Regulations 35 - 45: College committee approval, recommendation, return and status of decision, convener's action and quorum. Confidentiality, retention, degree award, final version of thesis and academic appeal. Regulation 35 College Postgraduate Committee: approval of assessment decisionsThe College Postgraduate Committee discusses the examiners’ reports and decides whether or not to approve the recommendations made by the examiners.Application of the regulation35.1 Prior to the meeting of the College Postgraduate Committee, examiners’ recommendations are provisional until approved or modified by the Committee.35.2 The examiners for individual students do not participate in any assessment decisions regarding these students in the relevant meeting of the College Postgraduate Committee.35.3 The Secretary to the College Postgraduate Committee is responsible for giving reasonable notice of meetings: ensuring that the recommendations of the Committee are approved in writing and made available to Student Administration at the required time; and ensuring that a minute of the meeting is produced.35.4 The minute is a confidential document although information on a particular student may need to be disclosed to that student under the Data Protection Act and generic information may need to be disclosed under Freedom of Information legislation.Regulation 36 Committee recommendationThe College Postgraduate Committee must either confirm the examiners’ recommendation and transmit it to the Senatus without further comment or for stated reasons make a different recommendation to the Senatus, including, where appropriate, assessment by different examiners.Application of the regulation36.1 The Committee, on receipt of a recommendation by the examiners, must consider whether it appears to be adequately justified in the light of the full reports by the examiners, and may make further inquiry of the examiners and the student’s supervisor(s).36.2 If the Committee receives reports by the examiners indicating disagreement as to the appropriate recommendation, it may recommend to Senatus that the recommendation of one of the examiners be accepted in preference to that of the other. The Committee may require that a further report on the thesis be obtained from some other examiner or examiners, or that the assessment of the thesis be conducted from the beginning by different examiners.36.3 If the Committee is offering an alternative award to that for which a student had originally submitted (for example MPhil as an exit award for PhD submission), the student must either agree or decline to accept the alternative award.36.4 If the Committee varies the recommendation of the examiners for the degree, the College will provide the student with a written explanation of the decision. In these circumstances the College Postgraduate Dean or nominee will be available to discuss the outcome with the student, should the student request this.Regulation 37 College Postgraduate Committee: quorum for assessment decisionsProvided reasonable notice of a meeting has been given, a meeting is properly constituted and empowered to act if at least three academic members (including the Convenor) are present.Application of the regulation37.1 The Convener of the Committee may, at their discretion, invite any person who has been involved in the assessment of the work under consideration by the Committee to be present ‘in attendance’ but without voting rights.Regulation 38 ConfidentialityAll discussion about the assessment of an individual student at a College Postgraduate Committee meeting is confidential.Application of the regulation38.1 The College Postgraduate Committee reaches a collective decision. The decision does not need to be unanimous.38.2 The views of a particular committee member should not be made known to a student. If a student makes a request under the Data Protection Act, information recorded in the minutes on that particular student will need to be disclosed. In doing so, comments should be anonymised, for example assigned to Member 1, Member 2. Further information is available at:Handbook for Boards of Examiners for Taught Courses and Progammes 38.3 Students have a right to see information about themselves recorded in minutes of the College Postgraduate Committee meeting.38.4 Other than with the written permission of the student concerned, members of staff should not make available information about marks to persons or bodies outside the University except when necessary in the context of a reference.38.5 Guidance on disclosing information on students can be found at:Sharing personal data Regulation 39 Retention and destruction of materialAssessed material must be retained and destroyed in accordance with the University’s student records retention guidance.Application of the regulation39.1 Information about the student records retention schedule is online:Retention of student records39.2 Material which contributes to the assessment of the degree will be retained in the School, College Office or Library for a suitable period after the College Postgraduate Committee meeting which decides the overall classification or award of the degree, diploma or certificate. This enables the University to respond to any student appeal.39.3 Assessment material should be destroyed at the end of the retention period. For students who submit appeals, the retention period will need to be extended until the end of the appeal process. Other material which contributes to the final assessment of the degree may be returned to the student after the expiry of the retention period providing they do not make known the views of a particular examiner (see regulation 38). Theses, research projects and dissertations may be retained by Schools, who have the responsibility to make them available to any