What will happen once I submit a SAAC appeal?

When you submit a SAAC appeal, it will be reviewed by the Academic Quality Service who may refuse the application and send it back to you if:

• The form is incomplete
• The form has been submitted outside of the deadline, without giving a good reason
• The form has been submitted by a third party with no authorisation from you (the appellant)
• No evidence has been provided to support the appeal
• The appeal does not meet one of the specified grounds

If your appeal meets the requirements and is accepted, then the University have 28 days from the date it was received by the SAAC Secretary to consider your appeal at an Academic Appeal Review Panel (AARP). This panel will be made up of a Chair of SAAC and a Deputy Executive Dean, supported by a secretary from the Academic Quality Service. 

Most cases are reviewed by the Academic Appeal Review Panel and you will not be expected to present your case in person. 

Once the AARP have met and made their decision, they will normally inform you of the outcome within 10 days of that meeting date, and you will be sent a copy of your SAAC file and will be provided with a completion of procedures letter, along with details on your right to complain further to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIAHE). 

In very exceptional cases, the AARP may decide that your appeal needs to be referred to a full meeting of the Senate Academic Appeals Committee (SAAC), which would include, as appropriate, the Head of your College, the Head of your Department and the Chair of the relevant Board of Examiners, or, if you are a postgraduate research student, the relevant internal examiner or supervisor or adviser. 

If your appeal is referred to a full meeting of the Senate Academic Appeal Committee, then you may be invited to attend and speak. If you are invited then you would be allowed to be accompanied, if you wish, by another registered Durham student or a member of staff from the Durham Students’ Union, or you may nominate a proxy who is a member of the University community, to present your case on your behalf. 

If the AARP decide that your case needs to go to a full SAAC meeting, then this meeting should take place within another 28 days of the AARP's decision, and you should be notified of the decision within 10 days of the SAAC meeting and receive a Completion of Procedures letter and details on your right to complain further to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIAHE). 

Please keep reading here to find out what the possible outcomes of a SAAC appeal are.