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Home » Policies & Procedures » Guides » Guide to Graduate Policy » E. Course Work, Grading, Probation, and Dismissal: Full Version

E. Course Work, Grading, Probation, and Dismissal

This version of the Guide to Graduate: E. Course Work, Grading, Probation, and Dismissal handbook has been made available for users who prefer to print or read it in its entirety.

E1. Coursework

E1.1 Full-time Status

The minimum enrollment requirement is 12 units per semester for all graduate students who are not yet advanced to doctoral candidacy, including those holding academic appointments that require registration. Students who have been advanced to doctoral candidacy may enroll for fewer than 12 units.

International students on F-1 or J-1 visas should also enroll in 12 units but a full program of study for international students is determined by a student’s academic program and may consist of fewer units in exceptional circumstances.  If there are exceptional circumstances, international students should consult with the Berkeley International Office or BIO (2299 Piedmont Avenue, 642-2818, http://internationaloffice.berkeley.edu) to ensure compliance with the regulations of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).  If a student decides not to complete the graduate program and plans to withdraw from the University, the student must be referred to BIO immediately, before any action is taken.

Course loads of more than 12 units. If the Graduate Adviser agrees, students may take more than 12 units. Graduate Advisers should feel free to deny, on behalf of the Dean, student requests for excessively heavy programs that would not be in the best interests of the student.

E1.2 Minimum Course Loads for Certain Student Categories

Part-time enrollment. Graduate students who wish to study on a part-time basis can be admitted only to those degree programs specifically approved by the Graduate Council for part-time study.  A modified schedule is also possible for women anticipating childbirth (see Section F5.2).

Fellowship recipients. Fellowship recipients must register and be enrolled in 12 units to be eligible. For more information on fellowships and registration requirements, contact Graduate Services Fellowships, 318 Sproul Hall, 642-0672.

Financial aid issues. Students who receive financial assistance from the Financial Aid Office must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 units. This requirement is already met by compliance with the general 12-unit minimum enrollment requirement per semester.  However, if, in an exceptional circumstances, a student receiving financial aid will be enrolled in less than 6 units, he or she must notify the Financial Aid Office (201 Sproul Hall, 642-0485).

Students who wish to defer repayment of Federal Direct Loans (formerly Stafford Loans) must register for at least a half-time (6 units) program to qualify for deferred repayment as required by the U.S. Department of Education. For information about how to defer repayment of student loans guaranteed by the federal government, contact the Financial Aid Office, Graduate and Professional Unit, 201 Sproul Hall (fao_grad@berkeley.edu, 642-0485).

Graduate Student Instructors and Graduate Student Researchers. Graduate Student Instructors and Graduate Student Researchers not yet advanced to doctoral candidacy must carry a minimum of 12 units per semester in 100, 200, 300, or 400 series courses. (Units in the 600 series may be substituted for 200-level units when appropriate and lower division units taken to prepare for departmental requirements (e.g., requirements in languages, mathematics, or statistics) may be substituted for 100-level units).

Students receiving veterans’ benefits. Students who receive veterans’ benefits are required to be enrolled in a minimum of 8 units to receive educational benefits.  However, this requirement is already met by compliance with the 12-unit enrollment requirement per semester. For more information about veterans’ benefits, contact the Veterans Coordinator (Veterans’ Services, 120 Sproul Hall, 642-1592).

E1.3 Grades

Minimum grade requirements. In order for students to be in good standing, they must maintain an overall grade-point average of at least 3.0 on the basis of all upper division and graduate courses (100- and 200-level) taken in graduate standing. Grade-points earned in Berkeley courses numbered below 100 or above 300 are not included in determining a student’s grade-point average for remaining in good standing or earning a degree. Some departments may have higher performance standards than the minimum B average required by the Graduate Division (Graduate Services Degrees, 318 Sproul Hall, 642-7330).

It is important for first-year students to take courses on a letter-graded basis in order to establish a grade-point average for future fellowship and academic appointment considerations. Too many courses graded S/U early in a student’s career make such decisions more difficult.  No more than one-third of a student’s total units may be graded S/U (see the section “Limits on S/U coursework” below).

