Quality Standards

A "B" (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) average must be maintained in all graduate work taken as part of the degree or certificate program.

Explore the areas below to learn about the quality standards that apply to Graduate Studies:  

Automatic Dismissal
Probation or Dismissal
Unclassified and Non-Degree Students
Additional Requirements
Monitoring
Student Responsibilities
Automatic Dismissal for a Grade of “U” (Unsatisfactory) or “Fail”
The Plan of Study and Grades Which Result in Automatic Dismissal
Students Dismissed from a Graduate Program Who then Reapply as Non-Degree Students
Policy on Petitioning for Reinstatement into a Graduate Program
Appeal of Grades in Graduate-Level Courses
Appeal of General Academic Matters Related to Student Programs
Graduate Student Academic Appeal Policy

Automatic Dismissal

Graduate students are expected to do work of high caliber. Failure to do so will result in dismissal. In particular, the following will result in automatic dismissal from the degree or certificate program:

  • Receiving a grade of "C-" (1.67 on a 4.0 scale) or below in any course taken in the student's major field of study or in any course included in the plan of study or program of study;
  • Departments/Schools may have additional and more stringent criteria for evaluating a student's performance and progress and may demand a higher level of performance than that demanded by the Graduate College. A department/school or program unit may, under some circumstances, recommend dismissal of a student from a graduate program even though quality of work standards have been maintained. Grounds for dismissal could include, but are not limited to:
    • failure to be accepted by an appropriate thesis or dissertation adviser within stipulated time limitations;
    • failure to make timely progress toward the degree or certificate; and
    • failure to perform in course work, qualifying examination or research at an acceptable level in the respective department/school or program unit.

Probation or Dismissal

A department/school will recommend that the Dean for Graduate Studies either dismiss, or place on probation with conditions for reinstatement as a student in good standing, in the following cases:

  • A Grade of "C+" (2.33 on a 4.0 scale) or below in any course involved in the first 12 hours of graduate study for provisionally admitted students;
  • Receiving at least nine hours of graduate credit with the grade of "C+" (2.33 on a 4.0 scale) or below in any courses taken in the student's major field of study or in any courses included in the plan of study for master's or specialist's degrees or graduate certificates, regardless of the average;
  • Receiving at least six hours of graduate credit with the grade of "C+" (2.33 on a 4.0 scale) or below in any courses taken in the student's major field of study or in any courses included in the program of study for doctoral degrees, regardless of the average;
  • Failure to maintain a "B" (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) average in all graduate work taken as part of the degree or certificate program.

Unclassified and Non-degree Students

  • For students with unclassified or non-degree admission, the above quality of work standards apply to course work taken, just as if all such courses were included in a graduate plan of study.
  • A student will be automatically dismissed from all graduate standing or placed on probation should any of the above conditions occur.

Additional Requirements

Some departments/schools apply additional criteria of satisfactory performance beyond the requirements of the Graduate College. A copy of the department's/school's policy should be on file in the Graduate Studies Office and a copy distributed to every graduate student enrolled in the program.

Monitoring

  • The Graduate Program Committees or the Supervisory Committees in their respective departments/schools shall be responsible for monitoring quality of work in degree, certificate and unclassified programs and for recommending action.
    • The Graduate Studies Office will send a report to each department/school at the start of each semester with the names of students who have received at least nine hours of graduate credit with a grade of "C+" (2.33 on a 4.0 scale) or below as of the end of the previous semester.
    • The Graduate Studies Office will send a report to each department/school at the start of each semester with the names of doctoral students who have received at least six hours of graduate credit with a grade of "C+" (2.33 on a 4.0 scale) or below as of the end of the previous semester.
  • The Graduate Studies Office shall be responsible for monitoring quality of work in non-degree programs.
  • The Dean for Graduate Studies will make the final decision and notify graduate students of their status.

Student Responsibilities

  • Students must be aware of the Quality of Work Standards of the Graduate College, as well as additional criteria of satisfactory performance in their respective department/school programs.
  • It is the student's responsibility to know when his or her previous course work has failed to meet those standards.
  • Students who are attending classes are still subject to dismissal if their department/school recommends that action based on its review of their previous performance.

Automatic Dismissal for a Grade of "U" (Unsatisfactory) or "Fail"

A grade of "U" or "Fail" in any course taken by a graduate student shall be treated the same as for a grade of "C-" or below and shall result in automatic dismissal from the graduate program.

