You can’t appeal simply because you disagree with academic judgement, as this isn’t valid grounds for appeal. Academic judgements are the decisions made by academic staff regarding a student’s academic performance, using their expert knowledge and understanding of their subject area. You can’t make an appeal because you think you deserve a higher mark, or because you disagree with the mark given. 

For undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, decisions about your marks and progression are made by the Board of Examiners. More information on Boards of Examiners’ decisions can be found on the Exam Results FAQ webpage.

You can view your Board of Examiners decision in your results letter. You can either go to the Curriculum History page on PEGASUS, or you can go to the Study section in StrathApp, tap the Results icon and then tap the Letter button in the Latest Decision area.

If you’re a postgraduate research student, decisions about your final award are made by the Research Examining Committee, and decisions about your progress are made by the Review Panel. You can only appeal their decisions if you’re required to withdraw or move to another degree programme. For more details, see the Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Students, Postgraduate Research Monitoring Framework, and General Academic Regulations: Postgraduate Research Degree Regulations. 

When can I make an appeal?

You can only make an appeal once your Board of Examiners’ decision has been released and is showing on PEGASUS in your results letter. You can’t make an appeal against unapproved results. If you are unsure, you can find out how to access your Board of Examiners’ decision and results letter on the Exam Results FAQ webpage or in the dropdown box above.

You can only submit a Stage 1 Faculty Appeal once your Board of Examiners’ decision has been released; you can only submit a Stage 2 Senate Appeal once you have the outcome to your Faculty Appeal. 

When can’t I make an appeal? 

You can’t make an appeal against the below types of decision, as these are not Board of Examiners’ decisions. If you wish to challenge such a decision you can do so through the University Complaints Procedure. 

• Compulsory withdrawal due to lack of student route visa condition compliance 
• Failure to register 
• An exit award made as a result of a compulsory withdrawal decision due to lack of compliance with student route visa conditions, or failure to register 

Any penalty imposed as a result of the procedures listed below cannot be changed via an academic appeal. Each of these procedures have their own appeal processes which are outlined in the procedure documents. 

• Student Discipline Procedures 
• Fitness to Practise 
• Procedure For Managing Students with Criminal Proceedings and Unspent Criminal Convictions 

If you’re unsure which process to applies to you, or need advice, you can contact the Strath Union Advice Hub.

To submit an appeal, you need to fill in the Faculty Appeal Form for Faculty Appeals, and the Senate Appeal Form for Senate Appeals. 

• Faculty Appeal Form
• Senate Appeal Form

You should submit your appeal form, explaining your grounds for appeal, and attaching any supporting evidence to your Faculty Office, or the Senate Office from your University email account. 

• Evidence Guide for Students

Any communication relating to your appeal, including the outcome, will be sent to your University email address. If you do not have access to your University email account, please contact the relevant Faculty Office or the Senate Office to inform us of an appropriate alternative email address. 

Faculty Appeal:  

• Business School: sbs-appealscomplaints@strath.ac.uk 
• Faculty of Engineering: eng-appealscomplaints@strath.ac.uk 
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: hass-appeals@strath.ac.uk 
• Faculty of Science: science-appealscomplaints@strath.ac.uk 

Senate Appeal: 

• senate-appeals@strath.ac.uk 

Faculty Appeals must be made under one, or both, of the following grounds: 

• Medical, personal, or other circumstances which affected a student’s academic performance, that the student was unable, for good reason, to tell the University about prior to the meeting of the Board of Examiners. 
• A significant administrative error or breach of policy or procedure.

Evidence must be provided for the appropriate grounds. If both grounds are cited, evidence for each should be included. For further information, see the Personal Circumstances Evidence Guide for Students.

A Faculty Appeal should be submitted no later than 2 weeks after the “Results Released” date which is visible on your results letter confirming your Board of Examiners’ decision. This letter is available on PEGASUS, more information on how you can access your Board of Examiners’ decision can be found on the Exam Results FAQ webpage. 

Late appeals will only be considered where a compelling and evidenced reason is provided for the late submission. 

Within the appeal form you should clearly explain your circumstances, the impact this has had on your academic performance, and the grounds you have for making an appeal. You must submit the evidence you wish to be considered as part of your appeal with your appeal form and by the deadline. The University will not seek evidence on your behalf. 

Evidence submitted should align with the Personal Circumstances Evidence Guide for Students. Evidence may not be accepted if it does not meet the standards described in the guidelines. 

An appeal submitted by the deadline will normally be considered within 30 working days of the deadline. If there is a delay in responding to an appeal you will be informed of the reason for this as soon as possible. 

There is more detail about how your appeal will be considered in the Academic Appeals Policy and Procedure. 