Students should keep track of their grades each semester.  Retroactive requests for adjustment of student records are approved only with substantial support from the Head Graduate Adviser.

The basis of grade-point averages. Students’ grade-point averages are computed on letter-graded courses completed at UC Berkeley, not including courses taken through University Extension.  The basic scale is as follows:  A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=zero. (Plus and minus grade designations provide three-tenths more or less than the base grade, except for A+, which carries 4.0 grade points only.) Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory, Incomplete, and In Progress grades carry no grade-points and are excluded from all grade-point computations.

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grades (S/U). The Graduate Division prefers students to enroll in courses for letter grades; however, graduate students in good standing may take courses on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) basis with the consent of their Graduate Advisers. A Satisfactory grade implies work of B minus quality or better. Courses graded S/U are not included in the grade-point average. Units from a course graded U may not be counted toward fulfillment of  students’ degree programs (Graduate Services Degrees, 642-7330).

Limits on S/U course work. Academic Senate regulations state that credit for courses taken on an S/U basis is limited to one-third of a student’s total units (excluding courses numbered 299 or those in the 300, 400, or 600 series). Included in this one-third calculation are any units completed in an Education Abroad Program, a UC intercampus exchange program, or course work undertaken at the institutional partner of a Berkeley joint doctoral program.

For master’s degrees, two-thirds of all course work (not just required core courses included on the master’s advancement to candidacy form) must be letter-graded. Within these limits, courses in the 100 and 200 series graded Satisfactory may be accepted for academic residence.

To change the grading option. Students may change from a letter grade option to Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory or from S/U to a letter grade by filing a Petition to Change Class Schedule. The petition is available from Graduate Services Degrees (318 Sproul Hall), the Office of the Registrar (120 Sproul Hall), and online (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/GeneralInfo/elecforms.html). After the Head Graduate Adviser endorses the petition, the student files it with the Registrar if the request is made before the last day of instruction.

However, changes made after the last day of instruction must be reviewed by the Graduate Division. The Head Graduate Adviser must sign the Petition to Change Class Schedule and provide a memo of support, including a detailed explanation for the request, accompanied by an additional memo of support from the instructor of record.

The Graduate Division will not approve a retroactive petition to change grading option simply because the student anticipates a low grade or wants to convert a letter grade to S/U if the student did not earn at least a B minus in the course (Graduate Services Degrees, 642-7330).

In Progress grades. Courses that extend over more than one semester are graded at the end of each intervening term with the provisional grade of In Progress (“IP”). At the end of the final term, the instructor reports a letter grade for both semesters to the Office of the Registrar. The IP grade is not included in the grade-point average.

Students who do not complete a course sequence may petition to drop the course retroactively without academic penalty. The Registrar will automatically change an IP grade to an Incomplete grade if the student has a break in a course sequence (Office of the Registrar, 643-6173).

Incomplete grades. Instructors can give an Incomplete grade (“I”) when a student’s work is of passing quality but is incomplete because of circumstances beyond the student’s control, such as sudden illness the day of the examination.

How students replace Incomplete grades. Instructors are expected to grade the work a student submits in a timely fashion and to replace the Incomplete grade. To replace an Incomplete grade on their records, students file a Petition to Remove an Incomplete Grade, available in department offices and through the Registar’s Office website (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/GeneralInfo/elecforms.html). The processing fee must be paid before the petition is submitted to the department. After the department records the grade replacing the Incomplete, the petition is submitted to the Registrar’s Office. When the earned grade is recorded by the Registrar, the student receives full unit credit and the grade points are added to the student’s grade-point average (Office of the Registrar, 643-6173).

