Academic advice (Appeals and Complaints)
Academic problems
The Information and Advice Centre can also help you if you wish to launch an academic appeal with regard to results you have received.
There are only certain reasons that you can use to appeal on these are:
· Mitigating circumstances
· Procedural irregularity
For both these reasons you will have to have full evidence of the reason you are appealing on i.e. doctors certificate or proof in paper of irregularity, we can then help you to put together an appeal with regard to these reasons.
It should be noted that you cannot appeal on the grounds of academic judgement i.e. if you just disagree with the mark you have been given.
The procedure for appeals against a decision to ask you to withdraw from the college is as follows:
1. All appeals against withdrawal from the college must be made in writing and sent to the Academic registrar, stating the grounds on which the appeal is and including supporting evidence. This will then be passed on to your head of department for consideration and the outcome will then be communicated to you as soon as possible.
2. If your department is not willing to alter its decision requiring you to withdraw from college then an appeals committee will be convened to consider your case.
The Information and Advice Centre will be able to help you to put together a case and will also be able to advise you on the amount of evidence you will need to substantiate your claims.
In some cases we may need to tell you don’t have a case if we feel submitting an appeal would be unsuccessful due to lack of evidence.It should be remembered that the committee will go over your appeal with a fine tooth comb, so it is important that you can put together as much evidence as you can with regard to your claim.
Complaints
The Information and Advice Centre can also help you if you feel aggrieved by any aspect of college both academic or non-academic, we can help to complain with regard to any such situations.
We can advise you on what evidence you will need and on the procedure that needs to be followed.
There are four stages in the Complaints Procedure:
Stage 1: The Complaint should be raised in the first instance with the individual responsible.
Stage 2: The Complaint is referred to the relevant responsible authority; this is determined by the subject of the complaint
Stage 3: The Complaint is referred to the academic registrar who will investigate the complaint and propose a resolution in consultation with the responsible authority.
Stage 4: A report is prepared by the Academic Registrar that is referred to the Pro Rector (Educational Quality), who will reach a conclusion on the complaint and determine a course of action.
Once the complaints procedure has been completed and the student still feels aggrieved, the student can refer the complaint to the Office of the independent adjudicator, this is an organisation, which is totally independent from the college and deals with these sorts of situations.
For more information contact the Student Advisor:
Nigel Cooke
(020) 7594 8067
IC Extension 48067
