Progression decisions

A progression decision is a decision made by the Board of Examiners, which is regulated by the University, about whether a student can carry on to the next stage of their course. This decision is made at the end of each academic year. 

Depending on the student’s academic performance during the year, the Board may decide that a student has completed sufficient credits to progress to the next level/year of their course; that a student needs to go part-time so that they can retake the modules that they failed in the previous year; or that a student cannot continue on their course.

Once the Board has made its decision and if a student is unhappy with the outcome of the progression decision, then the student’s only option is to submit an appeal against it.

I have received my progression decision. What does this mean?

Please see here for a full list of progression decisions.
 

What do I need to do to change my progression decision?

You will need to submit an appeal via University of East London’s’s online appeals form within 10 working days of the date your progression decision was sent to you. You can submit a progression appeal beyond this point, but it becomes more difficult to have it accepted. 

You will need to demonstrate a valid reason for your appeal that is recognised by the University. The five grounds of appeal and an explanation for each can be found on our appeals page. We find that the ground most commonly used by students to appeal progression decisions is:

“If the student had been prevented from attending an exam or submitting coursework by illness or another good reason that is related to the student’s personal circumstances, but could not apply for extenuating circumstances by the deadline.”
This means that the student had extenuating circumstances at the time of their assessments but was unable to submit an extenuating circumstances claim during the academic year. 

If you are not sure that this explanation applies to your situation and you are not able to make an appeal on the grounds of extenuating circumstances, then please contact the Students’ Union at studentadvice@uel.ac.uk for further advice.

Completing the appeals form

Personal Details

This section asks for your personal details, including contact information and details of your course. It then asks if you wish to appeal or complain. Please select ‘appeal’, which will open the remainder of the appeals form.

Appeal Details

Firstly, you will need to add each of the modules you were enrolled in during the academic year, completing one box for each. You must fill out every section. If you do not, you will not be able to submit the form. You do not need to add each individual assessmentfrom the year, just the modules. If the extenuation claim is accepted, extenuation will be applied to all of your components in that module.

Where it asks for your component code, just put ‘N/A’ or ‘all’. In ‘Award/Grade’ you should put your progression decision code (FN, PF etc). The ground will be “unable to attend/submit assessment due to illness or other good cause and didn’t meet extenuating deadline”.

Are you submitting a late appeal?

You will need to select ‘yes’ to this question as you will need to explain why you were unable to submit an extenuation claim during the academic year. The fact that a student did not know about the process or were unaware that there was a deadline to do so is not accepted by the Appeals Team as a valid reason. The appeal is more likely to be accepted if the personal circumstances that prevented you from submitting your assessments and passing your modules also contributed to you being unable to submit your extenuation application on time. For example, if a student was experiencing mental health issues, which affected the student’s performance in an exam. These mental health issues may also have impacted on their motivation and concentration which also meant they missed the extenuation application deadline.

You will only have 600 characters in this section so you will need to be brief, but you should include an explanation that covers the period from the extenuation deadline date (this is generally set at the end of the academic year/semester), up to the date you submit your appeal.

Please provide details of your appeal

Where it asks you to provide details of your appeal, this is where you should provide information about your extenuating circumstances. You should include not only your circumstances, but also how this impacted on your study throughout the year.

Any supporting evidence you have should be emailed to the Appeals Team at appeals@uel.ac.uk once you have submitted your appeal.

You may find it helpful if an adviser from the Students’ Union reviews your responses to the above two questions before you submit your appeal. If you would like an adviser to provide feedback on your draft responses, please email them to studentadvice@uel.ac.uk and complete our contact form.

We will not be able to respond with our feedback until we have received the contact form. Please make sure to do this as soon as you have received your progression decision. Do not delay in sending it through to us, as if we receive it too close to the deadline we may not be able to provide feedback in time.

Do not miss the deadline to submit your appeal because you are waiting on a response from us. University of East London will not accept that as a reason for submitting late and the Students’ Union expects all students to take responsibility for ensuring that their appeal is submitted on time.

Do I need to provide evidence in support of my appeal?

Yes, you will need to provide evidence. Ideally, you should provide evidence of your extenuating circumstances during your assessment period, as well as evidence to support why you were not able to submit your extenuation application on time. This may be in the form of a support letter from your doctor or mental health professional, discharge papers from the hospital or a death certificate in the case of a bereavement.

You should send your evidence to the Appeals Team at appeals@uel.ac.uk once you have submitted your late extenuation appeal.

What happens once my appeal is submitted?

There are several steps that your progression appeal must go through before it is accepted. First, the Appeals Team will check whether your appeal meets the ground you are appealing under, if it was submitted within the 10-day time frame and whether your evidence is sufficient to support your claim. If the Appeals Team is satisfied your appeal has met these requirements, they will forward it on to the Extenuation Team for consideration.

The Extenuation Team will review your circumstances during the year and decide whether they meet the criteria for extenuating circumstances. If they do, then extenuation will be applied to all the modules you included on your appeal. If they do not, then your appeal will be rejected.

If your extenuating circumstances are accepted by the Extenuation Team, then your appeal will be forwarded to the Chair of the Progression Board, who will reconsider your progression decision given this new information. They may decide to change your progression decision, or they may decide to keep the decision unchanged. Either way, you will be informed of their decision.

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