Student Disciplinary Appeals
If you have received an outcome saying that misconduct has occurred after a student disciplinary investigation, you can appeal this decision using the Disciplinary Appeal process.
Your appeal could be because you do not think misconduct occurred, or if you accept that misconduct occurred but you think that the outcome applied (also called the ‘penalty’) in your case was not correct.
There are two eligible grounds for a disciplinary appeal: procedural error and reasonableness. Your appeal must meet one of these grounds to be eligible and will not be accepted if it doesn’t meet either.
Procedural error means that the disciplinary investigation or outcome was not considered in line with the policy, and the error was sufficiently significant to call into question the original decision.
Reasonableness means that the disciplinary outcome cannot reasonably be sustained and that no reasonable person could reach the same decision in light of the available evidence. Dissatisfaction or disagreement with an outcome is not evidence of unreasonableness. Reasonableness is about whether the decision is proportionate and consistent with regulations, policies and other comparable decisions. It is also about whether the original decision maker has provided a suitable explanation of why they reached the decision they did.
Disciplinary appeals should be submitted within 14 days of receiving the disciplinary outcome. If your appeal is submitted after 14 days, you will need to provide a good reason and evidence for why you were unable to submit the appeal sooner.
If you think you meet the grounds for a disciplinary appeal, you can submit a form via AskQM. Log into AskQM, and select 'new enquiry' then choose Appeals and Complaints as the enquiry category followed by 'Disciplinary Appeal' as the subcategory.