You are here: Home / Appeal

Internal appeal procedure KU Leuven

Practical information

The Education and Examination Regulations stipulate that an appeal is possible against the following decisions:

  • an examination decision;
    • i.e. a decision made by an examination committee where:
      • an assessment of an individual course is definitively determined;
      • a dispute is settled;
      • the overall result and whether or not to grant a level of achievement for an entire programme is decided.
  • a decision regarding granting exemption;
  • refusal as an academic progress provision;
    • i.e. an appeal against the decision of the manager of General Process Coordination not to grant exceptional permission to reregister after a refusal mentioned in the academic progress file;
  • A decision regarding the need to follow a preparatory programme, a bridging programme or a programme with reduced study load. This also includes a decision regarding the study load and/or content of those programmes;
  • A decision regarding a certificate of competence as part of the procedure for Recognition of Prior Learning (EVC);
  • A decision denying the access to a course;
    • i.e. an appeal against a decision that implies that students are refused to continue a specific course because their behaviour has shown that they are unsuitable for a job for which the programme prepares them and reasonable adjustments offer no solution to that. 
  • The refusal to include a specific course in the contract of a student in an flexible study path who was not enrolled in this course before;
  • The refusal of a reasonable adjustment for students with a disability.

Students with a valid KU Leuven student account are encouraged to lodge an appeal through the appropriate web form. After succesfully submitting the form, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of the documents sent to the appeal body. Any difficulties regarding completing this form can be reported by email. Students without a valid KU Leuven account or lawyers who want to lodge an appeal on behalf of one of their clients can send this appeal to the email address mentioned above. An appeal sent by mail must include:

  • the name and student number of the student,
  • an email address that will be used for all further communication,
  • the faculty,
  • the study programme,
  • the campus,
  • a factual description and the date of the initial decision against which you want to appeal,
  • a factual description of the complaints, based on the elements that were discussed during the feedback session.

If the appeal should be considered as a provisional appeal, awaiting further feedback from the examiner, this should be clearly mentioned.


An appeal must be initiated within a period of seven calendar days following the day the initial decision was communicated (via letter, email, academic progress file…). In case of an examination appeal, the date of the release of exam results, which is also mentioned in your academic progress file, will be used as reference date. For other appeal procedures, the date mentioned on the initial decision will be used.

Since an appeal requires a clear and factual description of the complaint (i.e. why you consider that the evaluation was not done properly), it is essential to first seek clarification from your professor via a feedback session about the reasoning behind your exam result prior to lodging an appeal.


The appeal procedure includes the possibility for a meeting with the Vice Rector of Student Affairs (or their substitute). During such a meeting you can further elaborate on your arguments. In case you wish to be invited for such a meeting, you can mention this in the cover letter of your appeal. In case the internal Appeal Appellate considers that certain elements of your appeal need further clarification they can also invite you for such a meeting. In the further follow-up of your appeal the Vice Rector will contact the other parties involved, in order to receive further background about the disputed decision. By lodging an appeal you consent with this further procedure.

Based on the one hand on the information in your written appeal, possibly extended with the information discussed during a personal meeting, and on the other hand with the information provided by other parties, the Appeal Appellate will take the final decision about the appeal. You will received this decision via your KU Leuven student e-mail account, normally within 20 days after the date of the appeal. In case the evaluation of your appeal takes more time you will be informed about this within the normal 20-day period of the appeal.

Dependent on your campus the meetings part of this appeal procedure will take place with the following persons:

  • Campus Antwerpen: prof. Y. Stevens (Academic Administrator)
  • Campus Brugge en campus KULAK Kortrijk: prof. P. Desmedt (Vice Rector campus KULAK Kortrijk and Academic Administrator Campus Brugge)
  • Campus Brussels: prof. T. Van Puyenbroeck (Academic Administrator)
  • Campus De Nayer and  campus Geel: prof. B. Lauwers (Academic Administrator)
  • Campus Leuven en campus GroepT Leuven: prof. H. Feys (Vice Rector for Student Affairs)
  • Campus St. Lucas (Brussels en Ghent): prof. Y. Schoonjans (Dean)
  • Ghent Technology Campus: prof. L. Destrycker 

The Vice Rector for Student Affairs makes the final decision for all KU Leuven students (independent of their campus).

