Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
CHAPTER VI
GRADUATE STUDENTS

In this section

REVIEW OF THE RESULTS OF EXAMINATIONS FOR POSTGRADUATE QUALIFICATIONS

Amended by Grace 2 of 6 February 2008

1. The following regulations shall apply to any University examination listed in the Schedule to these regulations, and shall be limited to those cases where the candidate has failed to be approved for the qualification for which he or she was examined.

2. The Board of Graduate Studies shall have power, in connection with any examination for a degree or other qualification, to remit a recommendation or resolution received from a Degree Committee concerning a particular candidate to the Degree Committee for further consideration.

3. The Board shall consider any representations made by or on behalf of a candidate which constitute a complaint about the conduct of the examination in that candidate's case, provided that such representations shall not be considered unless they are received by the Secretary of the Board not later than six months after the date on which the result of the examination was communicated by the Secretary to the candidate. The Board shall consult the Degree Committee concerned about any representations made under this regulation.

4. If after considering any representations made by or on behalf of a candidate under Regulation 3 the Board are satisfied that the examination of that candidate was properly conducted and that the complaint is unjustified, the Board shall so inform the candidate. If they are not so satisfied, they shall have power, after consulting the Degree Committee concerned, to refer the representations to a Review Committee constituted in accordance with Regulation 6.

Review Committee.

5. The Board of Graduate Studies shall refer to a Review Committee constituted in accordance with Regulation 6 any representations which may be made by or on behalf of a candidate after the candidate has been informed of a decision taken by the Board under Regulation 4 above, provided that such representations shall not be considered unless they are received by the Secretary of the Board within six months of the date on which the Board's decision was communicated by the Secretary to the candidate.

Membership.

6. A Review Committee appointed under these regulations shall consist of

  1. (a)the Vice-Chancellor, or a duly appointed deputy, as Chairman;
  2. (b)two persons appointed by the General Board.

The General Board shall maintain a panel of members of the Regent House who are willing to serve as members of a Review Committee, and shall appoint twelve persons to the panel, four persons being appointed in the Michaelmas Term of each year to serve for three years from 1 January following their appointment. When any representations are to be referred by the Board of Graduate Studies to a Review Committee, the General Board shall appoint two members of the panel to serve as members of the Review Committee for the particular case. In selecting members of the panel for appointment as members of a Review Committee, the Board shall exclude any person who has been involved in the particular case at an earlier stage. A person appointed a member of a Review Committee shall serve until the conclusion of the particular case for which he or she was appointed.

7. The Academic Secretary, or a deputy appointed by the Academic Secretary, shall act as Secretary to a Review Committee.

8. For the purpose of these regulations the term ‘complainant’ shall mean the student making a complaint, or on whose behalf a complaint is made.

9. The Secretary to the Review Committee shall notify the complainant of the persons appointed to be members of the Committee. The complainant shall be entitled to object for good cause to any member so appointed. The Vice-Chancellor shall rule on any such objection, and his or her decision shall be final. If the Vice-Chancellor allows such an objection, the General Board shall appoint another member of the panel to serve as a member of the Committee.

Grounds for complaint.

10. A Review Committee shall consider any representations referred to them under Regulation 4 or Regulation 5 which in the judgement of the Committee constitute a complaint on one or more of the following grounds:

  1. (a)that there existed material circumstances relating directly to the examination (excluding circumstances relating to the candidate's course of research or course of study) of which the Examiners were not aware;
  2. (b)that procedural irregularities occurred in the conduct of the examination, which were of such a nature as to cause reasonable doubt as to whether the Examiners would have reached the same conclusion had the irregularities not occurred;
  3. (c)that there is demonstrable evidence of prejudice, bias, or inadequate assessment in the examination process.

If the Committee are of the view that a complaint does not fall within any of the grounds specified above, they shall dismiss the complaint and shall inform the complainant and the Board of Graduate Studies accordingly.

11. When a representation is to be considered by a Review Committee the complainant shall furnish a full statement of the complaint and of the grounds on which the complaint is based, which shall be submitted to the Review Committee not later than a date to be determined by them. The Committee shall appoint a day and time for a hearing at which the complainant shall be entitled to be present and to be accompanied by not more than two advisers, each of whom shall be either an officer of the Graduate Union, a sabbatical officer of Cambridge University Students Union, or a member of the Regent House; one of these advisers shall be permitted to act as the complainant's representative and to speak on his or her behalf.

12. Any statement of a complaint received by the Review Committee under Regulation 11 shall be made available to each of the following:

  1. (a)the Board of Graduate Studies;
  2. (b)the Degree Committee concerned;
  3. (c)the Examiners concerned;
  4. (d)any other person or body specified by the Review Committee.

Each of these parties shall be given an opportunity to submit a written statement to the Committee in response to the complaint. Such a statement may include the reports of the Examiners or extracts from those reports. The Committee shall have power to seek statements from other persons or bodies, as they think fit.

13. Any statement submitted to the Review Committee under Regulation 12 shall be made available to the complainant and to the other parties specified in that regulation, each of whom shall be afforded an opportunity to comment on it.

Decision of Review Committee.

14. A Review Committee shall consider any complaint or any representations referred to them under Regulation 4 or Regulation 5 and shall have power to dismiss the complaint or, if they consider it justified:

  1. (a)to require the Board of Graduate Studies or the Degree Committee concerned to reconsider their earlier decisions on the particular case;
  2. (b)to require the Examiners to re-examine the candidate;
  3. (c)if the candidate has not been examined orally, to require the Examiners to hold an oral examination;
  4. (d)if the candidate has been examined orally, to require the Examiners to hold a further oral examination;
  5. (e)to permit the candidate to submit a revised dissertation, thesis, or other exercise, to be examined by the same Examiners;
  6. (f)to require the Degree Committee to appoint one or more additional Examiners to make an independent report or reports on the work submitted by the candidate;
  7. (g)to require the Degree Committee to appoint new Examiners to replace the Examiners previously appointed, and to permit the candidate
  8. either(i)to be re-examined by the new Examiners,
  9. or(ii)to submit a revised dissertation, thesis, or other exercise, to be examined by the new Examiners;
  10. (h)to require the Examiners (either the Examiners previously appointed or new Examiners appointed under sub-paragraph (g), as the case may be) to set fresh examination papers or other exercises, as appropriate, to be taken by the candidate under arrangements specified by the Review Committee.

15. The Secretary to the Review Committee shall send written notification of the Committee's decision and the reasons for it to the complainant and to the other parties specified in Regulation 12.

16. The decision of a Review Committee on any particular case shall be final.

Temporary Regulation

17. These regulations shall apply to all examinations held on or after 1 October 1994. For the purpose of this regulation an examination shall be deemed to be held (a) if the examination includes written papers, on the day on which the first written paper is held, or (b) in the case of any other examination, on the day on which the candidate's dissertation or other submitted work is received by the appropriate authority.

SCHEDULE

Examinations for which the foregoing regulations apply

B.D. Degree

M.Phil. Degree

Vet.M.D. Degree

M.St. Degree

Ph.D. Degree

Certificate of Postgraduate Study

Ph.D. Degree by special regulations

Diplomas in:

Eng.D. Degree

 Economics

M.Sc. Degree

 Legal Studies

M.Litt. Degree

 International Law

〈M.Res. Degree〉3

 

Footnotes

  1. 3. Subject to the approval by Her Majesty in Council of the amendments of Statute approved by Grace 5 of 16 July 2008 the entry in angular brackets will be inserted and will take effect from 1 October following the date on which the amendments of Statute are approved.(Refs: 1)