University Review Procedure

The University Review Procedure can be used by every student who has received a formal decision under a procedure which confirms access to the Review Procedure.

If you are unhappy with a decision made by the University under its policies and procedures, you can request a review of that decision within 14 days of receiving it but only if you have one of the following grounds:

• Procedural irregularity, i.e. the process described to reach the original decision was not followed;
• The decision and/or remedy was unreasonable and not supported by the facts of the case;
• There is new information or evidence that could not have been made available at the time when your original case was considered.

In order to request a review, you must

• Write to the Head of Student Cases at studentcases@cardiff.ac.uk within 14 days of receiving the decision you want reviewing. Requests outside of this deadline will only be considered if you can explain and evidence why it was not possible or reasonable for you to meet it.
• Explain clearly in your email what ground(s) you are requesting a review under.
• Explain how you have an arguable case under that ground:
• What was the irregularity and what did it cause in your case?
• What decision/remedy was unreasonable? Why was it unreasonable and how did that unreasonableness affect you?
• What is the new information? Why could it not have been made available before and what difference does that new information make?
• Provide evidence to support what you say. Evidence should ideally be independent and support all elements of your argument. If, for example, you are requesting a review because there was an irregularity in University Procedure, your evidence should support the irregularity and the negative impact on you. Please let me know if you are struggling to think of anything.

The Head of Student Cases will then decide if your request for review is eligible for consideration and should inform you of this decision within 7 days. If you do not give one of the permitted grounds and/or do not present an arguable case and/or do not provide evidence, the review request may be rejected; it is essential that you explain your grounds and argument clearly and concisely and provide the best evidence you are able to get.

If your request is deemed eligible for review it will be passed to a Senior Officer/Academic who is independent of your School. The Senior Officer should consider

• your request and evidence; and
• the University decision and the reasons for it; and
• all associated papers and previous investigations where applicable.

The Senior Officer/Academic can then decide to

• Dismiss the review and uphold the original decision; or
• Refer the case back to the original decision-maker where a ground is upheld; or
• Make another decision permitted by University Regulation, Policy or Procedure.

You should be informed of this decision within 28 days of formal consideration.

Managing your Expectations

The University Review Procedure can take some time to complete, and therefore is not a 'quick fix'. The Office for the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) recommends in its Good Practice Framework that appeals and complaints procedures should take 90 days to complete. However, we are aware that there are circumstances where the University have exceeded this time scale, and unfortunately this is not uncommon.

Please note that Student Advice is independent from the University, and therefore cannot provide you with an update on the status of your Review Request. You will need to email studentcases@cardiff.ac.uk to request an update on your Review Request. 

If you feel that the Review Procedure has taken a significant amount of time and the University has significantly exceeded its own deadlines, you might wish to consider making a complaint on the basis of the delay and, importantly, its impact on you. This might seem ironic, and an adviser can talk to you about this or send you written guidance on the things you might wish to consider - get in touch with us if you need to discuss this further.

Contact Student Advice

Advice@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 (0)2920 781410