Discrimination during masters studies from university
This post is very urgent, it is quite lengthy but any help would be greatly appreciated. I had posted a question a few weeks ago regarding my postgraduate studies...I failed an exam re-take meaning I don't graduate with the master's title, another student in my class also failed the same exam re-take, same module, we both also attempted the exam the same number of times. I appealed my outcome, as so did the student, my reasoning was disability, mental/physical health related, and I provided evidence (medical letters) for this. The student's appeal was based off mental health (as they were experiencing issues with another student). My appeal was rejected and I was told level 7 exams can only be attempted twice, but the student's got accepted, they did the exam on a 3rd attempt, giving them a chance to pass and get the master's title, but I am stuck without a degree now, is this not discrimination? Especially since the university are aware of my disability? I counter appealed and it caused a lot of stress on myself to gather more evidence..even if they accept it now I don't want to do the exam as I feel I've been discriminated and treated so unfairly?
Original post by qdeclm
This post is very urgent, it is quite lengthy but any help would be greatly appreciated. I had posted a question a few weeks ago regarding my postgraduate studies...I failed an exam re-take meaning I don't graduate with the master's title, another student in my class also failed the same exam re-take, same module, we both also attempted the exam the same number of times. I appealed my outcome, as so did the student, my reasoning was disability, mental/physical health related, and I provided evidence (medical letters) for this. The student's appeal was based off mental health (as they were experiencing issues with another student). My appeal was rejected and I was told level 7 exams can only be attempted twice, but the student's got accepted, they did the exam on a 3rd attempt, giving them a chance to pass and get the master's title, but I am stuck without a degree now, is this not discrimination? Especially since the university are aware of my disability? I counter appealed and it caused a lot of stress on myself to gather more evidence..even if they accept it now I don't want to do the exam as I feel I've been discriminated and treated so unfairly?
It would be against the law if the university rejected your appeal because of your disability. Is that what you're claiming has happened?
Are there potentially other reasons why your appeal was rejected, whilst the other student's seemingly very similar appeal, was accepted?
Perhaps your "disability, mental/physical health related" appeal failed to demonstrate why these factors specifically impacted this particular exam, whilst the other student's appeal, based on their "mental health" / "issues with another student" did?
Did you check the universities published Academic Regulations prior to appealing, to ensure that you'd met the criteria for a successful appeal?
Finally, I note that you say you now "don't want to do the exam". What do you want to happen? (I assume you're not expecting to be granted the "Master's" despite not having actually passed this exam?)
I don’t know if my appeal was rejected solely because of my disability, that’s a really heavy statement to make which I don’t know I could say, but yes to some extent I do believe because of my disability and the extra arrangements I’ve needed to accommodate to my needs, i feel like I’ve made it “difficult” for the university, even though in reality I am entitled to these arrangements.
I specifically stated in my appeal though that I developed seizures during exam season, and I missed time off uni for hospital appointments, I had a 3 hour exam x2 I. January and less than 3 working days later was told I have to re-take, I tried my best obviously but my performance was badly affected by my health too, I explained all of this in my appeal, even if in my appeal it may have sounded like I couldn’t demonstrate with evidence that my health affected my performance on my re-take, the reasoning I was given for the rejected appeal was based on “level 7 assessments can only be attempted twice” something like that, if I was rejected based off what you said, surely this level 7 comment wouldn’t of been made? I don’t know://
I’m not getting the masters, but even if my counter appeal was to get accepted, why should I have to fight for my voice to be heard? Why is another student being granted this and I haven’t been? When we were both in the same exact situation?
I also did check and read everything before I sent off my appeal, and the only other reason I can think of that I got rejected is because I complained about my tutor in my appeal and I appealed my other exams (first attempt) that I failed
I specifically stated in my appeal though that I developed seizures during exam season, and I missed time off uni for hospital appointments, I had a 3 hour exam x2 I. January and less than 3 working days later was told I have to re-take, I tried my best obviously but my performance was badly affected by my health too, I explained all of this in my appeal, even if in my appeal it may have sounded like I couldn’t demonstrate with evidence that my health affected my performance on my re-take, the reasoning I was given for the rejected appeal was based on “level 7 assessments can only be attempted twice” something like that, if I was rejected based off what you said, surely this level 7 comment wouldn’t of been made? I don’t know://
I’m not getting the masters, but even if my counter appeal was to get accepted, why should I have to fight for my voice to be heard? Why is another student being granted this and I haven’t been? When we were both in the same exact situation?
I also did check and read everything before I sent off my appeal, and the only other reason I can think of that I got rejected is because I complained about my tutor in my appeal and I appealed my other exams (first attempt) that I failed
Original post by DataVenia
It would be against the law if the university rejected your appeal because of your disability. Is that what you're claiming has happened?
