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STUDENT COMPLAINTS AND APPEAL POLICY

COMPLAINTS & APPEAL POLICY 

Aim: 

  • To lay down ground rules for complaints which any student can raise during the conduct of a programme. 
  • To enable the learner to enquire, question or appeal against an assessment decision. In order to do this, the centre will: 
    • Inform the learner at induction, of the Complaints & Appeals policy and procedure. 
    • Record, track and validate any complaint and appeal process put up by a learner. 
    • Keep appeals records for inspection by the awarding body for a minimum of 7 years. 
    • Will take appropriate action to protect the interests of other learners and the integrity of the qualification, when the outcome of a complaint and an appeal in the same regard questions the validity of other results. 
    • Monitor complaints and appeals to inform quality improvement.

COMPLAINTS & APPEALS PROCESS

  • Appeals procedure will be used for requesting a review of a decision about a student’s academic progress, e.g. assessment marks, progression decision such as failing a module, or any other such academic review required by a student where he/she feels dissatisfied. A student can also appeal for procedural irregularity or if assessment was affected by exceptional circumstances. 
  • Students can use the complaints procedure to express dissatisfaction about an academic/non-academic service rendered to the student.
  • If a learner is not happy with any assessment decision, the learner will send a mail to the respective course administrator or faculty/course leader, or talk to them about it. 
  • The respective faculty/course administrator will enquire into the allegation and review the evidence provided by the student. The assignment assessment will be reviewed by another assessor nominated by Course Leader and he/she will either change the assessment decision or will keep it the same. This will be done within maximum timescale of 3 days. 
  • If the student is still unhappy with new assessor’s decision, then the appeal will go to the Associate Dean/ Academic Head for final decision. This will be done within maximum timescale of 3 days, after new assessor has given his/her decision in the matter. 
  • Thus in a timescale of maximum 9 days period, the appeal from the student should be finally resolved by the Associate Dean/Academic Head. 
  • If a student still wants to appeal and is not satisfied with the assessment-related matters, he/ she can appeal to the respective University/awarding body for review and intervention into the matter.
  • The student will be sent a written statement setting out the decision that has been made and the reasons for reaching that decision, together with any actions required by the student or the partner institution to follow up and implement that decision. The written statement will also include details of any further right of appeal available to the student if they remain dissatisfied with the final outcome of the institution’s procedures. 
  • If a student has any other complaint with regard to administration or against any staff member, then a thorough investigation will be done by the Student Affairs Committee members and the result of the outcome conveyed to the student. 

APPEALS TO THE UNIVERSITY/ AWARDING BODIES 

There shall be a final right of appeal to the University/ Awarding Body against a decision of a Board of Examiners/ EE only if the appeal is against a decision related to either:

  • Progression from one stage to another of the programme 
  • A final award; and also both of the following criteria are met:  
  • All appropriate internal procedures at the Westford Institute have been exhausted;  
  • There are reasonable grounds to believe that the Westford Institution’s internal procedures and regulations for dealing with appeals were not implemented correctly or fairly.

GROUNDS FOR APPEAL 

A student may appeal against a decision of a Board of Examiners only if one or more of the following grounds apply: 

  • Where the student provides written evidence in support of a claim that performance in the assessment was adversely affected by extenuating circumstances which the student was unable or, for valid reasons, unwilling to divulge before the Board of Examiners reached its decision; 
  • Where there is prima facie evidence, whether provided by the student or otherwise, that: 
    • There has been a material administrative error; 
    • The examinations or other assessments were not conducted in accordance with the regulations for the programme and/or special arrangements formally agreed;
    • Some other material irregularity relevant to the Board of Examiner’s decision has occurred.

OTHER GROUNDS FOR APPEAL

  • Disagreement with the academic judgement of a Board of Examiners cannot constitute grounds for an appeal. 
  • An appeal must be made within the time limits and in the manner prescribed in the Westford Institution’s approved appeals procedure.
  • A formal complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction with a service provided or the lack of a service. It must relate to services that students were led to believe would be provided.
  • Where a student raises a matter of concern that does not meet the grounds for appeal highlighted above, the matter may be dealt with as a formal complaint. In the event that a complaint is upheld, where there is no right of appeal, an assessment result or a decision of a Board of Examiners cannot be changed.

COMMUNICATION PROCESS

  • It will be ensured that regular communication process will be followed during the whole quality assurance process, as well as during other academic and administrative matters being dealt between staff and students. 
  • An open communication system will be followed wherein all matters, including matters disagreed upon, or matters raising conflicts will be tried to be resolved internally. If a matter cannot be resolved internally within its team members, then it will be referred to the Academic Council.
  • All students’ complaints and grievances, including general enquiries will be addressed within 24 hours of the student raising a query/ complaint. If the matter cannot be resolved within a certain time, inform the concerned student about a definite timeline when his/ her matter will be resolved/ or cannot be resolved, with reasons. 
  • Regular faculties’ quality assurance and internal review meetings will be organized every month, wherein feedback from students will be discussed, all academic and administrative matters discussed and previous points’ implementation discussed. The minutes of meetings will be recorded. 
  • The Student Affairs Committee Members will meet every quarterly at least to discuss and communicate any actionable points which require their intervention.
  • Extreme good teamwork will be ensured by all staff members with effective and efficient communications process to ensure that timely and fast action is taken and communicated to all concerned.