phd resubmission failed. supervisors were very happy and had it proof read by a well known professor in my field who said it was one of the best he has read.
what do i do?
can i submit to another university overseas?
academic career is already established and going very well. i need phd. absolutely devastated.

Beth12, first let me say how sorry I am and I can totally understand if you are feeling bad. Every university has a complaints' proceedure, most however, state you can not appeal against academic decisions. However given it was a resubmission did you have feedback from the examiners first time round? Also they must have filled in some paperwork to fail it. Is it possible to obtain this and see exactly why it failed? At that point you might want to make an appointment to see your student' union person and the Head of your Department and see what they say. Don't give up as there is always hope (but it is a long and arduous process going through a complaints' proceedure (it took me two years and I ended up at the OIA)). You might find your superviser knows someone at another uni who woudl be prepared to take it on and then you could submit there. Good luck and keep us informed, we are here to support you.

Thank you. I am truly heartbroken. I am trying to find a solution. Luckily I have a supportive network of academics and I am in the process of seeing if I can submit it through another university - though the professor is having to enquire about this. Any experience of this would be greatly appreciated please. Thank you for your support. I am so embarrassed to tell my friends and family.

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Going through another University seems to be the only way forward. Other than that, you're only chance of appeal will be if there were any procedural inaccuracies (anything done in error by any party) as (commented below) you cannot appeal against the academic decision. If you can show procedural inaccuracies, you can have the work examined again by two different examiners.

You need feedback now as to why this decision has been reached, however, the likely outcome is you'll be told you've not satisfied enough of the examiner's queries for them to feel you've warranted award of a PhD or even an MPhil.

The one thing that strikes me is the Professor who proofread the thesis thought it was a good document. This is another example of why the entire PhD system is flawed, as different people can read or examine a piece of work and think different things of it. Perhaps we need to look at the American examination committee system where there are more opinions and you are not necessarily failed on one bad opinion of your work. You just need to have the wrong person as one of the two people examining you to be failed. One from five in the US would not fail you.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

I'm so sorry to hear this, and can imagine the stress you're going through! Absolutely do not feel embarrassed concerning your friends and family. A PhD is a huge undertaking, and many people don't even make it as far as you did.

I agree with the other responses. Regardless whether you submit elsewhere, or launch an appeal, you need constructive feedback as to what made your work unpassable. If you have notes from the viva, I would type those up and ask the examiners to confirm that you've understood their reasons for failing for you.

I see your point. As nerve wracking as it is to face a large number of people during the visa (as well as assemble all those people in the first place), a panel of five does leave less room for bias. What if a student is failed due to a soured relationship between the advisor and examiner? Or what if the examiner justs wants to show off, or happens to be in a foul mood?

Supervisor wants me to appeal. What do I do? What does the process entail? The only example I can find online is a case that took 7 years to resolve ....

Beth, I am really sorry to hear this.

It's very difficult to suggest something from the outside. There may be dynamics in your department or in the relationship between your supervisor and the examiners that we ignore. How did they choose the examiners? Did you have any voice in this?

As far as I know, when you submit a PhD thesis you have to sign a declaration that this has not previously been submitted for any other degree - at least in the UK. I think that this is why your supervisor want you to appeal.

I know nothing about the technicalities of an academic appeal, but if you have a strong support from your supervisor and your department, it might be the right thing to do.

As it has been previously suggested, I would ask for the examiners' reports and see the reasons for this outcome. Also, did they award you a lower degree - MPhil, MLitt? If this is the case, I would personally accept it and I would start afresh with a new PhD project. But, as I said, in the end this is your decision.

Best of luck whatever you choose, and remember that the forum is here for support...

Beth,

So sorry to hear this. There are some case studies of students who failed PhDs and what happened next on the UCL website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/training-development/phd-supervisor-development/phd_diaries
Scroll down and click on 'Failed PhD'.
These are true stories collected and anonymized by Professor John Wakefield (University of Lancaster).
It is possible they may give you some pointers.

Other than that, I can only echo the advice of others:
- talk to whoever you can to get advice and support- your supervisors, your department administrator, the person in your department responsible for PhD students, your student union, the University welfare office, University Chaplaincy/counsellors
- read all the official regulations incredibly carefully - was due process followed at every stage?
- go through the examiners' report with a fine-toothed comb - what were their grounds for this? Have they breeched any procedures?

I know the University may seem like your enemy now, but it is still in their interests (particularly if you were research council funded) that you come out of this with a qualification. Seek advice, prepare your case, and, if you can, go for the appeal. In addition, you could ask for a meeting with someone high(ish) up in the University - just requesting this might be enough to get you somewhere.

Beth,

the key thing I think will be to compare the original report with the one failing the resubmission. Are they failing you on the basis that you did not respond to all the points in the first report in the resubmission to their satisfaction, or are they raising new issues? If it's new issues (assuming they are not obvious related to academic dishonesty) then I think you would have good grounds to appeal. Definitely go through the reports with your supervisor and whoever has overall responsibiilty for PhD students in your subject. I'm guessing the professor who proofread it for you is a close friend or family member (as I can't imagine anyone else voluntarily proofreading a thesis!) but if you think he can take a step back and evaluate the report objectively then ask him too. Then I think like others have said, if there are grounds to appeal, you need to make sure you understand the process and treat it as if it was a court case. Rely on facts not feelings - try to think like a lawyer when assembling your case.
I'm not sure it's a good idea to try and submit it overseas. I have no doubt that there are some dodgy diploma mills out there that would do it, but then you wouldn't want to put that name on your cv. I'm fairly sure nowhere reputable would do it. I have one last thought - you say your academic career is established & flourishing so I presume you have good publications - if this is irrecoverable, might it be worth investigating the PhD by publication root? I know some universities have this for staff only but it might be worth checking if anywhere is open to others doing it.

im sorry. Can you be more specific? by resubmission you mean after the viva ? how was your viva?

shouldnt the people who check your work help you before you submit it?

in my case the internal examiner was very helpful. you should compare if they asked for anything which was not in the corrections as people have already said.

Good luck with it, hope it works out.

Hi Beth,

So sorry to hear your news - I don't think I can offer any advice because I've no experience of this, but I just wanted to say I'm thinking of you. It seems strange that it has been met with a positive reaction only to be failed! Is there no way you can get a second opinion? This can't be right!