panel is an academic member of staff, from outside of your Division, who will review and make a decision about your appeal review request.
Read more about Appeal Reviews.
Compensation is a measure that allows the award of credit for failed module(s). The decision to compensate any failed modules is made by the Board of Examiners.
Your mark(s) for any compensated module(s) will not be adjusted but your transcript will indicate that the credits were awarded via compensation. In addition, the pass mark for the module will be used when calculating your degree classification.
Compensation has the following restrictions:
See Section 6.3 of the Credit Framework for information about compensation.
This is a formal document that is issued to you when you reach the end of the internal appeals process at Kent. This letter allows you to complain to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) if you are unhappy about your appeal outcome.
Read more information about Completion of Procedure Letters.
Visit the Office of the Independent Adjudicator website.
Condonement is a measure that allows credit to be awarded for failed module(s). It can only be used to mitigate extenuating circumstances and the decision to condone any failed modules is made by the Board of Examiners.
Your mark(s) for any condoned module(s) will not be adjusted but your transcript will indicate that the credits were awarded via condonement. In addition, the mark(s) for any condoned module(s) will be excluded from calculation of your degree classification.
Condonement has the following restrictions:
See Section 6.2 of the Credit Framework for more information.
This is a measure that allows you to resit/repeat failed module(s) without penalty. It can only be used to mitigate extenuating circumstances and the decision is made by the Board of Examiners.
Deferral (resit/repeat with no penalty) means either that:
OR
Information to say whether you have been given permission to resit/repeat as if for the first time or second time will be available in your results letter and your appeal outcome, if relevant.
See Section 7.9 of the Credit Framework for more information.
This is a measure that allows you to resit module(s) that you have already passed to improve your marks. It can only be used to mitigate extenuating circumstances and the decision is made by the Board of Examiners.
See Section 7.9.3 of the Credit Framework for more information.
Dismissal is one of the available outcomes of a formal appeal and an appeal review request.
When your appeal is dismissed, it means that your appeal has not been successful and you have not achieved the requested outcomes or any alternative outcomes.
An appeal can also be dismissed if it doesn't meet the technical conditions.
Read information about the technical conditions.
See Section 17 of the Academic Appeals Policy for more information.
This is a measure that allows exclusion of individual assessments for the affected module(s). It can only be used to mitigate extenuating circumstances and the decision to disregard any individual assessments is made by the Board of Examiners.
Disregarding has the following restrictions:
See Section 5.2 of Appendix 1 of Annex 9 of the Credit Framework for more information.
This is an informal process to raise your concerns and/or to seek clarification within your Division about a decision made by an academic body.
In most cases, we recommend that you contact your Division for early resolution before starting a formal appeal.
See Early Resolution webpages for more information.
Examination panel refers to the examiners for research students. Usually, there are two or more, at least one of whom is external to the university, who will have expert knowledge in the area of your research.
The panel makes formal decisions about your thesis based on the Regulations for Research Courses of Study.
This is a first stage in the Formal Appeal process. You can submit a formal appeal if you are unhappy with the outcome of your early resolution by your Division. If you haven't attempted early resolution, you will have to provide a reason why.
See the timeline for early resolution and formal appeals.
Formal appeals are processed by the Quality Assurance and Compliance Office (QACO).
Find out how to get started.
Learn about the different types of decision you can appeal against.
Grounds for appeal are reasons for submitting your appeal. The grounds vary depending on appeal type.
See Appeal Types for more information.
You can also find information about academic judgement which you cannot appeal against.
These are actions that the Board of Examiners can take to mitigate extenuating circumstances that affected your performance.
These measures include:
You can read about each of these measure on this page.
This is a process which involves a second marker checking a sample of work, along with the first marker’s marks and comments, to verify the overall standard of marking and the use of the grade criteria.
This is an independent body that reviews student complaints about their Higher Education Providers in England and Wales.
The OIA's service is free for students.
You can normally complain to the OIA only when you have reached the end of the university's appeal process and are unsatisfied with the outcome.
See the OIA's website for more information.
This is a decision made in response to your appeal.
Available appeal outcomes are:
You can read about each of these outcomes on this page.
The appeal outcome will be sent to you as part of your case file. It will clearly state what the next steps are for you to take, if applicable.
A panel hearing may be convened during the Appeal Review stage. The Chair of the Appeal Review will decide whether to convene a panel, for example when the decision involves academic judgement.
You can find out more about how a panel hearing works.
Partially upheld is one of the available outcomes of a formal appeal and an appeal review request.
If a decision is that your appeal or appeal review is partially upheld, it means that you have either been given some but not all of the outcomes you requested. Or it can also mean that an alternative outcome was reached that is beneficial to you.
A penalty refers to the result of an Academic Misconduct case and is given by the Academic Misconduct Committee or its Chair.
Find out more about academic misconduct penalties.
For research students, the progression review panel refers to your main supervisor and other members of your supervisory team who undertake formal reviews throughout your research course. The panel makes decisions about your progression in these formal meetings.
You can read about supervision and progression in the Postgraduate Student Handbook.
This is a measure that allows you to resit/repeat failed module(s) with penalty. This means that the final mark for the module(s) you are resitting/repeating will be capped at the pass mark. This decision is made by the Board of Examiners.
Every student is normally permitted two referral opportunities, except for the dissertation element of a taught postgraduate course. A student who is referred in the dissertation element, may resubmit the dissertation on one occasion only.
See Section 7.6 of the Credit Framework for more information.
You receive a results letter after the Board of Examiners meetings when the results for all of your assessments have been confirmed.
The deadlines for requesting early resolution or submitting an appeal start from the day your results are made available to you.
Find out more about when results are published and what the different results mean.
You can also find out more about actions taken by Boards of Examiners on this page.
Students are required to attend and engage with their scheduled sessions. This is because research shows that, if you have high attendance and good engagement with learning resources, you will achieve better results.
If you are a student on a student route visa, it is a condition of your visa that you attend all timetabled events as the University has sponsored you to come to the UK to study.
Find out more about the Student Attendance and Engagement Policy.
Technical conditions are rules that apply to all formal stages of the appeal process. Technical conditions include requirements about the deadlines and format of appeals and the information you must provide.
Any appeal submission must meet the technical conditions for it to be investigated.
Find out what the technical conditions are.
See Section 7.8 of the Credit Framework for more information.
Upheld is one of the available outcomes of a formal appeal and an appeal review request.
If your appeal is upheld it means it has been successful and you receive the outcome you had asked for.