Are there potentially other reasons why your appeal was rejected, whilst the other student's seemingly very similar appeal, was accepted?
Perhaps your "disability, mental/physical health related" appeal failed to demonstrate why these factors specifically impacted this particular exam, whilst the other student's appeal, based on their "mental health" / "issues with another student" did?
Did you check the universities published Academic Regulations prior to appealing, to ensure that you'd met the criteria for a successful appeal?
Finally, I note that you say you now "don't want to do the exam". What do you want to happen? (I assume you're not expecting to be granted the "Master's" despite not having actually passed this exam?)
Are there potentially other reasons why your appeal was rejected, whilst the other student's seemingly very similar appeal, was accepted?
Perhaps your "disability, mental/physical health related" appeal failed to demonstrate why these factors specifically impacted this particular exam, whilst the other student's appeal, based on their "mental health" / "issues with another student" did?
Did you check the universities published Academic Regulations prior to appealing, to ensure that you'd met the criteria for a successful appeal?
Finally, I note that you say you now "don't want to do the exam". What do you want to happen? (I assume you're not expecting to be granted the "Master's" despite not having actually passed this exam?)
Understood.
If, as you say, it is "to some extent ... because of my disability and the extra arrangements I’ve needed to accommodate to my needs" then they have committed an offence under the Equality Act 2010. (You're not in Northern Ireland, are you? This act doesn't apply there.)
Well, given that the other student apparently attempted the same assessment three times, this is clearly not the case. It may be that their academic regulations state that "level 7 assessments can only be attempted twice (unless special circumstances apply)" and they've simply missed-off that caveat in the description of the reason for the appeal being rejected. (This is obviously complete guesswork.)
You said that "I also did check and read everything before I sent off my appeal", so you've presumably read the academic regulations thoroughly. What does that document say with regards to the number of times a level 7 assessment can be taken? (Feel free to name the university, and folk here on TSR can check the exact wording.)
That could be relevant. Perhaps there's a limit on the number of exam re-takes in total? (So you could retake three exams once, or one exam three times, for example.) All this should be detailed in their academic regulations.
Original post by qdeclm
...is this not discrimination? Especially since the university are aware of my disability?
If, as you say, it is "to some extent ... because of my disability and the extra arrangements I’ve needed to accommodate to my needs" then they have committed an offence under the Equality Act 2010. (You're not in Northern Ireland, are you? This act doesn't apply there.)
Original post by qdeclm
...the reasoning I was given for the rejected appeal was based on “level 7 assessments can only be attempted twice” something like that, if I was rejected based off what you said, surely this level 7 comment wouldn’t of been made?
Well, given that the other student apparently attempted the same assessment three times, this is clearly not the case. It may be that their academic regulations state that "level 7 assessments can only be attempted twice (unless special circumstances apply)" and they've simply missed-off that caveat in the description of the reason for the appeal being rejected. (This is obviously complete guesswork.)
You said that "I also did check and read everything before I sent off my appeal", so you've presumably read the academic regulations thoroughly. What does that document say with regards to the number of times a level 7 assessment can be taken? (Feel free to name the university, and folk here on TSR can check the exact wording.)
Original post by qdeclm
...the only other reason I can think of that I got rejected is because ... I appealed my other exams (first attempt) that I failed
That could be relevant. Perhaps there's a limit on the number of exam re-takes in total? (So you could retake three exams once, or one exam three times, for example.) All this should be detailed in their academic regulations.
Possibly discrimination, possibly not. Not really enough evidence from what you’ve said to really say.
How do you know about the other student, and their reasons and appeal outcome? If they told you, maybe they’re missing out info that might be pertinent to the unis decision or obv if based on gossip, then it’s just gossip.
Also, to the other point, if you wouldn’t want to do the exam if you are successful with your counter appeal then you need to decide do you really want it? After all, you can’t get the full without doing the exam.
Its illegal to discriminate on the base of disability, but maybe it’s a case of your argument was not strong enough or clear enough on how these impact on your previous retakes.
Possibly too, if you have ongoing health issues than you’ve informed the uni about already, and the appropriate accommodations/adjustments were put in place as well as you are aware of their impact and the necessary prep you need for it. From their POV it might not be clear what was different for this exam compared to the others, and what was other wise different for this exam and it’s retake and what benefit to doing it again will bring, so they might not be convinced that you need another retake. Essentially, how many are they going to let you take..until you get the exact result you want?
The other student’s issue sounds it was probably something unexpected and a mitigating circumstance that impacted their retake in this specific instance that warrants another retake.
