Find out how to appeal a decision made by an Academic Misconduct Panel.
Appealing a decision made by an Academic Misconduct Panel
This type of appeal is for students who have received a decision from an Academic Misconduct Panel stating that misconduct has occurred in one of your assessments.
Academic Misconduct includes:
- plagiarism
- cheating in exams
- collusion
- personation (including purchasing work or using generative AI without permission)
- breaching research ethics
- fabricating results.
Find out more about the different types of Academic Misconduct.
Before submitting an appeal
See what you need to do before submitting your appeal.
Important: You should also read appendix three in our academic appeals regulations [PDF 290.43KB], which provides further information about appeals against a decision of an Academic Misconduct Panel.
Appeal process
See the different steps in the appeal process.
You can find out more about each step when appealing a decision made by an Academic Misconduct Panel below.
Informal resolution
There are benefits to making an informal resolution request instead of a formal appeal. It can help you understand the reasons for the Academic Misconduct Panel’s decision and the penalty imposed.
You can make an informal resolution request by contacting the Academic Misconduct Office by emailing academicmisconduct@sussex.ac.uk within 10 university working days of the date of your panel outcome report.
Make sure that you:
- make it clear that you are seeking informal resolution
- carefully detail your query.
Formal appeal
You may decide to proceed straight to the formal appeal stage. This might be because you do not feel an informal resolution is appropriate for you, or if you do not feel that your concerns were resolved.
See where to get advice when making a formal appeal.
If you have attempted to access advice from the Student Centre or the Student Union as soon as possible after receiving the Panel’s' decision, but they were not available to you in good time, this may be considered as a valid reason for submitting a late appeal.
You should ask the relevant advice team (Students' Union or Student Centre) to provide a supporting statement to this effect and you must complete the ‘Late Appeal’ section in your appeal form.
Exceptional Circumstances
Exceptional circumstances are not acceptable grounds for appeal against the decision of an Academic Misconduct Panel. The purpose of the Panel is to decide on the balance of probabilities whether misconduct occurred, and the extent of that misconduct. It cannot take into account personal or health difficulties. If you were experiencing illness or any other mitigating personal circumstances at the time of your assessment, then you may be able to submit an Exceptional Circumstances claim.
How to submit an appeal
To submit an appeal, fill in the academic misconduct appeal form [DOC 30KB].
You should submit it to the Appeals Office by email at appeals@sussex.ac.uk.
You can submit supporting evidence if you feel that this will help your case. You will receive an email acknowledgment of your submission. This acts as a receipt which you should keep. Your appeal will be investigated, and the Appeals Office will notify you of the outcome of your Formal Appeal by email.
Appeal outcome review
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your formal appeal, you can, in certain circumstances submit a request to the Academic Appeals Panel to review your appeal outcome.
You will be sent a form to make this request in your formal appeal outcome email. You must send your completed form to: appeals@sussex.ac.uk attaching any supporting evidence. You will receive an email acknowledgment of your submission. This acts as a receipt which you should keep.
Your review request will be assessed and you will be informed of the Academic Appeal Panel’s decision by email. If your request does not meet the technical conditions for a review, or if the panel determines that the rejection of your formal appeal was reasonable and correct, you will be issued with a Completion of Procedures letter. If you are offered an outcome but are not satisfied with the outcome, you can request a Completion of Procedures letter.
Completion of procedures
This is a letter or email that informs you that our internal appeal procedures have concluded.
If you are not satisfied with the final outcome, then you can ask for an independent review by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education by raising a complaint with them.
You will be provided with information about how to do this in your Completion of Procedures letter.