Easter closure

Please note that we will be closed from 5pm Thursday 28 March until Tuesday 2 April 2024 for the Easter break. Complaints can still be made via our complaints form but they will not be received until we reopen. Wishing you a happy Easter! 

Technical issues:

The SPSO advice line is currently unavailable due to technical issues which we are working with our telephone provider to resolve.  We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to find a resolution as soon as possible. 

Decision Report 201504475

  • Case ref:
    201504475
  • Date:
    May 2016
  • Body:
    University of Edinburgh
  • Sector:
    Universities
  • Outcome:
    Not upheld, no recommendations
  • Subject:
    policy/administration

Summary

Mr C complained that a school at the university failed to accept his evidence of special circumstances in relation to his exams, and about the university's handling of his appeal.

We found the school did consider Mr C's evidence; they decided that it was not evidence of the impact of Mr C's claimed special circumstances on his academic performance. The school did this by assessing Mr C's previous academic record and we accepted that, in this case, it was allowed for in university policy and it was a matter of academic judgement. We cannot investigate matters of academic judgement and, therefore, we could not comment on that issue. However, we were satisfied that it was reasonable in the specific circumstances for the school and the university to consider this as a matter of academic judgement, and that the school did consider Mr C's evidence. We were also satisfied that Mr C's appeal was handled in line with the relevant procedure. We did not uphold Mr C's complaints.

Updated: March 13, 2018