Academic appeals - taught

For all students on taught programmes a student may appeal against:

(a) one or more of the following recommendations of a Board of Examiners:

• the mark awarded for any assessment component or the overall module;
• the overall outcome of a programme of study, e.g. degree classification;
• failure at any stage of a programme of study (including progression decisions);
• decisions in relation to submitted exceptional circumstances;
• action taken a a result of the Student Attendance and Engagement Policy

(b) a procedural irregularity in the way the University followed and applied its academic regulations and procedures which either affected your ability to undertake assessment(s) or which led to your assessed work not receiving the mark it merited;

(c) the decision to terminate your studies as a result of a perceived failure on your part to enrol or re-register for your studies by the required deadline, or as a result of you exceeding the maximum period of registration allowed for your programme under regulation C1.

For all students on taught programmes appeals may only be made on the following grounds:

(i) procedural irregularity in the conduct of the assessment or examination board processes, or the application of the Student Attendance Monitoring procedure

(ii) exceptional circumstances, providing that:

• the circumstances were not already considered by an Exceptional Circumstances Panel;
• the circumstances can be verified by appropriate evidence (see University guidelines); 
• there is a valid reason for not submitting an Exceptional Circumstances claim relating to these circumstances (and/or appropriate evidence) by the specified deadline in accordance with the relevant provisions of Regulation B.3. (see note about exceptional circumstances below)

Note about exceptional circumstances

The Appeals Panel Committee will reject your claim even if your ECs are valid, if there is not a genuine reason why the EC claim was not brought forward at the appropriate time. Reasons such as reluctance to reveal exceptional circumstances, wanting to find out the outcomes of assessment or shyness are not normally accepted as valid reasons for not submitting ECs at the appropriate time.

Please click the link for a list of Common Student Appeal Scenarios.  These are some of the types of typical cases that the Appeals Panel receive on a regular basis. These types of appeals will be accepted/not accepted for the reasons given.

You must submit your appeal on the approved Appeal Form no later than 10 calendar days (not including University closed days or Bank Holidays, but including weekends) from the date of the email or letter sent to you informing you of either the decision of the Board of Examiners or actions taken under the Student Attendance and Engagement Policy or within 10 calendar days of the official notification that your studies have been terminated due to failure to enrol or re-enrol for your studies. If you submit your appeal later than 10 days after the official notification of results, your appeal will only be considered if you can provide valid evidence why you were not able to submit within the deadline. 

If you wish to appeal against an award you must inform the University of your intention to appeal before Senate confirms the decision of the Board of Examiners. Information of how to do this will be given in the email or letter informing you of your award. Your name will be removed from the list of awards submitted to Senate for approval. You should note that this could mean that you will be unable to graduate at the next available opportunity.

Upon receipt of your appeal, the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team will email (to your Keele email account) to confirm its arrival. If you do not receive an email within two working days of sending your appeal, you must contact the team to check that your form has arrived. As the staff can be very busy processing appeals at certain times of the year (particularly June/July and September), it would be appreciated if contact is by email if possible. Emails will normally be responded to, within the same working day. During the processing of your appeal, the Team will communicate with you via your Keele email so please check your email on a daily basis.

Appeal cases will be considered by an Appeals Panel.  The consideration of an appeal consists of an assessment of readily available documentation which will include your appeal submission with all submitted evidence, information held by us on your student record, previously submitted exceptional circumstances, reports and minutes from the relevant examination board and on occasion a report which we may request from the School or Service as appropriate. You will be given the opportunity to respond in writing to any reports  received from the School or Service where the panel deemed it necessary to request such a report.

Once if the Panel has reached a decision, based on the available information, you will be informed of this decision in writing, stating the reasons. 

The form for all students (apart from research degree students) to submit an appeal can be downloaded here :

Appeal Form (Taught) .

Guidance for completing Appeals Form - updated July 2023.

If you are appealing a termination of studies due to non-engagement under Regulation B8, this is the form you must ask the academic member of staff you have met with to discuss your return to studies to complete: Reinstatement Advice form for non-engagement .

If you require the form or any other materials in an alternative format, please let us know. On request we can provide you with an electronic copy, enlarged print on coloured paper, audio recordings or Braille. 

If you require advice and support, please contact Advice and Support at Keele (ASK) in the Students' Union:

Tel: +44 (0)1782 734800
email: su.ask@keele.ac.uk

If you have any questions about the appeals process, please contact Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team.

The appeal should be emailed to the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team . In order to assist the team in processing appeals as quickly as possible, please send your email to  appeals@keele.ac.uk. Please note that appeals will only be accepted electronically if they have been emailed from your Keele email account. 

If your Keele IT account has been closed, please send the form using the non-Keele email account you added to your student record.

If it is not possible to email the appeal, please contact the team to discuss the matter further BEFORE the appeal deadline.