Senate Appeals must be made under one, or both, of the following grounds:

• Substantial new information which was not available, for good reason, at the Faculty Appeal stage. 
• A breach of the appeals procedure in the consideration of the Faculty Appeal. 

Evidence must be provided for the appropriate grounds. If both grounds are cited, evidence for each should be included. For further information, see the Personal Circumstances Evidence Guide for Students.

A Senate Appeal should be submitted no later than 3 weeks from the date of the Faculty Appeal outcome letter. Late appeals will only be considered where a compelling and evidenced reason is provided for the late submission. 

Within the appeal form you should explain your grounds for making a Senate Appeal. You must submit the evidence you wish to be considered as part of your appeal with your appeal form and by the deadline. The University will not seek evidence on your behalf. 

Evidence submitted should align with the Personal Circumstances Evidence Guide for Students. Evidence may not be accepted if it does not meet the standards described in the guidelines. 

You do not need to submit any documentation that was submitted with your Faculty Appeal. All Faculty Appeal documentation will be considered as part of the Senate Appeal process. 

An appeal submitted by the deadline will normally be considered within 30 working days. If there is a delay in responding to an appeal you will be informed of the reason for this as soon as possible. 

There is more detail about how your appeal will be considered in the Academic Appeals Policy and Procedure. 

You must submit the evidence you wish to be considered as part of your appeal with your appeal form. The University will not seek evidence on your behalf. 

Evidence submitted should align with the Personal Circumstances Evidence Guide for Students. Evidence may not be accepted if it does not meet the standards described in the guidelines. 

Evidence should: 

• Be provided and signed by an independent person, organisation, or support service. Examples of this would be a doctor or other medical practitioner, counsellor, solicitor, member of University staff, Strath Union Advice Hub, Chaplain or other religious leader. 
• Confirm matters of fact, and where appropriate explain the full impact of the circumstances on engagement with study. 
• Be dated from the affected assessment or confirm awareness of circumstances at the time of the affected assessment. 
• Be written in English or accompanied by a certified and dated translation from a professional translation service. 
• Enable clear reading, and where letters or reports are provided these should be typed, signed, and dated. 

You should avoid providing photos of people, injuries or accidents when submitting evidence. 

If you are an Undergraduate or Postgraduate Taught student you may be able to continue with your studies while your appeal is under consideration, in order not to disrupt your studies if your appeal is upheld. There is more detail for Postgraduate Research students and on specific circumstances where you can’t continue with your studies in the Academic Appeals Policy and Procedure. 

You should speak to your Department to understand what is allowed while you appeal is in progress. This could be your Adviser of Studies, Programme Leader, Year Leader, or Director of Postgraduate Research/Graduate School as appropriate. 

Being allowed to continue with your studies while your appeal is under consideration is not a guarantee that your appeal will be upheld. 

Graduation 

Submitting an appeal can have an impact on the timescale for your graduation. 

If you submit an appeal and then graduate before the appeal process is complete, the University will consider this as you having withdrawn your appeal. 

If a you are making an appeal against your final award, you must inform the Graduations Team. Graduation is considered to be acceptance of a final award and an appeal submitted after you have graduated will not be heard. 

An appeal outcome will not normally lead to assessments being re-marked, a change to any mark awarded, or an increase in an award classification. This is because it is not possible to equitably quantify the effect a specific set of circumstances may have had on a student’s individual performance. 

Normally, an upheld or partially upheld appeal will lead to an attempt at an assessment being discounted, or a student being offered the opportunity to repeat one or more modules. An Appeals Committee may, in exceptional circumstances, request that a Board of Examiners reconsider a case in light of new information. 

An appeal outcome can have funding and finance implications, more information can be found on the following pages: Registration Status & Funding Implications, Implications for Visa Holders. 

Making an appeal or an appeal outcome can have visa implications. If a student has concerns about the impact of an appeal or appeal outcome on their visa status, they should contact the Visa Compliance Team. 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of your Senate Appeal, you can take your case forward to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is the final stage for complaints about most organisations that provide public services in Scotland, including Universities. Their service is independent, free and confidential. 

If you have completed the internal stages of an academic appeal, you have the right to apply to the SPSO for external review of the handling of your appeal by the University. The SPSO will consider how the University handled the appeal in the context of its internal procedures. The SPSO will not change the outcome of an appeal or consider issues of academic judgement. 

Further information is available here: Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

If you are making an appeal against a Board of Examiners decision from the 2024/25 academic year or earlier, the previous procedure will be relevant for you: 

• Personal Circumstances and Academic Appeals Procedure

Access the pre-2025/26 appeal forms.

Appeals received twelve months or more after the relevant Board of Examiners’ decision will not be considered in any circumstances.