How to appeal if you fail your PhD

I get four or five calls a week from panicked students who have failed their PhDs. After years of work, it can be a heartbreaking ordeal. But if you really feel your classification is unfair, or if there’s been a mistake, you could have grounds for appeal. It may seem like a gargantuan task at a difficult time, but it’s worth channelling your grievance into fighting back – rather than a regrettable email to university staff. Following these steps will help.

1 Determine whether you have a case

First, make sure that you do have a leg to stand on – will your appeal be justified? This includes looking at examiners’ reports, including the independent pre-viva reports, and correspondence between examiners and the university. It may require lodging a data protection act request (sometimes called a “subject access request”). You are entitled access to these documents by law, so don’t take no for an answer.

2 Seek assistanceGet help from the student union or a specialist lawyer. The student union is free, but its advisers may not be available at short notice (or during holidays) and they will rarely write the appeal statement for you. Specialist lawyers tend to be more highly qualified and can write persuasive statements – but they’ll cost you.

It’s best not to send any emails without seeking advice first. It may sound odd, but every email and discussion, however informal, can be used against you. I had a case recently where a student told his tutor, who appeared friendly and sympathetic, that he should have submitted extenuating circumstances earlier. The outcome letter read: “You conceded in a meeting with your tutor that you ought to have submitted an EC form earlier.” His case fell apart.

3 Know the rules of your institution

Unearthing all the relevant documents to your appeal takes some detective work. Examine these documents forensically and check the university has followed its own rules, policies, codes and guidance, and the rules of external bodies such as the Office of the Independent Adjudicator and the Quality Assurance Agency for higher education.

Do not give up just because a member of staff, however eminent or kind, discourages you from appealing. It’s always better to ask your adviser for his or her independent view on the merits or otherwise of your case.

4 Stick to the permissible grounds of appeal

Everything you write in your appeal form or statement must relate to the grounds of appeal. Look at the applicable appeals procedure, find the section about permissible grounds of appeal, and go through each one, asking yourself “does this apply to my case?”

5 Think ‘evidence, evidence, evidence’

Consider the ways you can provide evidence – beyond your own testimony – to support your contentions. This can be anything from medical evidence to CCTV footage, depending on the nature of the case. If you thought the examiner was biased, for example, how would you show this? If you thought the examiner was not a specialist in the field, how would you prove it?

6 Focus on your strongest arguments

Be scrupulously honest, of course, but ultimately your goal is to persuade the appeals panel that you have made out the grounds of appeal. Weak points dilute the strength of the stronger points and reflect poorly. My advice is to stick to your strongest points.

When writing the appeal statement, don’t be confined to the small box in the appeals form. Use a Word document (unless expressly forbidden) and write “Please see attached appeal statement” in the box. The structure I use is: introduction; background; rules, regulations and law; submissions; conclusion. The length will depend on the complexity of the case, but anything shorter than four pages (1.5 line spacing) or longer than 20 pages should raise eyebrows.

7 Be diplomatic

Keep your phrasing civil – you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. Some good examples include:

• “With respect, this conclusion is misguided because…”;
  
• “Without wishing to impugn the integrity of Professor X, the choice of words in the report gives the distinct appearance of bias”;
  
• “On this occasion, the examiners erred in finding that I was guilty of academic misconduct.”
  

8 Prepare for your appeal hearing

Don’t attend the hearing on your own. Even if they’re not allowed to speak, the person accompanying you can provide moral support and can act as a witness in the event of any impropriety.

Make sure to have your oral submissions prepared in advance, including questions you may want to ask the department’s representative (if present), and anticipate the questions you may be asked; especially the difficult ones. Again, remember: it’s a persuasive exercise.

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