Grounds for appeal
Grounds for appeal for postgraduate research students.
Any postgraduate research student wishing to submit an appeal must have legitimate grounds for doing so, namely one or any of:
- substantial information directly relevant to the quality of performance in the examination which for good reason was not available to the examiners when their decision was taken;
- alleged irregular procedure or improper conduct of an examination. For this purpose “conduct of an examination” includes conduct of a meeting of the Board of Examiners;
- evidence of prejudice or lack of due diligence in the examination on the part of any examiners.
The following important considerations should be noted:
- The appeal process cannot be used to challenge academic judgment. That is, a student cannot submit an appeal simply because they believe that they deserve a better mark.
- Ignorance of the requirements for the submission of special circumstances does not constitute grounds for appeal.
- An appeal cannot be lodged until the Board of Examiners has published its final decision.
This article was published on Jul 6, 2010