Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Queen Margaret University

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Partly Upheld Reference 201100839 Sector Education Category academic appeal; exam results; degree classification Decided 01 October 2011

View Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh scorecard

Full decision

Summary

As Miss C accumulated more than four failures during her studies for an MSc in Art Therapy, she was required to withdraw from the course. She lodged an academic appeal which was unsuccessful and her stage 2 submission was not progressed to full academic appeal. Miss C complained that the appeal process was not carried out fairly and that the university delayed in responding to her appeal.

From the evidence provided by Miss C, and from further details received from the university, we were satisfied that all relevant information was considered when assessing her appeal. We, therefore, did not uphold her complaint regarding the fairness of the process. Many of the concerns Miss C raised were academic matters which this office was unable to consider.

It was clear, however, that the university delayed in responding to Miss C's appeal. They accepted this, and advised of steps they had since taken to create a post for the administration of complaints and appeals. The person in this new post will also be available to offer advice to students throughout the process. As we considered this action to be reasonable, we did not make any further recommendations.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201100839 as a PDF (14.12 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

View original on SPSO (Scottish Publ… website

Other decisions involving Queen Margaret University

Reference Date Summary Outcome
201808623 01 Sep 2021 C had enrolled on two short courses run by Queen Margaret University. They made a number of complaints to us … Partly Upheld
201802084 01 Jul 2019 Mrs C complained on behalf of her daughter (Miss A) about the support the university provided to Miss A. Miss … Upheld
201700088 01 May 2018 Mr C made a submission of an assignment to the university. Having submitted the assignment a year previously, and failed … Not Upheld
201606885 01 Oct 2017 Ms C complained that the university’s investigation of her complaint about aspects of the course she was on was unreasonable. … Not Upheld
201507495 01 Sep 2017 Mr C complained on behalf of his daughter (Miss A), who was a third year student at the university. At … Not Upheld
View all decisions for this organisation