Lodging an Internal Appeal: Article 81 Explained 

Per Article 81 of the Education and Examination Code, students have the right to lodge an internal appeal to contest

• an exam decision
• a disciplinary exam decision
• a decision on an application for exemptions
• a refusal to enrol in a preparatory and/or academic bridging programme
• decision to refuse an exception to the admission requirements related to the learning account
• a decision to impose binding conditions or a refusal to enrol
• a decision to terminate the work placement or other practical course unit early
• a decision to refuse additional education and exam facilities to students who have been granted a special status on the grounds of a disability
• a decision to refuse education and exam facilities that have been granted to students with a special status

Internal Appeals: Admissibility and Proper Procedure

You must lodge your appeal by registered (= a letter registered by Bpost) and signed (= bearing your signature) mail to the Rector (Vice-chancellor) at Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 25, 9000 Gent within 7 calendar days after the contested decision was announced.  
At the same time, you must send an electronic copy of your appeal to ombuds@ugent.be.
An appeal is inadmissible if it is not sent by registered mail or signed. The term of 7 calendar days cannot be extended, either. The latter is a legally binding expiration term stipulated by the Higher Education Code (= education legislation in Flanders).
Make sure you follow these steps correctly. If not, your appeal will not be processed.  

In the case of exam and deliberation decisions, you must lodge your appeal within 7 calendar days after the public announcement of exam results (= publication of exam results in OASIS).
You can lodge a provisional appeal if the feedback is not scheduled until after these 7 calendar days.  In the case of a provisional appeal, you send us your appeal, signed and by registered mail, within the legal expiration term of 7 calendar days, as described above. However, you include in your letter that feedback will only occur after the 7 calendar days have expired (be sure to add the actual feedback date) and that you will either substantiate your appeal with content-based arguments or retract it should the exam mark be fair. In case of a provisional appeal, the lecturer is not yet informed of this so that the feedback can take place in serenity.
Please note: a provisional appeal also has an expiration date. Inform the Office of the Ombudsperson (ombuds@ugent.be) as soon as the feedback session has occurred. After this period, a provisional appeal becomes without subject if the student did not provide a statement of the facts and resources to the Office of the Ombudsperson in time.
The term for substantiating a provisional appeal is 7 calendar days after the expiration of the original period for appeal. Consider this when you plan a feedback session.

For all the other decisions, the appeals period starts the first day after the decision announcement (not the day of the announcement).

Writing an Appeal: Which Arguments to Include?

The procedure mentions ‘a statement of facts and resources’.  This means that your appeal should include content-related and preferably demonstrable arguments. Please keep in mind that, in any case, the burden of proof is on you. In other words, if you make a claim, you must substantiate it with documentary evidence, which you must include in your appeal. Ghent University will never request additional evidence, so make sure your appeal is complete and comprises all the documentary evidence.

Exam Mark

Do you have specific elements to challenge your exam mark? In that case, you must demonstrate that you provided the correct answer and support your claim with evidence. It is established by case law to assume the lecturer’s expertise and objectivity, leaving it to the student to bring forward concrete evidence of the contrary.

Arguments like ‘I studied really hard’, ‘I should have at least received a 10’, or ‘I had a feeling that it went really well this time’ are assumptions rather than concrete facts. Assumptions are never considered in a disputed exam mark.

Also, be aware that determining the exam mark is the lecturer’s prerogative.
Feedback can be enlightening, so always attend the feedback session before you appeal.
Please note: if the feedback session is scheduled later than 7 calendar days after the announcement of exam results, you will still need to lodge a provisional appeal within the legal expiration term (7 calendar days after the public announcement) (ut supra, Internal Appeals: Admissibility and Proper Procedure).

Deliberation

If you lodge an appeal against a non-deliberation following the Education and Examination Code, please remember that you will bear a double burden of proof. Exceptional deliberations only occur in special personal or family circumstances, provided the study programme’s objectives have been globally acquired. Both requirements are cumulative, and once again, the burden of proof is on you.

Disciplinary Exam Measures

If you appeal against disciplinary exam measures, please remember that we deliberately pursue a stringent policy against fraud and irregularities. At Ghent University, we adhere to the code of ethics and endeavour only to issue accurate credit certificates.