Penalties concerning Incompletes. Unlike undergraduates whose” I” grades become F grades or NP if not replaced within two semesters, graduate students have no specified time limit for making up Incompletes, unless specified  by the student’s major. Departments may set their own more restrictive policies on Incomplete grades. At a minimum, the following academic penalties apply:

  1. students who have three or more Incompletes are academically ineligible to hold a student academic appointment
  2. master’s students must remove all Incompletes (and In Progress grades) in required courses in order to receive their degrees (Graduate Advisers should review transcripts at least annually to make sure that students are not accumulating an excessive number of Incompletes); for award of the Master’s degree, a student can have no more than one Incomplete per year of the degree program in a non-required course (e.g., for a two-year Master’s program, two Incompletes in courses not required are allowed)
  3. doctoral students are not eligible to apply for the Qualifying Examination or advancement to candidacy if they have more than two Incompletes
  4. there may be departmental regulations that if a student accumulates more than two Incompletes he or she is not considered in good academic standing and may face probation and dismissal

Completing required courses — Master’s students. Each semester, the Graduate Services Degrees Unit checks the records of master’s students who will receive degrees that term. If a student has Incomplete (I) or In Progress (IP) grades in courses listed on the advancement to candidacy form, staff will assume that the courses are required for the degree and remove the student’s name from the degree list unless the Head Graduate Adviser has submitted a memo stating which outstanding I or IP grades are not required for the degree. Therefore, it is up to the student and the Head Graduate Adviser to review the student’s record well before the degree is expected and to inform the Graduate Services Degrees Unit as to which Incomplete or In Progress courses are not required. If the explanation was submitted when the student applied for advancement to candidacy, the Head Graduate Adviser does not need to resubmit the information.

The student’s name will also be removed from the degree list if final grades for required courses are not recorded by the Registrar before the degree list is submitted to the Academic Senate (about two months after final examinations). To prevent delays and misunderstandings, professors should meet the grade submission deadlines of the Registrar.

Credit by examination. Students may petition for a limited amount of course credit toward their degrees by passing examinations on material covered in certain courses in lieu of taking those courses. To have a Petition for Credit by Examination approved by the Registrar’s Office and the Graduate Division, the following conditions must be met:

  1. the student must be registered for at least 12 units of upper division or graduate work when he or she takes the examination.
  2. the student’s grade-point average must be at least 3.0.
  3. the courses must be ones that can be tested by examination. Graduate seminars and research courses cannot be taken for credit by examination.
  4. the course must be listed in the General Catalog and be offered during the semester in which the exam is to be taken.

How students petition for credit by examination. The Petition for Credit by Examination is available through the Registrar’s Office website (http://registrar.berkeley.edu/GeneralInfo/elecforms.html). The student should have the petition approved by the instructor of the course, and then send it to the Graduate Division for approval by the cognizant Associate Dean, in care of the Graduate Services Degrees office, 318 Sproul Hall. After the Graduate Division has approved the petition, the student submits the petition to the Registrar’s Office for approval and pays a processing fee.  If approved, the Registrar’s Office will either forward the petition to the instructor for the exam to proceed or notify the student that the petition has been denied.. The instructor records the grade on the petition and forwards it to the Office of the Registrar (120 Sproul Hall). According to Academic Senate regulations governing the assignment of these grades, the final result of the exam can be reported to the Registrar only as Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory.

Repetition of courses. Graduate students may repeat courses in which they received a D+, D, D-, F, or U for up to a total of 12 units. They must repeat courses for which they received below a C- grade if a passing grade in the course is required by the department as part of the degree program.

If a student repeats a course in which he or she received a grade of D+, D, D-, or F, the units are counted only once, and only the most recently earned grade and grade points are counted for the total of 12 units of repeated work.

Students who elect to repeat a course for which they received a letter grade of D+ or lower must get written approval from the Head Graduate Adviser and endorsement by the Graduate Division. This will prevent the Registrar from counting the units and grades more than once. Contact the Graduate Services Degrees Unit (642-7330) for assistance.

Substitution of courses. Students may substitute one course for another for which they received a D+, D, D-, F, or U only if:

  1. circumstances beyond their control prevent them from retaking the course before the date they expected their degree to be conferred (e.g., the course was not offered or was renumbered, or scheduling conflicts existed between the original course and other courses  required for the degree).
  2. the Head Graduate Adviser certifies that the content of the course to be substituted is equivalent to that covered in the original course.

