There are two possible application review outcomes: ‘award’ or ‘refer’.
Application outcome ‘award’
If you have addressed the Descriptor 2 criteria of PSF 2023 to the satisfaction of the Review Panel, you will be awarded FHEA. You will receive written feedback and the application outcome via email. You will also be recorded on the Advance HE database, from where you can then download your certificate.
Application outcome ‘refer’
If the Review Panel deem that your application does not address all Descriptor 2 criteria of PSF 2023 and that the case could be made more strongly, this feedback will be communicated back to you via email. You will be asked for more evidence as outlined in the feedback.
You will then have four weeks* from the date of the notice to supply additional evidence and resubmit your application to the EFS team. Alternatively, you can choose to re-submit for a future review round. Upon receiving your re-submission, our team will ask the original reviewers (unless they are no longer available) to review your revisions. You can expect an outcome and feedback after three to four working weeks.
Right of appeal
The decision of the Review Panel is open to appeal. If you wish to appeal the decision rather than address the feedback from the Panel, then your application will automatically be referred to an external reviewer who was not involved in the panel decision.
The external reviewer is an independent third party and their decision is final. They will communicate their judgement back to the Panel and our team, who will communicate the decision to you.