The Plan of Study and Grades Which Result in Automatic Dismissal

Grades which result in automatic dismissal from a program (e.g., grade of "C-" or below, "U" , "Fail") may not be applied towards a graduate plan of study.

Students Dismissed from a Graduate Program Who then Re-apply as Non-degree Students

Students will be placed on stop enrollment for the department/school from which they were dismissed unless they request and receive permission in accordance with departmental/school graduate program policy to enroll as a non-degree student in that program.

Policy on Petitioning for Reinstatement into a Graduate Program

The process for petitioning and evaluating petitions for reinstatement into a graduate program is the responsibility of each department/school Graduate Program Committee. For a current copy of procedures, please contact your department/school Graduate Program Committee Chair.

Appeal of Grades in Graduate-Level Courses

Appeal of grades in graduate-level courses shall be made through the graduate student grade appeal procedures for the campus through which the grade was awarded. Students who believe their evaluation in a course has been prejudiced or capricious must first attempt to resolve the matter with the course instructor and then the department through which the course was offered. The initiation of the appeal in writing by the student must be filed within six weeks following receipt of the grade from the Office of the Registrar.

In cases where a grade lower than a "C" will result in dismissal from the graduate student's program, the Dean for Graduate Studies will notify the Graduate Program Committee Chair and student that the student will be automatically dismissed from his/her graduate program. The student will have a two-week grace period from the date of the dismissal notification to the date of the request to the Registrar for disenrollment in all graduate coursework. This two-week period allows the student an opportunity to present his/her case informally to the course instructor and, if necessary, to the chair of the graduate program committee before being terminated from the program and disenrolled from courses. A student who has been dismissed from a graduate program and disenrolled from course work may still file a formal appeal to the campus Dean for Graduate Studies, but is no longer a student in good standing and is prohibited from taking graduate courses until the formal appeal has been resolved

If the matter is not resolved, the student may file an appeal in writing to the campus Dean for Graduate Studies, who shall inform the student of the grade appeal procedures approved by the Graduate Faculty or by their duly elected representative Graduate Council for that campus, and shall forward the appeal to the student-faculty committee or council which is designated to hear graduate-level course grade appeals on that campus. Since awarding grades in courses occurs at the individual campus level, the decision of the campus committee or council designated to hear the case on behalf of the campus Graduate Faculty shall be final and is not subject to further appeal.

Appeal of General Academic Matters Related to Student Programs

  1. Graduate students holding admission with Unclassified status in the Graduate College, admission with a master's objective or admission with a doctoral objective (but prior to the appointment of a doctoral supervisory committee) should appeal as follows:
    1. Initially, the appeal may be submitted to the student's adviser.
    2. If denied, the appeal may be submitted to the department/area Graduate Program Committee administratively responsible for the student's graduate program.
    3. If denied, an appeal may be made to the Graduate Council for the campus administratively responsible for the student's graduate program. Normally, this will be the final appeals body (for exceptions, see the last part of this section).
  2. Graduate students holding admission with a doctoral objective in the Graduate College and for whom a doctoral supervisory committee has been appointed should appeal as follows:
    1. Initially, the appeal should be submitted to the student's adviser.
    2. If denied, the appeal may be submitted to the student's supervisory committee.
    3. If denied, the appeal may be submitted to the department/area Graduate Program Committee administratively responsible for the student's graduate program.
    4. If denied, an appeal may be made to the Graduate Council for the campus administratively responsible for the student's graduate program. Normally, this will be the final appeals body (for exceptions, see the last part of this section).
  3. When a student's graduate program consists of registrations essentially or entirely on one campus, the Graduate Council of the campus administratively responsible for the program will constitute the appeal board. When a student's graduate program includes substantial registrations on a campus other than the one administratively responsible for the program, three members of the Graduate Council for the other campus will be designated by the Dean for Graduate Studies on that campus to augment the Graduate Council on the campus administratively responsible for the program. In this case, the augmented Council will constitute the appeal board. The decision concerning augmentation of a campus Graduate Council for a specific appeal involving registrations on a campus other than the one administratively responsible for the student's program will be made by the Deans for Graduate Studies on the campuses involved.
  4. In all cases, appeals should be made in writing to the appropriate adviser, committee or council. In those cases where the appeal concerns graduate-level qualifying exams, comprehensive exams or final oral exams, the following deadlines must be observed. It is the responsibility of the student to make reasonable efforts to ascertain the results of the examination within 30 days after its completion.

The initiation of the appeal, in writing, by the student must be filed within 30 days following the student's receipt of notification of the evaluation.