Any substitution of courses in a student’s master’s degree program requires the approval of the Head Graduate Adviser and the Graduate Division. If approved, the student must follow the procedure under the “Repetition of courses” section (above) to avoid having the units counted twice by the Registrar. For assistance, please contact the Graduate Services Degrees Office (642-7330).

E1.4 600-Level Courses

Individual study courses 601 and 602. Individual study courses give students credit for preparing for master’s comprehensive and language exams (601) and for doctoral qualifying and language exams (602). These courses count toward a full course load, with some limitations. Students may earn 1–8 units of 601 or 602 per semester or 1–4 units per summer session.

Units of 601 or 602 do not count toward academic residence requirements for a graduate degree or the unit requirements for a master’s degree. However, they do satisfy units calculated in an international student’s full program of study. Both 601 and 602 courses must be taken on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) basis. Students may not enroll in 601 or 602 courses once they have passed the master’s comprehensive or the doctoral qualifying examination respectively.

E1.5 Academic Standing

Graduate students may be classified as a) in good academic standing, b) on probation, or c) subject to dismissal.

Students are normally in good academic standing if they:

  1. are making adequate progress toward the completion of degree requirements;
  2. have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 (unless the department has a higher minimum GPA requirement);
  3. do not have more than 2 Incomplete grades on their records; and
  4. have not received warning letters from the department or been placed on formal probation for academic or, in certain professional programs, clinical deficiencies.

E1.6 Departmental Review of Student Progress

Departments are responsible for monitoring their students’ overall progress toward graduate toward graduate degrees. Departments should evaluate graduate students at the middle and end of their first year of graduate study and annually thereafter. The yearly evaluation gives faculty an opportunity to review the performance of each student and, more importantly, to provide students with timely information about the faculty’s evaluation of their progress and performance. The Graduate Division further advises that the results of all evaluations be sent to the students in writing. A negative evaluation may be considered a letter of warning if it includes the information required by the Graduate Council (see “Warning Letters,” below) and a copy should be sent to the Graduate Division.

The Graduate Council requires that all students advanced to candidacy meet a minimum of once a year with their dissertation committeee members and complete annually the Report on Progress in Candidacy (www.grad.berkeley.edu/policies/pdf/progress_report.pdf).  The report should be kept in the department’s files and a copy sent to the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900).  At least two members of the committee, includeing the chair, must meet with the student.

In fairness to students and to avoid problems later on, departments should let students know—by published materials, by written evaluations, or both—what the faculty considers to be satisfactory progress.

Criteria for evaluating student progress. The definition of adequate progress is intentionally flexible. With the approval of the Graduate Council, departments may establish progress requirements beyond those set by the Graduate Division. Such requirements may include:

  1. a specified grade-point average above a 3.0;
  2. no Incompletes or a fixed number of Incompletes;
  3. specific courses completed in a timely fashion and at a given level of performance;
  4. a master’s degree completed en route to a doctorate;
  5. departmental preliminary exams passed before admission to the Qualifying Exam;
  6. an acceptable thesis or dissertation prospectus submitted before advancement to candidacy;
  7. formation of an appropriate QE committee;
  8. acceptance by a regular faculty member who agrees to supervise the student’s research and to serve as chair of the dissertation committee; and
  9. certain general requirements, such as passing the Qualifying Exam, completed within a clearly specified period.

Action regarding insufficient progress. If a department assesses a student’s performance as below standard, it may: 1) send the student a warning letter, with a copy to the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall), apprising the student of his or her insufficient academic progress (see “Warning Letters” in the section directly below), or 2) write to the Graduate Division requesting to place the student on formal probation, with the consequence that the student is ineligible to receive a fellowship or hold an academic appointment (see E1.8 “Academic Probation”). Placement of a student on formal probation is required before the student can be dismissed from the program except in instances when a student fails a comprehensive, preliminary, or qualifying examination.

