Appeals
This page provides information for students who are considering submitting an appeal against the decision of a Programme Assessment Board. There are only set times during which an appeal can be lodged and this page tells you when and how you can do this as well as detailing where you can get support and/or ask questions with regard to the appeals process.When can appeals be submitted?
You will normally receive your results on the university’s official publication dates. You will then have five working days (includes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday) to submit an academic appeal. On some occasions results are delayed, such as due to processing of Academic Integrity cases, and where this occurs the five working days starts when results are issued. If in doubt about deadlines please contact appeals@napier.ac.uk
Appeals cannot be submitted until a Programme Assessment Board has published their decision on your progression or award. At this point you have one week to submit your appeal. The applicable dates for the coming academic year can be found in the table below.
| Trimester | Date Programme Board of Examiners Results Published | Appeals Deadline Date (all deadlines 2pm) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 06/02/23 | 13/02/23 |
| 2 | 27/06/23 |
04/07/23 |
| Summer Assessment | 28/08/23 | 04/09/23 |
| 3 | 06/10/23 |
13/10/23 |
All dates are subject to change. Please check this page regularly for notice of any changes.
Please note the above dates refer to programmes taught at our Edinburgh campuses. If you are studying a programme taught at one of our overseas partners’ campuses, an online or distance learning programme, or a research degree student, then alternative dates may apply to you. If you fall into one of these categories, please check with your programme administrator, programme leader, School RDPL or personal development tutor for clarification on the dates applicable to you.
Important considerations regarding the appeals process
- Appeals are submitted against the decision of the Programme Assessment Board not against results for individual modules. For example the appeals process will not result in an increase to an individual module mark nor will it see a failed module increased to a pass.
- The appeals process can see you offered an additional uncapped first attempt or additional reassessment attempt to make good in a failed module.
- Assessments can be made to determine whether any issue highlighted in an appeal has impacted your overall award classification and in such cases the appeal process can, on rare occasions, see an award reclassified.
- Usually only issues relating to the most recent trimester will be considered as part of the process.
- Any appeal submission determined to be submitted purely on the basis of a question of academic judgement (e.g. you believe you should have received a better mark based entirely on your own opinion that your work was worth more) will not be accepted.
- As the timeline to submit an appeal is only one week from the date of the publication of the Programme Assessment Board decisions, you should check your results online on or as soon as possible after the publication date and if you believe you have grounds for appeal, email the grounds upon which you wish to appeal and the outcome you are seeking to appeals@napier.ac.uk as soon as possible.
- You must make contact with appeals@napier.ac.uk before you submit an appeal. Failure to do this may result in any appeal you subsequently submit being rejected.
- You must submit your completed AP1 form – see details in section below – by 2pm on the published appeal deadline date, which falls one week after the Programme Assessment Board decisions are published.
- You should not hold off submitting your AP1 form beyond the published appeal deadline if you are waiting for any evidence or receiving evidence/comment from staff to support/inform your appeal application. Evidence and comment can be added to your appeal claim up to one week after the published appeal deadline if you email it to appeals@napier.ac.uk. You must formally register your appeal by the published appeal deadline by submitting a completed AP1 form.
- Incomplete or poorly completed AP1 forms may be rejected as may forms that appear to indicate the grounds for appeal have not been met. You can view detail on valid grounds for appeal in the University's Academic Appeals Regulations.
What do I need to do to submit an appeal?
If it is the right time for you to submit an appeal and you wish to do so, you should undertake the following steps:
- Read the Academic Appeals Regulations and check that the circumstances upon which you are basing your appeal meet the grounds outlined within these regulations. View the University's Academic Appeals Regulations.
- If after undertaking step 1 you believe you have grounds, you must email appeals@napier.ac.uk outlining why you wish to appeal and the outcome you are seeking. It is important you make contact with appeals@napier.ac.uk before submitting an appeal and factor in time to do this as the appeal deadline is one week after the Programme Assessment Board decisions have been published and any student who has not contacted the appeals@napier.ac.uk in advance and/or submits their appeal after the deadline may see their appeal rejected. This means you should plan to check your results on the date they are published or as soon as possible thereafter. The appeals team will respond advising whether you meet the grounds for appeal and offer an honest appraisal of the chances of your appeal being successful.
- If, after you have received a response from the appeals team, you wish to submit an appeal, you must complete the AP1 form (Word, 64 kB)and email it to appeals@napier.ac.uk by the published deadline.
- Ideally you should also email any evidence you wish to be considered as part of your appeal by the published deadline though you have up to one week after the published deadline to submit evidence which too should be emailed to appeals@napier.ac.uk. Do not delay the submission of your AP1 form if you are waiting for anything you wish to use to support your appeal e.g. documentary evidence or advice/comment from any member of staff. Material to support your appeal can be submitted up to one week after the appeal deadline as long as you have submitted a completed AP1 form by the deadline. Please be reminded, your completed AP1 form must be submitted by the published deadline.
It is essential you carry out the above steps as soon as possible after your Programme Assessment Board decision is published to allow time for you to complete and submit an appeal should you elect to do so. Appeals from students who have not carried out steps 1 and 2 above and/or submit after the published deadline date will not be accepted.
You will receive an email receipt upon submission of your appeal. This will detail what will happen next in terms of the process. The outcome of all appeals is advised to appellants via their University email address within 5 weeks of the published appeal deadline though the process usually concludes within 2-3 weeks of the deadline for most students.
Where can I get support/ask questions about the process?
You can send any queries you have to appeals@napier.ac.uk
Details of the support services provided by us and the Edinburgh Napier Students Association (ENSA) can be found at the links below.
View details of the University’s support services View details of support available from ENSA