enquirer in response to a Freedom of Information request (unless an exemption applies). Assessment samples may be retained for specified periods as supporting documentation for accreditation and quality assurance purposes, for example Internal Periodic Reviews. Material which is not retained or returned should be destroyed at the end of the retention period.Regulation 40 Award of degreesDegrees are awarded by the Senatus on the basis of recommendations of the College, or Board of Examiners.Regulation 41 College Postgraduate Committee: return of decisionDecisions and awards recommended by the examiners and confirmed by the College Postgraduate Committee must be recorded on the Student Records System as the final official results of the University.Application of the regulation41.1 Doctoral and MPhil students receive Part II reports, which constitute formal notification of the Committee decision, after the meeting of the College Postgraduate Committee.41.2 The decisions of the Committee must be notified to Student Administration as soon as possible and certainly no later than 21 days before the date of graduation.41.3 Notification of final results and recommendation of the award of qualification to students, following the meeting of the Committee, is the responsibility of the College Office.41.4 Because of the nature of research degrees, transcripts for such degrees are not issued by the University. Colleges may instead provide students with an explanation of the specific degree awarded and confirmation that the student has been awarded (or is eligible to be awarded) this degree.Regulation 42 Status of decisionsDecisions by a College Postgraduate Committee, once certified in writing are final. In exceptional cases the College Postgraduate Committee can review its decision.Application of the regulation42.1 A College Postgraduate Committee may, review a decision if significant information relevant to that decision, which was unavailable at the time the decision was made, comes to light or if any error having a material bearing on that decision or an error in the written certification of that decision has been made.42.2 If the Committee is satisfied that there are grounds for changing its decision it will report its decision to Student Systems.42.3 Where an error is discovered in the assessment or marking of any examination or any component of an assessment or in the calculation, recording or notification of the result of any assessment or any component thereof or in the classification or result of any degree or in any process connected with any of these matters, the University shall forthwith correct that error and amend its records to show the correct result or classification and whether or not the result or classification has been published or otherwise notified to the student. The University shall notify the student of the corrected result or classification as soon as practicable and shall also correct any reference or statement which may have been provided by the University whether to the student or to a third party. Having been notified of the corrected result or classification the student shall return to the University any documentation which may have been issued to the student notifying the original result or classification which has been corrected. The student shall have no claim against the University for any loss or damage which may have been incurred by the student as a result of any error which may have been made.42.4 In proved cases of substantial and significant copying, plagiarism or other fraud, the Senatus has the power to reduce the classification of, or to revoke, any degree it has already awarded, and to require the degree, diploma or certificate scroll to be returned.42.5 Any member of Senatus may request Senatus to refer for investigation any matter concerning assessment.Regulation 43 Convener's ActionThe Convener of the College Postgraduate Committee or Progression Board may take decisions by Convener’s Action.Application of the regulation43.1 This may occur when the College Postgraduate Committee takes a decision in principle but needs confirmation or further information, or when the Committee considers the possible outcomes and authorises the Convener, once relevant information is known, to apply the appropriate option. Convener’s Action may also be appropriate when the decision to be made follows an existing precedent.43.2 Decisions made by Convener’s Action should be recorded and reported to the relevant Board or Committee.Regulation 44 Final version of the thesisThe student is required to submit the final version of the thesis to the College Postgraduate Office.Application of the regulation44.1 Degrees are conferred upon receipt of the final version of the thesis and following approval by the Senate at graduation.44.2 The final version of the thesis must be submitted within one month of approval of corrections and/or recommendation of award. A student cannot graduate until they have submitted the final version of their thesis to the College Postgraduate Office. See:Graduations44.3 Final submission must be notified by the College Office to Student Systems as soon as possible. Graduation deadline information is available online:Key dates 44.4 Students are responsible for submitting the final version of their thesis in electronic form.44.5 Further details on the submission of theses are available in the Code of Practice for Supervisors and Research Students and from the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA) at:Edinburgh Research ArchiveRegulation 45 Academic AppealStudents have the right of academic appeal against the decisions of the College Postgraduate Committee on specific grounds, which are set out in the University’s Student Appeal Regulations:: Appeals This article was published on 2024-07-29