Appeals Procedure (Postgraduate Research Degree)

The following may appeal under this procedure against the decision of an Examining Board not to recommend the award of the degree in respect of which the candidate submitted his/her thesis:

    • a candidate for the degree of PhD (including the PhD by Published Works);
    • a candidate for a Master's degree by research (normally MPhil).
  2. The University is only prepared to consider appeals which are based on one or more of the following grounds:
    1. Defects or irregularities in the conduct of the examination or in written instructions or in advice relating thereto which are of such a nature as to cause reasonable doubt whether the examiners would have reached the same decision had they not occurred.
    2. Exceptional personal circumstances where there is a prima facie case that such circumstances could have had an adverse effect on the candidate's performance. (In appeals based on these grounds, the appellant must show good reason why such personal circumstances were not made known to the Examining Board before its meeting. Where a candidate could have reported exceptional circumstances to the Examining Board prior to its meeting, those circumstances cannot subsequently be cited as grounds for appeal. )
    3. Evidence of prejudice or of bias or of inadequate assessment on the part of one or more of the examiners.
    4. Where the supervision provided was inadequate and that there were exceptional reasons why this had not been reported by the candidate prior to the decision of the Examining Board.
    Appeals which question the academic judgement of the examiners shall not be admissible.
  3. Any appeal shall be sent, in full, in writing to the Pro Vice-Chancellor (ref: Appeals) and must reach him/her not later than two months after the despatch to the candidate of the notification of his/her result. Simple notice of appeal given in writing by a candidate within the above deadline shall not be deemed to constitute an appeal proper and shall not be accepted. Receipt of an application for appeal shall be acknowledged normally within three working days and the appellant shall be provided with a written progress report within 25 working days.
  4. If the Vice-Chancellor, or his/her nominee * decides, after examining the candidate's submission and any other written evidence which he/she may require (eg a report from the Chair of the Examining Board concerned), that there is a case to be considered, he/she shall refer it to an Appeal Board
    consisting of three persons drawn from a Standing Panel as follows:
    • 3 lay members appointed by Council
    • 4 representatives of each Faculty
    The Appeal Board shall be chaired by a lay member and its academic members will be drawn from Faculties and/or departments unconnected with the appeal under consideration.
  5. If the Vice-Chancellor, or his/her nominee, decides that there is no case to be considered, this shall have the effect of disallowing the appeal. This shall normally be within three months of its receipt.
  6. Where a case is referred to an Appeal Board for hearing, the Board shall identify the grounds of the appeal and shall base its decision on the evidence of the appellant's submission, the testimony of the Chair of the Examining Board, evidence from a representative of the Department concerned and any further evidence which it considers relevant.
  7. An appellant shall be offered a personal hearing by the Appeal Board, and shall be informed of the time and date of such a hearing. The appellant may be accompanied, but not represented, by a member of the academic, welfare or advisory staff of the University or a student or officer of the Guild of Students.
  8. The Chair shall, at an Appeal Board meeting, have discretion to declare inadmissible any matter introduced by the appellant, or by any member of staff or student accompanying the appellant, if he/she deems it not directly related to the contents of the appeal previously lodged in writing within the stipulated deadline.
  9. The Appeal Board shall be empowered to take either of the following decisions:
    1. that the appeal be rejected and no further action be taken;
    2. that the appeal be upheld.
  10. If an appeal is upheld, the Appeal Board may also adopt one of the following courses of action
    1. To recommend to the Examining Board that, for the reasons stated, the original, or a properly constituted, Board should reconsider the decision of the previous Board.
    2. To recommend that an entirely new Examining Board should reconsider the decision of the previous Board.
    3. To give the candidate permission to re-write the thesis and to re-submit for re-examination by the original, or a properly constituted, Examining Board within a specified time limit.
    4. To give the candidate permission to re-write the thesis and to re-submit for re-examination by an entirely new Examining Board within a specified time limit.
    Following any such re-examination under 10.3 and 10.4 above it shall be within the discretion of the Examining Board to recommend that the candidate be allowed one further opportunity to re-submit the thesis either at the full or reduced fee.
  11. When a re-examination is undertaken as a result of either paragraphs 10.2 or 10.4 above, two new external examiners will be appointed. The external examiners will not be provided with any information about the previous examination other than that they are conducting a re-examination of the candidate's submission on appeal.
  12. Where a case is referred back to the Examining Board, the Appeal Board may, where appropriate to the circumstances of the case, require an officer of the Registry to attend as observer the meeting of the Examining Board.
  13. The decision of the Appeal Board shall be final.
  14. The decision of the Appeal Board and recommendations or advice where appropriate to the circumstances of the case (and of the re-examination if applicable) shall be notified by the Pro Vice-Chancellor or his/her nominee as soon as possible to the appellant.
  15. In the case of 10 or 11 above, the Pro Vice-Chancellor or his/her nominee shall arrange for the decision and recommendations of the Appeal Board to be implemented. The Examining Board's decision on whether any adjustment should be made to the result previously agreed shall be reported back to the Appeal Board and shall be final. On receipt of this decision, the Pro Vice-Chancellor or his/her nominee may, in exceptional cases only, refer the case to the Chair of the Appeal Board for review of the procedures followed. If it transpires that a serious procedural irregularity has occurred, the case may be referred back to the relevant Examining Board for reconsideration.
  16. If, as a consequence of a successful appeal, a candidate is regarded as having qualified for a degree, he/she shall normally be admitted to the degree at the next opportunity. Alternatively, the Vice-Chancellor may deem such a candidate to have been admitted to the degree on a prior occasion provided that all other necessary conditions for admission have been met.
  17. The Appeal Board may make recommendations for consideration by the Academic Affairs Committee or the Senate as appropriate on any matter arising from the consideration of appeals.

  18. Under the Higher Education Act 2004 the University subscribes to the independent scheme for the review of student complaints.  Once all internal procedures have been exhausted  a candidate may submit a complaint to the OIA (Office of the Independent Adjudicator), providing the complaint is eligible under its rules.

    Should a candidate decide to make a complaint to the OIA, his/her OIA Complaint Form must be received by the OIA within three months of the date of the Completion of Procedures letter.

    The OIA’s leaflet, An Introduction to the OIA for Students can be downloaded from http://www.oiahe.org.uk/media/34396/oia_intro_leaflet.pdf and a link to the OIA Complaint Form is available on page 8.  Alternatively, the OIA can be contacted as follows:

    Telephone – 0118 959 9813
    E-mail – enquiries@oiahe.org.uk
    Post – OIAHE, Third Floor, King’s Reach, 38-50 Kings Road, Reading, RG1 3AA.
     
    Guidance on submitting a complaint to the OIA and the OIA Complaint Form can also be found on the OIA’s website http://www.oiahe.org.uk/making-a-complaint-to-the-oia.aspx.  The candidate may also wish to seek advice from the Students’ Union about taking his/her complaint to the OIA.

    The OIA will normally only review issues that have been dealt with through the University’s internal procedures.

Appendix

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Appeals Procedure applicable to the Degree of PhD by Published Works

The Appeals Procedure (Postgraduate Research Degree) shall apply with the following exceptions:

Paragraph 2:

The first three grounds for appeal shall apply but the following shall replace 2.4:

2.
4.
Where the advice given by the advisor(s) assigned by the University was inadequate and there were exceptional reasons why this had not been reported by the candidate prior to the decision of the Examining Board.

 

* An officer in the Registry may be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor to act on his/her behalf.