Office of Central Student Administration

Appeals Procedure

The following advice is for students considering an appeal against the final grade awarded in a unit. A form to be used by students lodging an appeal is also available (PDF for paper submission; Word form for electronic submission). [Before downloading this file, you may wish to check the CWIS Help section on accessing PDF files.]

• When must an appeal be lodged?

• How do I know whether or not I should appeal?

• What must an appeal letter contain?

• Where must the appeal be sent?

• Grounds for appeals

• Opportunity for you to respond to staff comments

• The Appeals Committee

When Must An Appeal Be Lodged?

If you wish to appeal against your grade, you must do so within 15 working days of the posting of the results on MyInfo. Where exceptional circumstances apply, the Chair of the Student Appeals Committee may allow additional time for submission of the appeal. All appeals must be in writing and must include an appeals application form.

An acknowledgement of receipt of your appeal will be forwarded to you from the Secretary to the Student Appeals Committee if you have met valid grounds for appeal. Once comments are available you will be advised, as well as when the Student Appeals Committee meeting has been scheduled to consider your appeal. The process is very thorough and can take 8 to 12 weeks to complete.

Where a final grade is released later (for example, because of supplementary or deferred assessment), any appeal must be submitted within 15 working days of the posting of the results on MyInfo.

It is not possible to appeal against a grade of supplementary assessment, as that is not a final grade. If you wish to appeal against deferred assessment, that appeal falls outside the procedures outlined here but can be accessed through the Student Appeals Committee web site.

How Do I Know Whether Or Not I Should Appeal?

The Guidelines approved by Academic Council, setting out what are valid grounds for submitting an appeal, and also what are not valid grounds, are detailed below.

If you are considering an appeal, it is often useful beforehand to see your examination script (if the unit had an examination). Under the degree regulations, you are entitled to inspect your marked examination script and to discuss the marking with the Unit Coordinator or nominee within 14 days of the notification of results. Inspecting your script will give you a better feel for how well you actually performed in the examination; sometimes your memory of this may be overly rosy, or you may find that your performance was far from the grade you expected and so any procedural matters you wish to raise in an appeal might be insufficient to warrant a change in grade. Should you have concerns about teaching and/or assessment, these should be raised with the Dean of School first. Students must be realistic in evaluating whether their appeal has prospects of success as the Appeals Committee does not uphold all appeals.

What Must An Appeal Letter Contain?

Your appeal letter must give your name and student number, your contact details (street address, telephone number and email address), the unit code and title, the name of your tutor, and the grounds of your appeal. When stating your grounds, you need to do more than simply list a ground; you need to argue your case and provide some supporting information if you can. On the other hand, it is not necessary to submit a lengthy document; the appeal should be concise and students should aim to keep it to two to three pages. If more is needed then a limit of 10 pages will be accepted.

You also should print or download the attached form (PDF for paper submission; Word form for electronic submission). [Before downloading this file, you may wish to check the CWIS Help section on accessing PDF files.]

The Secretary to the Student Appeals Committee might ask you to provide additional information. Please note that if your appeal states no grounds, or the grounds given have been classified by Academic Council as invalid (see below), then your appeal will not be considered at all. Instead it will be returned to you and you will have seven calendar days to submit a revised appeal.

Where Must the Appeal Be Sent?

The appeal must be handed in, posted, faxed or emailed to the Secretary of the Student Appeals Committee, studentappeals@murdoch.edu.au (full contact details are in the form linked above). If you are emailing any attachments, these must be accessible by Microsoft Office.

Grounds For Appeals

Academic Council guidelines state that the valid grounds for submitting an appeal include:

• The student's grade was not based on the specified assessment methods. (As specified in a study guide or course handout at the start of the course. After the start of the course, variations to the published assessment methods and weighting require the support of a majority of the students in the course; subsequently all students must receive written notification of the change. Any variations should be finalised by the end of week 3 of the course);

• A piece of work handed in on time had not been marked;

• The student's progress in the unit had been disadvantaged by not obtaining feedback on assessed work within a reasonable time;

• Demonstrated bias by the tutor or Unit Co-ordinator against the student that affected the grade or mark awarded to the student (this allegation must be supported by specific instances);

• Alleged wrong advice from staff teaching the unit (e.g. re the content of the examination or approval of an extension for an assignment);

• Other grounds (except those in the list of not valid grounds) if the Appeals Committee accepts these as reasonable;

• The assessment methods used were in breach of the University's Assessment Policy, unless an exception has been approved by Academic Council.

Academic Council has determined that the following are not valid grounds:

• the objectives of the unit;

• the assessment methods approved for the unit;

• the standard required to receive particular grades in the unit;

• a study overload;

• personal and medical problems, which normally should be dealt with by deferred assessment;

• financial implications of not passing the unit;

• grades received by the student in other units;

• the amount of work the student has done;

• a penalty imposed for plagiarism in accordance with University guidelines

• general grievances;

• poor teaching;

• the need for additional marks to enable a pass/grade;

• a delay in receiving written notification of a supplementary assessment

These guidelines also apply to appeals against honours results, with the additional guideline that alleged inadequacy of supervision (including alleged lack of feedback about draft chapters of theses) is not a valid ground for appeal.

Where the Student Appeals Committee upholds an appeal on grounds which it believes are applicable to some or all other students in that unit, it should recommend to the Unit Co-ordinator or to the Dean of School that the results of the other students be reviewed also.

Opportunity For You To Respond To Staff Comments

Your appeal will be sent to the Unit Coordinator and Program Chair for their comments (or supervisor and Program Chair in the instance of an appeal against a honours grade). If you wish, you have the opportunity to see these written comments and to respond to them before the Student Appeals Committee meets. This is to ensure that the appeals process is an open and fair one. However, the timing of the appeals process is tight, so there is not sufficient time for this to be done by mail. Generally comments are emailed to a student. The attached form asks you to indicate how you wish to obtain the staff comments. Please remember that the onus is on you to take the initiative in obtaining the comments; this will not happen automatically. If after reading the staff comments you wish to respond to them, you should hand-deliver, email or fax your response within three working days.

The Appeals Committee

Appeals are heard by the Student Appeals Committee, whose decision on the merits of the appeal is final. The membership includes a student member, who is not present as an advocate for each student appeal, but to represent wider student interests in the fairness and justice of decisions. Appellants are entitled to brief the student representative on their appeal.

Contact details can be obtained from the office of the Secretary to the Student Appeals Committee. You will be advised in writing of the decision made by the Student Appeals Committee. If your appeal is unsuccessful, you will be given the reasons.

	Document Author: Office of Central Student Administration Document Contact: Webmaster Authorised by: Darren Munday, Director <d.munday@murdoch.edu.au> Disclaimer & Copyright Notice © 2007 Murdoch University	Document creation: 8 September, 1999 Expiry date: NA Last Modified: 15:14, 28 March, 2008.
	URL: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/oss/legacy_pages/appeals.html