Exemptions

If you appeal against a refusal of exemptions, please remember that your appeal cannot include new elements or documentary evidence (cf. Art. 29 of the Education and Examination Code). It may only contain arguments challenging the decision of the Curriculum Committee.
The Curriculum Committee is best placed to make exemption decisions. However, to do so, it must have at its disposal your complete file. This is why you cannot bring forward any new documentary evidence when you lodge your appeal.  
Ghent University does not accept new documentary evidence as part of the appeals procedure once the Curriculum Committee has made a decision. You are responsible for providing the Curriculum Committee with all the documentary evidence required for their decision during the exemption application process.    

Refusal of Specific Education and Exam Facilities to Students who have been Granted a Special Status on the Grounds of a Disability

As per Article II.211 of the Education and Examination Code, only students who have been granted special status on the grounds of a disability can appeal against a refusal of specific facilities. 
Students can lodge their appeal with the Appeals Committee for Disability Facilities. However, they should first try to settle this in mediation. Do not hesitate to contact the Faculty and Institutional Ombuds Offices.

Students who have been granted special status on other grounds cannot appeal against a refusal of facilities. They must abide by the original decision.

Please check Article 25§10 of the Education and Examination Code for more information.

Refusal to Implement Facilities Granted to Students with a Special Status

Students who have been granted special status, including education or exam facilities, but whose facilities are not being implemented can appeal with the Institutional Appeals Committee, as stipulated in Article 81. However, try to settle this in mediation first. Especially in the case of non-refusable facilities (the term speaks for itself), you can avoid a lengthy procedure. Please do not hesitate to contact the Faculty and Institutional Ombuds Offices.

Refusable facilities can only be refused if the lecturer deems they infringe on the essential programme competencies or when their implementation is practically unfeasible. The lecturer can only decide and substantiate this in consultation with the faculty Director of Studies or the Programme Committee chair.

Refusal to Enrol

You can appeal against a refusal to enrol as mentioned on your transcript of records after the close of the resit examination period.
Before you do, however, we advise you to think carefully about whether the study programme you chose is right for you, especially if you are still at the start of your study career. You are not on your own in this. Do not hesitate to get in touch with your faculty’s Tutorial Services or the Student Counselling Team 

If you decide to appeal anyway, please consider the following:

• Explain why you did not make the required study progress. Substantiate this with documentary evidence (but be aware that post factum or so-called 'dixit certificates' are inadmissible).
• Explain why you will succeed in making the necessary study progress next year. Has your situation changed, or will it change? Please provide evidence for this. Unfortunately, simply stating that a specific study programme has always been your dream will not persuade the Committee.

The Institutional Appeals Committee will compare your arguments and documentary evidence to your study progress (the exam marks you obtained) to make a balanced decision.

Please also consult the webpage on Study Progress Monitoring.

Binding Conditions

An internal appeal against binding conditions only has a chance of success if you can prove that you struggled with a long-lasting force majeure situation.
Please appeal against binding conditions only if you are in such a situation.
Binding conditions are not a sanction. They are a stimulant to achieve the required study progress or take up a more feasible set of course units (if possible).
If you argue that binding conditions cause additional stress, the Committee will not consider that argument.

How the Procedure is Conducted

The Internal Appeals Committee handles the appeal based on documentary evidence. This means there is no hearing to which you will be invited to state your case. It is all the more important to build a clear and concise case in your appeal and that you add all the necessary documentary evidence. Lecturers are not heard, either. The appeal is handled based on documentary evidence.

External Appeal: Council for Disputes concerning Decisions on Study Progress

If your internal appeal is deemed unfounded or inadmissible, you can appeal to the Council for Disputes concerning Decisions on Study Progress ('Raad voor betwistingen inzake studievoortgangsbeslissingen') (website in Dutch). The Council is an external appeal body under the Administrative Law Council's Service. It has a marginal power of review. This means it can review whether a ruling issued by the Internal Appeals Committee was not unreasonable and well substantiated and whether all applicable rules of law were respected.
In other words, the Council never reconsiders the original appeal. It only reviews the ruling's consistency and fairness.
In your appeal, you must explain why you deem the decision the Institutional Appeals Committee made inconsistent or unfair.

Do keep in mind that if you appeal to the Council for Disputes concerning Decisions on Study Progress, your case must not contain new arguments or documentary evidence that you did not present to the Institutional Appeals Committee even though you were able to. It is established by case law that the Council cannot consider new arguments or documentary evidence that the Internal Appeals Committee hasn't been able to consider before.

Do you want to capitalise on the external appeals procedure? Be sure to follow their procedure correctly and remember that the Council currently has a backlog of 4 months and counting. 

References

Education and Examination Code (Articles 24, 25, 29, 67, 71, and 81).

Higher Education Code (website in Dutch) ('Codex Hoger Onderwijs')