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► University Procedures

Appealing your results

Mitigating circumstances

Making a complaint

Studying at University doesn't always work out as you might expect and you may find yourself having to deal with University rules and regulations. You may experience difficulties with your course or tutor; personal issues may hinder your ability to attend lessons or produce coursework or there may be one of many other reasons why you might be falling behind on your studies.

You may want to consider withdrawing, transferring or taking time out of your course. If this is the case it is always helpful to seek help or guidance before you commit to making a particular decision, often you may not be aware of all the implications there may be that could affect your finances and even your ability to return to University at a later date.

UBSU has staff available to talk to you and help ensure you get your side of the story across. We can also help if your academic work is suffering due to circumstances beyond your control; we can advise you on mitigating circumstances and if necessary can advise you on how to make an academic appeal.

If you feel that you could use some independent advice, contact:

Nicola Trelawny -Student Advocate (Individual Representation) on 01273 643532 or by emailing nt68@brighton.ac.uk

Appealing your results.

The University has an Appeals Procedure in place which needs to be followed if something has occurred that you believe has adversely affected your assessed grades. This procedure can be found in detail here. If you do feel that you want to make an appeal it is important to remember that you cannot appeal against the academic judgement of your tutors, or make comparisons with your work and the efforts of other students. There are only four grounds on which you may appeal a result.

i. That a student had submitted evidence of mitigating circumstances which were not considered by the Examination Board;
ii. That the Examination Board was not aware of mitigating circumstances affecting the student’s performance because the student had been unable, or for valid reasons unwilling, to divulge them before the Examination Board reached its decision.
iii. That the examination procedures were not followed in accordance with the regulations, resulting in an error in the student’s assessment.
iv. That some other material irregularity led to a breach of the procedures or regulations resulting in a decision detrimental to the student.

You have only 15 working days between the publication of the pass list and starting your appeal. You should send an initial letter simply stating your intention to appeal to the Secretary to the Academic Board within this time.

UBSU produces guidance on the appeals procedure which you can download here

You can download a sample appeal letter here

If you are unhappy with the final University outcome it is possible, once you have been issued with a Completion of Procedures letter, to raise your case with The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. Further details can be found  here

 Mitigating circumstances

These are circumstances beyond your control which may be affecting your academic work or performance in an assessment. As a result of these circumstances you may have submitted work late, failed to submit work, been absent from an assessment or are concerned that you will give an unrepresentative performance in an assessment.

It is possible that if you forsee these problems you will be able to get an extension to a deadline. This is always preferable to submitting mitigating circumstances. In the first instance you should contact your module or course leader to see if this is possible. 

The University has a mitigating circumstances procedure and the types of circumstances that are normally considered valid are:

Complaints