During these meeting with the student the Vice Rector can be replaced by the Vice Rector of Educational Policy, prof. T. Baelmans or prof. R. Gosselink. The Vice Rector of Student Affairs, prof. H. Feys, the Vice Rector of Educational Policy, prof. T. Baelmans or prof. R. Gosselink can also hear the students studying on a campus outside Leuven. In any case, the Vice Rector for Student Affairs makes the final decision for all KU Leuven students.

You will receive further guidelines for this meeting via the invitation you will receive from the appeal authority.


Within a period of twenty calendar days after initiating the appeal you will receive a decision, or a date on which you can expect an answer. If, within twenty calendar days after the lodging of the internal appeal, there is no actual decision, nor a date at which the actual decision will be communicated, an external appeal can be lodged from the day following those twenty calendar days, with the Council for challenging study progress decisions, within seven calendar days.


As part of this appeal procedure the initial decision will be re-evaluated. Preferentially, the result of this appeal procedure should be an occasion to (re)consider its consequences for your study career. For advice in this matter you can contact your study career counsellor. Contact information for these counsellors can be found in the file tab 'status' of your academic progress file. If, in your opinion, your rights as a student have not been sufficiently insured during the internal appeal procedure you may appeal this decision before the "Raad voor betwistingen inzake studievoortgangsbeslissingen" ("Council for disputes about decisions on study progress'") of the Flemish Government.


An examination appeal

  • Receiving feedback about your exam results is an important aspect of the learning process. The KU Leuven’s Education and Examination Regulations stipulate that students should have the opportunity to receive feedback during the first seven calendar days after the announcement of their examination results. This information provides insight about possible shortcomings in your knowledge and provides a good preparation for a re-examination. When considering lodging an appeal, it will be important to be able to provide a factual description of the arguments why you want to dispute the result, based on the elements which were discussed during the feedback session. Receiving feedback from the examiner prior to your appeal is of utmost importance. If you consider to lodge an appeal but you wish to postpone this decision until after a discussion with the examiner, you can initiate a provisional appeal within a period of seven calendar days after the examination results are announced. Within five calendar days after initiating a provisional appeal you need to give a more extended motivation of the complaint containing the arguments why you want to contest these examination marks. In case you fail to do so within this period the appeal will automatically be classified as inadmissible.
    You can find more information and an overview of the feedback moments per faculty on the following web page.
  • Any irregular conduct or conflicts arising between a student and an examiner before or during examinations and jeopardizing the smooth running of the evaluation shall be communicated to the chairperson of the examination committee, possibly via the examination ombudsperson, as soon as possible.
  • If a technical error is established after deliberations, the chairperson of the examination committee must be formally notified about this. A technical error to the student’s disadvantage can be rectified within a maximum of ten calendar days after the announcement of the examination results. A technical error to the student’s advantage can be corrected without any limitations in time.
  • In her decisions the examination committee can take into account a force majeure or other special individual circumstances not related to the studies. If for your case such circumstances are applicable, it is important to inform your ombudsperson about these circumstances before the deliberation of the examination committee.
  • The objective of the appeal procedure is to guarantee the objectivity of the evaluation procedure. This includes the appraisal whether the evaluation was based on a clear evaluation scheme that was adopted in a consistent manner to all students, including a clear communication about the exam demands. The intrinsic evaluation of your answers and the decision whether this answer complied with the expected answer remains the responsibility of the examiner concerned. An appeal procedure does not provide the possibility to re-evaluate your answers or assignment by another jury.

Refusal of a request for exemption

The request for an exemption is judged by the faculty, according to the appropriate procedure. During this procedure the faculty decides whether the competencies, knowledge, insights, skills and attitudes of the courses for which you have already earned a credit sufficiently match those of the course you still have to follow. In case you are doubting if all the information written in your request has been sufficiently taken into account, you should contact the faculty’s responsible for these exemptions. An appeal by the Vice Rector of Student Affairs might be a possible further step.

