» Academic Appeals Procedure

ACADEMIC APPEALS PROCEDURE

If you decide to an appeal against an academic or practical marking decision of the College, you must do so within 14 days of the formal publication of your results.

The appeal should be addressed to the Senior Academic Officer, clearly define in writing the specific grounds for this appeal. You may pick up an academic appeal form for this purpose at reception. The Senior Academic Officer will treat all personal information which is received in the course of dealing with your appeal as confidential. Such information will be kept, used and shared, where the Senior Academic Officer finds necessary and appropriate with other members of the College, only for the purposes of investigating and determining the outcome of your appeal.

First the Senior Academic Officer will refer your appeal to the Vice President of the College for discussion and for further information to determine if your appeal will be considered. On receiving the Vice President’s response, the Senior Academic Officer will consult with the instructor to see if the case for appeal accords with the specified grounds for appeal.

If the decision that the grounds for appeal do not accord with those stated under the grounds for appeal, the Senior Academic Officer will notify you of that decision in writing within 15 working days of receiving the academic appeal form. The appeal will be dismissed and no further action will be taken.

If it is determined that the grounds for appeal do accord with those prescribed under grounds for appeal, the Senior Academic Officer will take one of the following actions, depending on the grounds for appeal.

In the case that there has been a mathematical or procedural error in recording or calculating the marks on which a decision was based the Senior Academic Officer will consult the Vice President. If an error is found then the instructors/administrators decision will be amended if appropriate, including the reclassification of a Diploma.

In the case of an appeal involving irregularities in the marking/assessment process, circumstances which had not been known at the time a decision was made or allegations of bias, the College will establish an appeal committee.

Appeal Committee

The members of the appeal committee will not consist of the members that have been directly involved in the College original decision.

The Appeal committee will consist of the College President, an instructor in the related program of study and a student. The appeal committee has authority to determine the way in which it will consider the appeal before it.

You will be given adequate notice of the date, time and venue for the meeting, which you will be invited to attend.

You may be accompanied by “a friend” of your choice during the meeting.

You will be informed in writing of the results of the appeal within 14 days of the meeting; you may receive notification of a delay pending further investigation.

If you believe that the internal review appeal process has been incorrectly conducted or feel the outcome is unreasonable, then you have the right to raise the matter to an external and independent arbitration company. The cost of this arbitration would be paid by the student.

Feb 15, 2012