Student Appeal
(Stichting Studenten Steun Bij Beroep & Bezwaar)
Services of Student Appeal
Main Services
Student Appeal strives for starting complaint procedures and to improve the quality of those kinds of procedures. That’s why the foundation mainly offers complete involvement in your case against your college or university. These services are being charged, although in consultation the prices may change. Basically it comes down to the following services:
Setting up documents (€100,-)
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Student Appeal can support you by writing and setting up documents: it can for example write a concept version of a letter for appeal, plea and other documents that are of interest for your case, like stating a juridical view on a certain situation.
Please note: appeal filings are usually draft versions and are not handed in by the foundation at the educational institution!
Participate in conversations and hearings (€150,-)
Support during (settlement) discussions and hearings can be considered important, because it reduces the burden of the conversation. The foundation therefore wants to offer assistance in various discussions.
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It is of course important that the confidential adviser who assists the plaintiff or defendant has full conviction in his point of view. The foundation will be direct in its conviction and possibly refer to someone else if it feels unable to support you during the conversation.
Beware: on the basis of art. 7:28 AWB, the costs for assistance from 'a third party legal assistance provider' can be claimed from the school/university if the appeal is well-founded and/or in the event that the decision has been changed due to unlawfulness. This means that the above costs for assistance from the foundation can be recovered from the educational institution. The possibilities and likelihood of this will be discussed beforehand.
Raising awareness about injustice
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One of the goals of Student Appeal is that it wants to motivate people to start appeal cases. This is why the foundation could raise awareness about injustices happening in the education system. Of course these publications are not made without permission. There are two ways of activation another:
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Firstly, it could try to organize group complaints. To give students the sense that they aren’t alone in a hard situation - an influencing sense a lot of the times - the foundation can bring you in contact with others (with your consent) who are filing an appeal connected with your case or to those who are willing to do so. People don’t tend to share publicly that they might be willing to start a case, while there could be more people out there who want to. The foundation could post a story or a call-up about the injustice that’s happening to you, if you feel it will benefit you.
This service is being charged at a consulted price beforehand.
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Secondly, the foundation is looking for individual experience stories about injustices that are happening in schools and colleges. These stories don’t have to be ‘success stories’; every story that’s worth sharing or could activate another in the foundation's view is welcome. This service is free of charge.
Secondary Services
Maybe you don’t see any help in full involvement, and you would like to have for example a second opinion about a document you wrote. The foundation also likes to offer services that are more limited to distanced level and form like a second opinion. These services are free of charge.
Advising about law & precedent
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Research about law and the current precedent is without saying a basic for every service the foundation offers. They play a major part in appeals. By the search to which rules apply and how they should be interpreted there might be a need for a second opinion of a law student. I like to share my experiences with researching law and I would like to offer it to support your case.
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Examination Appeal Boards and commissions generally follow the precedent that has been set by other boards of the same hierarchic order and it especially follows the one set by the Appelas Tribunal for Higher Education (CHBO). Relevant verdicts can be hard to find sometimes and it might be hard to determine whether two issues are similar to another. That’s why the foundation likes to offer researching jurisprudence that could apply in your case.
Other ways of advancing
The foundation also likes to think along about what you could expect if you file an appeal against your education institution. The foundation can attend you on possible defenses of the opposing party and which grounds the appeal boards count as decisive to rule your appeal as founded or unfounded. Last but not least, I can think for other steps to take that are possible for your situation.
Regulations apply to these services!