Exception to an academic progress provision

The Education and Examination Regulations stipulate that the Manager of the Registrar's Office can grant an exception due to exceptional individual circumstances. In case of a negative decision you can lodge an appeal with the Vice Rector of Student Affairs.

Specific information

An appeal against a decision regarding the PhD progress

According to art. 23 of the Regulation concerning the attainment of doctoral degrees at KU Leuven an appeal is possible against the following decisions of the doctoral committee and the examination committee:

  1. the discontinuation of the doctoral programme,
  2. the discontinuation of the preparation of the thesis,
  3. the final result of the public defence.

Prior to the appeal the PhD researcher should seek feedback about this decision from the chair of your faculty's doctoral committee and/or the doctoral ombuds. In case of an appeal, it is important to be able to provide a factual description of the arguments why you want to contest the decision, based on the elements which were discussed during the feedback session

An appeal should be lodged via e-mail. The file should at least include the following elements:

  • name of the PhD researcher / student account
  • e-mail address that will be used for future communication
  • faculty / doctoral programme
  • campus
  • description and date of the initial decision of the doctoral committee
  • description of the invoked objections, based on the feedback from the chair of the doctoral committee and/or doctoral ombuds.

Procedure for exchange students

International students following courses at KU Leuven as part of an exchange programme can lodge an appeal at KU Leuven against an unfavourable exam decision, as long as the dispute is strictly related to the proceedings of the exam at KU Leuven. They must take into account that the final decision about the valorization of their exchange programme, the valorization of their exam results and their study progress remains the responsibility of their home university. In case of any dispute about these latter aspects the exchange student should contact the exchange coordinator of their home institution. These coordinators can contact the exchange coordinators at KU Leuven in order to receive further information regarding the proceeding of the exam or about other decisions made by KU Leuven.

The purpose of the appeal procedure might differ from one country to another. The objective of the appeal procedure is to guarantee the objectivity of the evaluation procedure at KU Leuven. This includes the appraisal whether the evaluation was based on a clear evaluation scheme that was adopted in a consistent manner to all students, including clear communication about the exam demands. The intrinsic evaluation of your answers and the decision whether this answer complied to the expected one remains mainly the responsibility of the examiner concerned. An appeal procedure does not provide the possibility to re-evaluate your answers or assignment by another jury. An appeal should contain a clear and factual overview of the invoked arguments, indicating why you consider that this evaluation was not done properly.

All KU Leuven students, including exchange students, are entitled to receive feedback from their professors in the first seven calendar days after the publication of the exam results. Receiving feedback from the examiner prior to your appeal is from the utmost importance. When making arrangements about their stay in Belgium, exchange students should take into consideration the moments of these feedback sessions. If due to the fact that you were abroad you exceptionally missed this feedback moment, you can contact your professor to see if this feedback could be provided from distance. In case this additional feedback can only be provided outside the regular feedback period and in case you wish to postpone the final decision about lodging an appeal until after this additional feedback, you can initiate a "provisional appeal". Such a provisional appeal should be lodged within a period of 7 calendar days after the announcement of the exam results. The more extended motivation of the complaint containing the arguments why you want to contest these examination marks can be added by latest 5 calendar days after the lodging of the provisional appeal. In case you fail to provide such arguments within this period, the appeal will automatically be considered as being inadmissible.


KU Leuven students following courses at another university as part of an exchange agreement and who are questioning one of the decisions of this host university have to contact the other university in order to receive more extended feedback. For any dispute about the valorization of their exchange programme, the valorization of their exam results and their study progress, they can lodge an appeal at KU Leuven.

The return of learning account in case of force majeure

Students who consider that a loss of their learning account due to not partaking in one or more examinations in an examination period can be ascribed to force majeure and who could not receive an alternative examination schedule can submit a request to return the learning account to the "Raad voor betwistingen inzake studievoortgangsbeslissingen" ("Council for challenging study progress decisions") of the Flemish Government. More information.

 

The assessment of students reflects the learning process and makes the intended learning outcomes more concrete. It is therefore part of KU Leuven's quality assurance.

Read more about it here.