Warning letters. Whether a department sends the student a warning letter or requests the Graduate Division to place the student on formal probation or be lapsed early if advanced to candidacy, the Graduate Council requires that department supply the following for the student’s information:

  1. the nature of the problem or deficiency;
  2. the steps to be taken to correct the deficiency;
  3. a reasonable period in which to correct the problem or to show acceptable improvement; and
  4. an approximate date on which the student’s record will next be reviewed.

E1.7 Academic Probation

Probation for students not yet advanced to candidacy. Students who have not yet advanced to candidacy can be placed on academic probation and ultimately dismissed if they fail to make sufficient progress toward their degrees. (Students advanced to candidacy are “lapsed”; see section below “Probationary Status after advancement — Lapsed Candidacy.”)  Probation is intended to provide a student whose performance is less than satisfactory with a period in which to correct the deficiencies and to raise his or her performance to a level consistent with the minimum standards set by the Graduate Division in consultation with the department. Students on probationary status may register and enroll, but they may not hold academic appointments, receive graduate fellowships, or be awarded advanced degrees.

Departments may recommend probation and dismissal on the basis of a written evaluation of the student’s progress. However, only the Dean of the Graduate Division has the authority to place a student on probation, to remove probationary status, and, if necessary, to dismiss a student from graduate standing.  Some departments may choose to issue warning letters to apprise students that they are not making satisfactory progress rather than request formal probation for a student (see “Action regarding Insufficient Progress” in Section E1.6).

Probation for GPA below Graduate Division requirements. At the end of each semester, the Graduate Division reviews the records of all registered graduate students. In most instances, if a student begins a program in a new field of study, or is readmitted to a new major, only the grades in the current program will be computed by the Graduate Division. However, courses taken in the “old” major that are directly relevant to the new major (e.g., English and Comparative Literature) will be included in the overall grade-point average. Following this review, students whose grade-point average is below 3.0 will receive a letter from the Graduate Division informing them that they have been placed on probation and are subject to dismissal if their GPA remains below the minimum 3.0 requirement, or below the department’s requirement which may be higher, by the end of the following semester. A copy of the letter will be sent to each department.

Probation for Incompletes. The Graduate Division does not place students on probation for having more than two Incompletes. However, students are not allowed to hold a GSI or GSR appointment if they have accumulated more than two Incompletes.

If a department wishes to put a student on probation for not complying with its own Incompletes policy, it can recommend to the Dean that the student be placed on probation until the deficiencies are rectified.

Probationary period. The probationary period is normally for one semester, during which the student is expected to remove academic deficiencies. If the student has failed to correct these deficiencies, the Graduate Division will contact the department to request a recommendation from the Head Graduate Adviser on whether the student’s situation warrants an extension of the academic probationary period. If the probationary period is not extended, the department should formally request that the Graduate Dean dismiss the student. A registration block is then placed on the student’s future registration.

Students may not remain on probation indefinitely. They should try to remove deficiencies as soon as possible, usually within one semester. Graduate Advisers should inform students that, while on probation, they cannot take courses on an S/U basis unless the course is offered only on an S/U basis and is part of the program required for the degree.

Probationary Status after Advancement — Lapsed Candidacy. Students advanced to candidacy are also subject to a probationary status termed “lapsed candidacy.”  This usually occurs when students  have exceeded their major’s Normative Time in Candidacy (NTIC) by two years.  However, a department may request the Graduate Division to “lapse” a student earlier  if the student is not advancing satisfactorily towards completing the degree, such as failing to secure an approved  prospectus or insufficient progress on the dissertation.  As a consequence of being lapsed, a student may not hold any academic appointment or fellowship. For more information about lapsing, see Section F3.7 “Lapsing, Reinstatement, and Termination of Candidacy.”