You can appeal, but worth thinking what to do if they reject it again. It might be worth checking how to escalate this if needed, but worth asking yourself as well is it worth the hassle. Try talking to someone too for more details on the decision.
How do you know about the other student, and their reasons and appeal outcome? If they told you, maybe they’re missing out info that might be pertinent to the unis decision or obv if based on gossip, then it’s just gossip.
Also, to the other point, if you wouldn’t want to do the exam if you are successful with your counter appeal then you need to decide do you really want it? After all, you can’t get the full without doing the exam.
Its illegal to discriminate on the base of disability, but maybe it’s a case of your argument was not strong enough or clear enough on how these impact on your previous retakes.
Possibly too, if you have ongoing health issues than you’ve informed the uni about already, and the appropriate accommodations/adjustments were put in place as well as you are aware of their impact and the necessary prep you need for it. From their POV it might not be clear what was different for this exam compared to the others, and what was other wise different for this exam and it’s retake and what benefit to doing it again will bring, so they might not be convinced that you need another retake. Essentially, how many are they going to let you take..until you get the exact result you want?
The other student’s issue sounds it was probably something unexpected and a mitigating circumstance that impacted their retake in this specific instance that warrants another retake.
You can appeal, but worth thinking what to do if they reject it again. It might be worth checking how to escalate this if needed, but worth asking yourself as well is it worth the hassle. Try talking to someone too for more details on the decision.
The thing is, the issue wasn’t about my appeal being rejected, the issue is that I was told level 7 assessments can only be taken twice. If they rejected my appeal based off what you mentioned then I’d understand, because what you said does make sense and I can see it from your perspective as well. I do think the other students appeal got accepted because they never had any other issues during our degree, whereas I had issues from the start as they rejected one of my disability arrangements which I had to chase up for like 4-5 weeks from when I started my degree…when my appeal got rejected I was slowly accepting I won’t get my degree title, then obviously the student told me they got a third go for the exam, I know it is true because they sent me their outcome from the appeal, I don’t really know what to do anymore I just feel like the uni I’m going to doesn’t accommodate for students with needs as I’ve been told other students have dropped out from the same experience
Original post by souljav
Possibly discrimination, possibly not. Not really enough evidence from what you’ve said to really say.
How do you know about the other student, and their reasons and appeal outcome? If they told you, maybe they’re missing out info that might be pertinent to the unis decision or obv if based on gossip, then it’s just gossip.
Also, to the other point, if you wouldn’t want to do the exam if you are successful with your counter appeal then you need to decide do you really want it? After all, you can’t get the full without doing the exam.
Its illegal to discriminate on the base of disability, but maybe it’s a case of your argument was not strong enough or clear enough on how these impact on your previous retakes.
Possibly too, if you have ongoing health issues than you’ve informed the uni about already, and the appropriate accommodations/adjustments were put in place as well as you are aware of their impact and the necessary prep you need for it. From their POV it might not be clear what was different for this exam compared to the others, and what was other wise different for this exam and it’s retake and what benefit to doing it again will bring, so they might not be convinced that you need another retake. Essentially, how many are they going to let you take..until you get the exact result you want?
The other student’s issue sounds it was probably something unexpected and a mitigating circumstance that impacted their retake in this specific instance that warrants another retake.
You can appeal, but worth thinking what to do if they reject it again. It might be worth checking how to escalate this if needed, but worth asking yourself as well is it worth the hassle. Try talking to someone too for more details on the decision.
How do you know about the other student, and their reasons and appeal outcome? If they told you, maybe they’re missing out info that might be pertinent to the unis decision or obv if based on gossip, then it’s just gossip.
Also, to the other point, if you wouldn’t want to do the exam if you are successful with your counter appeal then you need to decide do you really want it? After all, you can’t get the full without doing the exam.
Its illegal to discriminate on the base of disability, but maybe it’s a case of your argument was not strong enough or clear enough on how these impact on your previous retakes.
Possibly too, if you have ongoing health issues than you’ve informed the uni about already, and the appropriate accommodations/adjustments were put in place as well as you are aware of their impact and the necessary prep you need for it. From their POV it might not be clear what was different for this exam compared to the others, and what was other wise different for this exam and it’s retake and what benefit to doing it again will bring, so they might not be convinced that you need another retake. Essentially, how many are they going to let you take..until you get the exact result you want?
The other student’s issue sounds it was probably something unexpected and a mitigating circumstance that impacted their retake in this specific instance that warrants another retake.
You can appeal, but worth thinking what to do if they reject it again. It might be worth checking how to escalate this if needed, but worth asking yourself as well is it worth the hassle. Try talking to someone too for more details on the decision.
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