Should you wish to make a complaint or an appeal about the admissions procedure, there is a set of steps that you should follow.
Purpose:
An applicant who is dissatisfied with any aspect of the admissions process may make a formal complaint to the Head of Human Resources, Governance and Administration.
Before making a formal complaint it is expected that applicants will have attempted to resolve any issues, or raised any concerns informally with the Admissions Manager at ice.admissions@ice.cam.ac.uk.
The procedure is not for applicants who believe there has been an error made in the admissions decision-making process. Where applicants have a concern with the admissions decision, they should use the ICE Admissions Appeals Procedure.
A complaint cannot be based on the academic judgement of the decision-makers. If applicants would like feedback on their application then they should request this directly from their Department (www.ice.cam.ac.uk).
If MSt applicants have a query or concern about their College allocation, they should contact the programme teams in the first instance.
Submitting a formal complaint:
A formal complaint must be submitted to the email or address listed on the Appeals and Complaints page.
A complaint must be submitted using the ICE Admissions Complaint form as early as possible and in any event within 28 calendar days of receiving the formal written admission decision. The form can be downloaded here.
The Head of Human Resources, Governance and Administration may choose to accept a complaint submitted after the 28-day deadline if there are exceptional reasons.
An applicant can withdraw a complaint at any time by emailing or writing to the Head of Human Resources, Governance and Administration. Once a complaint has been withdrawn it cannot be reinstated.
Responding to a complaint – Formal Review stage:
The Head of Human Resources, Governance and Administration, will acknowledge a complaint within 7 calendar days.
A complaint can be declined to be considered if it is trivial, vexatious and malicious or is outside of the timeframe and there are not exceptional reasons for late submission.
If a complaint is not declined it will be investigated by the Head of Human Resources, Governance and Administration. The investigation is likely to include requesting responses from the staff or department involved in considering an applicant’s application. This will involve sharing a copy of the applicant’s complaint with the relevant staff.
As part of the investigation, ICE’s written documentation and legal obligations will be taken into consideration.
An applicant will normally receive a complaint decision within 21 calendar days of receiving the complaint acknowledgement. If a complaint decision will take longer than 21 calendar days, the applicant will receive an update regarding the investigation.
The complaint decision letter will describe the investigation that took place, the decision, the reasons for the decision, and any actions being taken because of the decision.
The complaint decision letter confirms ICE’s final decision is relation to an ICE Admissions complaint. The decision will also be communicated to any staff or department involved in the investigation.
