Assessment Verification And Appeals Procedures¹

These procedures relate to situations where a student is concerned that an assessment may not have been properly conducted.

The Verification and Appeals Procedure

At the beginning of each session the College shall inform students of the Appeals Procedures in place.

The only body vested with the power of decision on examination and assessment results is the relevant Assessment Board.

A student or recent student² may only appeal on one or more of the following grounds:

• the mark(s) and/or result published by the institution contains arithmetical or other errors of fact;
• there were defects or irregularities in the conduct of the examinations and/or other assessments or in written instructions or advice relating to the conduct of the examinations or assessments which were not known to the Assessment Board, when such defects, irregularities or advice are shown to have had an adverse effect on the student's performance;
• the assessment procedure and/or examinations were not conducted in accordance with the approved regulations;
• there were exceptional personal circumstances which were not known to the Assessment Board, and where the student can show good reason why such circumstances could not have been made known to the Assessment Board when the student was assessed, and which are shown to have had an adverse effect on the student's performance.

Appeals which question the academic judgement of examiners³, or their judgements on standards of competence, or appeals on any grounds other than those stipulated above, shall not be admissible and the College Manager will inform the appellant accordingly in writing.

The College Manager will consider an appeal within twenty-one days of its receipt by the institution.

Any student (or group of students) who wishes to appeal against a decision of the Assessment Board should normally submit an appeal to the College Manager (using the attached verification appeals form) within fourteen days of the date of the publication of the Assessment Board decision by the College. The grounds for appeal must be clearly stated on the appropriate form and relevant documentary evidence appended.

The College Manager, or his/her nominee, on receipt of an appeal shall seek verification from the Chair of the relevant Assessment Board, or his/her nominee. Verification will establish whether:

• the mark(s) and/or result as published is free from arithmetical or other error of fact; and/or,
• any defects or irregularities in the conduct of the examinations and/or other assessments or in the written instructions and/or in advice relating thereto were, in fact, reported to the Assessment Board; and/or,
• the assessment procedure and/or examinations were not conducted in accordance with the approved regulations; and/or
• any exceptional personal circumstances pertaining to the student were reported to the Assessment Board.

The Chair of the Assessment Board, or his/her nominee, shall inform the College Manager of the outcome of the verification in writing no later than fourteen days following receipt of the appeal by the College Manager. If the outcome of verification is not received in writing within fourteen days, the College Manager shall refer the appeal to the Assessment Board and the Assessment Board shall be re-convened to review the case in light of the information presented in the appeal.

The College Manager shall consider the appeal on receipt of verification from the Chair of the Assessment Board and decide either that:

• the appeal be referred to the Assessment Board and that the Assessment Board be re-convened to review the case in light of the information presented. The College Manager shall be permitted to take such action where it has been established:

• that the mark(s) and/or result as published is incorrect; or
• that defects or irregularities in the conduct of the examinations and/or other assessments or in written instructions or in advice relating thereto were not known to the Assessment Board; or
• the assessment procedure and/or examinations were not conducted in accordance with the approved regulations; or
• that the appeal contains exceptional personal circumstances which were not known to the Assessment Board when the student was assessed and the student has shown good reason why such circumstances could not have been made known to the Assessment Board; or
• the appeal be rejected and no further consideration be given to the appeal.

The College Manager is required to disallow an appeal which is based wholly on factors which were known to the Assessment Board concerned when the student's result was determined and also to disallow appeals based on exceptional personal circumstances which were not known to the Assessment Board when the student was assessed where the student is unable to show good reason why such circumstances could not have been made known to the Assessment Board before its meeting.

Where an appeal is referred to the Assessment Board by the College Manager, the College Manager shall write to ask the Chair of the relevant Assessment Board to re-convene a meeting of the Assessment Board to review the case in the light of the information brought forward by the appeal. It will not necessarily follow that a student's result shall be changed from the result originally published by the Assessment Board. The Chair of the Assessment Board shall inform the College Manager of the decision of the re-convened Assessment Board in writing no later than twenty-one days following its referral to the Assessment Board.

The College Manager, or his/her nominee, shall inform the appellant of the outcome of his/her appeal in writing and, if appropriate, issue a supplementary result. The validating University shall also be informed of the outcome of all appeals.

Review of Academic Appeal Outcome

Students Studying a Health Sciences University-validated Course – Review of the Academic Appeal Outcome

The outcome decision of an academic appeal referred to an Assessment Board is final within the NCA’s procedures, however students registered on a course validated by the Health Sciences University (HSU) have the right to refer the outcome decision to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the HSU for review within 21 days from receiving the academic appeal outcome.

Students may refer the academic appeal outcome for review to the HSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) if:

a) The NCA’s procedures were not followed properly.

b) The outcome was not reasonable.

c) Students have new material evidence which, for valid reasons, they were unable to provide earlier in the process.

To request a review of the outcome, students should write to the Registrar at the HSU () providing a copy of the outcome and an explanation of why they are requesting a review, in addition to any evidence to support their request for a review.

Further to the review, the HSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) may either uphold the original academic appeal outcome or refer the case back to the formal stage for reconsideration by the NCA.

Where the case is referred back to the formal stage, reconsideration of the case will be undertaken as soon as possible by the NCA, and where practicable within 90 calendar days.

The decision of the HSU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) will be final and a Completion of Procedures Letter shall be provided to the student as soon as possible and within 28 days confirming the review decision outcome and reasons for the review decision.

Thereafter students have the right to refer the matter to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (the OIA) (http://www.oiahe.org.uk/). Students must refer the matter to the OIA within 12 months of the date of their Completion of Procedures letter.

¹Reviewed by Academic Board 04/11/2021. Next Review December 2024.

²“Recent students” are defined as having had their final award determined by the Progression and Finalists Board within the last six months, or having withdrawn within the last six months. Current students include those on an approved leave of absence / suspension of studies.

³Academic judgments and judgements on standards of competence involve evaluating a body of a student's work or their performance of a skill, in order to make an overall judgment about that student's performance (and award a mark or other result that accurately reflects that). This ability to draw upon and evaluate a student's work is informed by the individual's expertise in the discipline area and prior educational experiences in judging student work. The College uses processes of moderation and external examining to ensure that academic judgements are fair and consistent.