Removing a student from academic probationary status. Students may be placed on, or removed from, probation, or lapsed status only by the Dean of the Graduate Division. They are removed from probationary status imposed for failing to maintain the minimum grade-point average when they raise their grade-point averages to at least 3.0. If a student was placed on probation or lapsed because the department and the Graduate Division determined that he or she was not making adequate progress, the Head Graduate Adviser must inform the cognizant Associate Dean in writing (in care of the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900) that the student has met the conditions for removing probation and should be cleared. A separate recommendation that probation be removed must be made for each individual student.  It is the same protocol to remove a student from lapsed status, but the request by memo would be to reinstate the candidacy of the student rather than to “clear probation” (see Section F3.7, “Lapsing, Reinstatement, and Termination of Candidacy”).

E1.8 Dismissal

There are generally two reasons a graduate student may be dismissed: for disciplinary reasons due to violations of the Code of Student Code and for academic deficiencies. The former is determined by the Vice Chancellor, Division of Student Affairs at the recommendation of the Office of Student Conduct and with the concurrence of the Graduate Dean. (For more information, see the Office of Student Conduct website: http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/sja.asp?id=297)

Dismissal for academic reasons is entirely under the purview of the Graduate Dean under the auspices of the Graduate Council.

Academic Dismissal. A student is subject to academic dismissal if:

  1. the student’s academic deficiencies as determined by the department and the Graduate Division were not corrected after a reasonable, established period of probation or lapsing; or
  2. the student failed the comprehensive, preliminary, or qualifying exam (however see Appendix A, section  9, “Academic Standing” and information in second paragraph below); or
  3. a department assesses that a student’s academic progress, although sufficient for the award of a master’s degree, was insufficient to merit the student’s proceeding to the doctoral level; or
  4. the student failed to meet the necessary clinical standards in a professional program (e.g., Optometry).

How to recommend that a student be dismissed. If the Head Graduate Adviser believes that it is unlikely that a student on probation or in lapsed status can improve his or her record or that the student is unable to meet requirements for the degree, the Head Graduate Adviser should recommend dismissal (or “termination” for lapsed individuals) to the Dean, in care of the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900). The Graduate Division reviews the records of all students on probation to determine if they should be dismissed. Normally, departments can recommend dismissal only after the students have been informed in writing of their deficiencies and given adequate time to correct them and to meet acceptable criteria. A department must submit an individual request for each student it recommends for dismissal or termination.

Additionally, if the Head Graduate Adviser provides no such justification for extending probation beyond the probationary semester, the Associate Dean for Degrees may recommend to the Dean of the Graduate Division that the student be formally dismissed.

Dismissal for Failed Examinations (Comprehensive, Preliminary, and Qualifying Examinations). The Graduate Council requires that students who fail a departmental examination on the first attempt be given an opportunity for reexamination following a reasonable delay for additional preparation. A student permitted to undertake a second examination is not placed on probation while preparing for the retake.

However, in cases of a comprehensive or preliminary examination, if the examining committee, with the concurrence of the Head Graduate Adviser, recommends that no second examination be given and that the student’s status in that department be terminated, the chair of the committee must provide an explanatory letter addressed to the cognizant Associate Dean, in care of the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900). This would apply in cases where the examination committee’s opinion is that the student’s performance on the exam was so poor that it is unlikely the student will pass in a second attempt within an acceptable period of time.

Note: Departments must appropriately inform students before the examination that it is the program’s policy to possibly not recommend a second examination and that a student not recommended for a second attempt is subject to dismissal.

For the Qualifying Examination, the examining committee, with the concurrence of the Head Graduate Adviser, may also recommend that no second examination be given. If a committee does not recommend a reexamination, a written explanation from the committee chair must be sent to the Graduate Services Degrees Unit in addition to the Report on the Qualifying Examination. For the particular regulations governing the report of a student failing the Qualifying Examination, please refer to Chapter F, “Degrees,” section F2.7 “Exam Failure or Split Vote.”

When a student is dismissed. After the student’s record and the department’s recommendations, if applicable, are reviewed by the Graduate Division, the Graduate Dean sends a letter of dismissal to the student and so informs the department, and the Office of the Registrar. The Graduate Services: Degrees Office requests the Registrar’s Office to block the student from further registration and the Registrar’s Office notates his or her transcript with the following: “Further registration subject to the approval of the Dean of the Graduate Division.” The student is ineligible to apply for readmission to the program from which he or she has been academically dismissed. However, the student is not excluded from applying to another academic program; this program has the right to review the student’s academic records to inform its decision on whether or not to admit the student. When a student is dismissed for reasons of misconduct, however, the student is not allowed to apply for any program in the UC system unless with the express permission of the Chancellor of the UC campus to which the former student wishes to apply.

