12.1 Students wishing to raise a complaint must do so in accordance with the University Student Complaint Procedure. Complaints may be in relation to a variety of university services including those in relation to the supervision of the research, the resources provided for it or any other of the obligations of the University in relation to the research (other than the conduct or result of an examination).
A Complaint should be taken to the Postgraduate Research Tutor in the first instance and/or the PVC Dean of Faculty. A candidate who has a grievance against the University in relation to the supervision of the research, the resources provided for it or any other of the obligations of the University in relation to the research (other than the conduct or result of an examination, see Section 20.2 of the Policy and Procedures section of this document) may pursue the matter under the University’s Student Complaint Procedure.
12.2 Students have the right to appeal against the following academic decisions made by a supervision team as relevant to the particular degree:
- not to register a student for a research degree;
- not to transfer registration from MPhil to PhD;
- to revert registration from PhD to MPhil;
- or to withdraw registration.
Such appeals will be dealt with by the Faculty in the first instance and should be referred to the Postgraduate Research Tutor or the PVC Dean of Faculty. Where the matter remains unresolved, the student may appeal to the Research Degrees Committee. No appeal can be made against decisions of the Research Degrees Committee.
12.3 Students may request a review of an examination decision, either at the first examination or re-examination (section 20 of the Policy and Procedures section of this document refers). A request for a review may only be made on the following grounds:
- that there were circumstances affecting the student’s performance of which the examiners were not aware;
- that there is evidence of procedural irregularity in the conduct of the examination;
- or that there is evidence of unfair or improper assessment on the part of one or more of the examiners.
As procedures exist for addressing grievances during the period of study, alleged inadequacy of supervisory or other arrangements during the period of study do not constitute grounds for requesting a review of the examination decision.
Candidates wishing to lodge a complaint or appeal should refer to the University’s Appeals, Complaints and Conduct procedures which are available on the University’s Central website. Details of the appeals process can be found in Section 20.2 of this Policy and Procedure Handbook.
Approved by Research Degrees Committee: 2 March 2021
Updated by Research Degrees Committee : 6 September 2023
Approved by Research & Knowledge Exchange Committee: 18 May 2021
Approved by Academic Board: 16 June 2021