A GRADUATE has failed in a landmark legal challenge over a refusal to reclassify his 2.2 degree.
Andrew Croskery was seeking leave to judicially review decisions by the board of examiners at Queen’s University, Belfast. However a Belfast High Court judge has ruled the case should remain exclusively within the jurisdiction of the university’s appeals body.
Mr Croskery, from Co Down, launched proceedings after missing out on a 2.1 classification in electrical engineering by 0.5 per cent. His lawyers claimed that if he had had better supervision he would have achieved a higher degree.
During the hearing, procedural flaws in the decisions were acknowledged by Queen’s. It intends to convene a further hearing of the board of examiners to study the case.
Even if this confirmed the existing classification, two further rights of appeal were open to Mr Croskery, the judge pointed out.
Refusing leave to apply for a judicial review, Mr Justice Treacy said there was nothing in jurisprudence to support a proposition that assessments and procedures for determining disputed degree classifications fell within the article dealing with rights to a fair hearing.