More information. If you have questions about probation, lapsing and dismissal, please contact the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall,  degrees@berkeley.edu) or the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs (643-7412). Special requests for probation and dismissal should be addressed to the cognizant Associate Dean  in care of the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900).

E1.9 Graduate Student Appeal Procedure

The Graduate Student Appeal procedure is to be used by graduate students, other than Juris Doctor candidates, with complaints about dismissal from graduate standing, placement on probationary status, denial of readmission, and other administrative or academic decisions that terminate or otherwise impede progress toward academic or professional degree goals. For graduate students, this procedure may also be used to resolve disputes over joint authorship of research in accordance with joint authorship policies of campus departments or units.

Through the Graduate Appeal Procedure, graduate students have the right to appeal academic or administrative decisions that have resulted in termination or have interfered with their progress toward a degree if the decision is alleged to have been based on the following criteria:

  1. Procedural error or violation of official policy by academic or administrative personnel.
  2. Judgments improperly based upon nonacademic criteria including, but not limited to, discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, medical condition (cancer related), ancestry, marital status, citizenship, sexual orientation, or status as a Vietnam-era veteran or special disabled veteran.
  3. Special mitigating circumstances beyond the student’s control not properly taken into account in a decision affecting the student’s academic progress.

Please note that the Graduate Appeal Procedure is distinct from the Berkeley Campus Student Grievance Procedure. The Grievance Procedure also addresses discrimination complaints but not in relation to alleged interference with a student’s academic progress. For information concerning the Berkeley Campus Student Grievance Procedure, please see Division of Student Affairs webpage: http://students.berkeley.edu/uga/grievance.stm.

To pursue an appeal, students must follow the Graduate Appeal Procedure, which is available from the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall), Graduate Deans’ office (424 Sproul Hall), and the Graduate Division website (www.grad.berkeley.edu/policies/pdf/gradappeal.pdf).

Overview of the appeal process. Students must initiate an appeal at the unit level (e.g., school, department, graduate group) at which the disputed action took place within 30 days from the time at which the student knew or could reasonably be expected to have known of the action being appealed. The Graduate Council requires each academic unit to maintain copies of its current internal appeal procedure for information and use by its graduate students. After the student has submitted a unit-level appeal, the unit must make all reasonable efforts at informal and formal resolution, as stated in the Graduate Appeal Procedure, before the student may take the matter to the next level, which is the Graduate Division. Students seeking unit-level resolution are also strongly encouraged to seek the advice of the Ombuds for Students (642-5754) and may also consult with the Graduate Dean’s Office (642-5472). Please see Chapter A, section 1.5 for more information on the Ombuds Office.

How students request the intervention of the Graduate Division. If the student’s unit-level appeal has been denied, within 15 days of receiving that notification, the student must submit a Graduate Appeal Form accompanied by all supporting documentation the student wishes to be considered in substantiation of his or her appeal to the Graduate Division Dean’s Office (424 Sproul Hall #5900). The Graduate Division is not obliged to accept any documentation submitted after the 15-day deadline. The Graduate Appeal Form is available from the Graduate Services: Degrees Office  (318 Sproul Hall), the Graduate Deans’ Office (424 Sproul Hall) and on the Graduate Division website (http://grad.berkeley.edu/policies/pdf/appealform.pdf).

The cognizant Associate Dean will review the appeal and inform the student if the appeal is eligible for review.  If the student’s appeal is acceptable and timely, the student will be informed of the procedures that will be subsequently followed to process the appeal. The student should become thoroughly familiar with the procedures and deadlines explained in the Graduate Appeal Procedure document.  Graduate Division’s Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs  (643-7412)  is available to answer any questions concerning the procedure.