You have got your PhD result, and you have got a fail grade. This is definitely heartrending. If you think that there has been some issues and examiner was unfair, you can appeal. You might think that sending off emails can help you communicate with your university and reaching to the root of unfairness, but this is definitely not going to help you at all. In fact, you will end up with regretting over your result. Here are the ways how to appeal if you fail your PhD.
Determine whether your appeal is justified
Your appeal will go in vain if you don’t have a leg to stand on. First of all, you should inspect examiner’s reports and the communication between examiners and your university. You can request your university to collect all reports as you have a lawful right to access them. So no need to give up if they say no.
Look for assistance
Start immediately looking for assistance either from student unions and lawyers. However, student unions help might not be very useful. Instead, target specialist lawyers who can be immediately ready to appeal for you. Lawyers are experts in their fields so they know writing eloquent statements. Ask your lawyers before sending emails because this might sound informal, and these emails can be used against you. Many PhD scholars take precipitous actions and start sending emails, but this ruins the case.
Be aware of your university’s rules
Every university has certain rules to follow to qualify PhD scholars. You must have the knowledge of all those rules and ensure that the university has followed policies, codes, and rules completely. Excavating these policies and codes can be a humongous task, but your lawyer can suggest you ways how you can quickly know about them. Contact to your university staff to collect documents. Don’t give up unless they provide you with all documents, after all this is your legal right.
Stick to the grounds of your appeal
Always remember that the base of your appeal is what you have written in it. Follow the suitable and applicable grounds for your appeal or else you will lose ground. You should consult your lawyer whether the particular section applies to your case. Don’t include anything that has no relevance to your case. Otherwise your appeal will be considered fake and your entire case will fall apart.
Arrange evidence
Testimonies are not enough to stand up against the unfair treatment by your university. You should consider the ways you can arrange evidence to prove your contentions. In fact, you can’t write anything in your appeal that becomes impossible for you to support with evidence. If you think that your examiner has been biased or they have not followed the university guidelines or they have not been from the same field, how you will prove this. So before making claims you should look for evidence.
Strongest arguments
Be honest and try to persuade appeal panels to focus on your arguments strongly before making any judgment. Try to emphasise on strong arguments otherwise your appeal will be poorly reflected. However, you should also be ready with evidence to support your arguments.