1999 Pharmacy Handbook - Student academic grievance procedures

Student academic grievance procedures

1 Any student of the college who has a grievance of an academic nature that he or she has been otherwise unable to resolve shall, either in person or in writing, bring that grievance to the attention of the faculty registrar.
2 As soon as can be arranged after receiving notice of the grievance, the faculty registrar shall discuss the matter with the student concerned and advise him or her on one or more informal measures that might be taken to resolve the matter.
3 If the informal measures suggested by the faculty registrar genuinely pursued by the aggrieved student fail to bring about a resolution to his or her satisfaction, the faculty registrar shall invite the student to submit a written claim setting out the grievance in question. The faculty registrar shall then intervene formally and seek to resolve the matter through such mediation and negotiation process as he determines appropriate.
4 If the faculty registrar's attempts to resolve the matter by mediation and negotiation fail to bring about a resolution to the satisfaction of the aggrieved student, the faculty registrar shall appoint a Student Academic Grievance (SAG) committee to consider and resolve the matter. The membership of such a committee shall comprise:

the chair of the college's education committee or graduate studies committee or nominee as appropriate as convener;
the undergraduate or postgraduate student representative on the college board or nominee as appropriate;
one uninvolved member of academic staff of the department involved in the dispute; and
one member of academic staff from a department uninvolved in the dispute, with authority to co-opt additional members as may be deemed appropriate.

The faculty registrar or his nominee shall act as secretary.
5 The SAG committee shall meet within fourteen days of being established and shall convey its decision on resolution of the grievance in writing to the faculty registrar within a further seven days.
6 The faculty registrar shall convey the SAG committee's decision to the aggrieved student in writing within seven days of its receipt.
7 The faculty registrar shall take immediate steps to implement the decision of the SAG committee and, if appropriate, monitor compliance with any imposed terms of settlement.
8 The proceedings of the SAG committee shall be conducted in confidence and all relevant documentation and the committee's final written decision shall be retained by the faculty registrar for a period of three years.
9 If the resolution of the matter does not meet with the reasonably held expectations of the aggrieved student, he or she may appeal in writing to the faculty's dean who, after consideration of all relevant details of the case and the undertaking of whatever further inquiries as he may decide, shall determine the appeal and convey his decision in writing to the student within twenty-one days, and report in broad terms on the action taken to the next ordinary meeting of the college board.
10 A grievance will be considered to have lapsed upon the receipt by the faculty registrar of either a written withdrawal of claim or of a written statement from the aggrieved student that the matter has been resolved to his or her satisfaction, save that no grievance shall be considered valid if it relates to any incident or events that occurred more than six months prior to the submission of claim.