The Appeals Process: What You Can Appeal Against

The University's Appeals procedure is the process you can use to change a finalised mark, degree classification, academic misconduct or disciplinary decision.

Academic Decisions

You can use the appeals procedure to try to change your degree classification or any other final mark.

If you disagree with a provisional mark you got for an assignment, you should contact your School in the first instance.

Once your results have been published online or you have put your decision in writing, you will have 20 working days to submit your appeal.

If you’re looking to change your final degree classification, your appeal should be processed in time for you to graduate in the next graduation ceremony (December or July), after your appeal result is confirmed. Unfortunately, you can’t appeal to change a grade if you’ve already graduated.

Other Decisions

You can also appeal against other decisions, for example if you feel Mitigating Circumstances were not taken into account. For these types of cases we recommend you come and speak to us for more detailed advice and support.

You can also appeal against disciplinary and academic misconduct and academic progress decisions. For these cases, contact LUU Advice as early as possible.

If you are unhappy with the decision that finds you guilty and/or the penalty the School has set out, you can appeal. You must do this within 14 days of the date on the letter telling you the decision.

This appeal should be in the form of a letter addressed to the Committee on Applications, and sent to the Student Cases Team. You will only be asked to appear before the Committee if they decide this.

If you need any more information or help with the appeals process just speak to the LUU Advice or have a look at the related articles below.

If a decision has been made to exclude you from the University it is possible to appeal against this.

A decision made by the University Committee on Student Discipline (for non-academic offences) can be appealed to the Vice-Chancellor within 20 working days of the decision; this should be done by applying to the Student Cases Team.

A decision made by the Committee on Applications (for academic misconduct) can be appealed to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor within 28 days of the decision; this should be done by applying to the Student Cases Team. You can appeal against the severity of the penalty if short of exclusion.

An academic decision made at School level may be appealed to the Committee on Applications.

All appeals should be sent to the Student Cases Team.

If you need help writing your appeal or considering if you want to appeal, you can contact us at LUU Advice.

Decisions that can be made at appeal (whether to the Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor or the Committee in the case of disputes settled at School level) are:

to agree with the original decision and/or penalty
to reduce or vary the penalty
to increase the penalty
to uphold the appeal, remove the penalty and overturn the findings of the Committee on Applications, Committee on Student Discipline or the School

If you are still unhappy with the decision and/or penalty after this final appeal within the University you can appeal to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (the OIA). If you would like advice or support on appealing to the OIA, come in and chat to us.