  1. In those cases involving an appeal of termination of program, initiation of the appeal, in writing, by the student must be filed within 30 days following the student's receipt of the official written notification by the Office of Graduate Studies.
  2. There is no absolute right of appeal to the Executive Graduate Council. The Executive Graduate Council will accept appeals only in those cases where in the exercise of its sole discretion it shall first find that one or more of the following grounds for accepting the appeal exist:
    1. That the campus Graduate Council has violated some element of fair procedure (example: has failed to allow the parties concerned to present their cases fully to their campus Graduate Council);
    2. That the campus Graduate Council has failed to examine or give adequate weight to important evidence relevant to one party's position;
    3. That the campus Graduate Council has given undue weight to evidence not pertinent to the case; or
    4. That some gross miscarriage of justice would be perpetrated if the decision of the campus Graduate Council is allowed to stand.
    5. A decision by the Executive Graduate Council not to accept jurisdiction of an appeal shall be final and is not subject to further appeal.
  3. Appeals to the Executive Graduate Council must be made in writing and must specifically outline the grounds for appeal. Such appeal must be made within 20 working days of the day the decision of the campus council is received (working days shall not include those days the University is not in session).
  4. The Executive Graduate Council must make a decision to hear the appeal or not to hear the appeal within 30 working days after receipt of the appeal. Acceptance or denial of jurisdiction over the appeal will be made in writing.
  5. The decision of the Executive Graduate Council on the merits of the case will be made and transmitted to the concerned parties within 40 working days after the decision to hear the appeal.
  6. e. No person who was a member of the department or campus graduate council involved in the case will be eligible to participate in the decisions of the Executive Graduate Council either to decide whether the case should be heard or to decide the merits of the case. However, the Dean for Graduate Studies may replace members of the Executive Graduate Council not eligible for participation in the decision to hear the appeal or in the appeal itself.

Graduate Student Academic Appeal Policy

Introduction

This document outlines the UNO Graduate Council policies and procedures for student academic appeals in situations such as comprehensive exams, plagiarism, and reinstatements. For grade appeals, see the "Grade Appeal Policy at the Graduate College Level for Graduate-Level Courses."

The document is divided into three sections: 1) Documentation from Student and Faculty Representative (or Department?) 2) a description of the initial review of the appeal case by the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee; and 3) details of the operating guidelines for the UNO Graduate Council to follow in conducting a full appeal.

1.0 Documentation from Student and from Faculty Representative
1.1 Student Documentation

The student shall provide documentation that proves the student's appeal. In addition to the documentation deemed relevant by the student to prove the student's appeal and provided by the student, the student shall complete a single page cover sheet for the appeal. That cover sheet shall be designed by the Graduate Dean and provided to the student. On that cover sheet, in less than 2,000 characters (i.e., including spaces), the student shall specifically identify in three separate paragraphs:

  1. the procedural error(s) being appealed;
  2. the substantive error(s) being appealed, and
  3. the remedy requested.

The student's appeal is not submitted until the Graduate Dean determines that the student's cover sheet has been completed as here required.

1.2 Faculty Representative Documentation

The Graduate Dean shall deliver the student's section 1.1. Cover sheet along with other notice of the student's appeal to the decision maker whose decision is being appealed. The decision maker shall promptly notify the Graduate Dean of the decision maker's appointment of a Faculty Representative.

Ordinarily the student's appeal necessarily is limited to an appeal of the decision of a single decision maker (e.g., graduate program committee). However, if the student is appealing decisions of more than one decision maker, then there might be more than one Faculty Representative. The Faculty Representative of a committee may be, but is not necessarily, a member of that committee. If no such notice of appointment is delivered to the Graduate Dean, then the Faculty Representative of an individual decision maker shall be that individual, and for a committee the current chair of that committee.

The Faculty Representative shall timely provide documentation relevant to the student's appeal as defined in the student's section 1.1 cover sheet. After the student has submitted an appeal and after the Faculty Representative has replied by providing relevant documentation, the Graduate Dean shall review that documentation for completeness. Prior to the Graduate Dean delivering that documentation to the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee, the Graduate Dean, in the interest of completeness, may request the Faculty Representative(s) to provide specific additional documentation that the Graduate Dean reasonably believes is readily available to the decision maker whose decision is being appealed.

2.0 Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee
2.1 Function of the Committee

The Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean for Graduate Studies shall appoint a committee which will review student academic appeals that are filed in the Office of Graduate Studies. The task of the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee will be to determine whether the appeal merits a hearing by the Graduate Council.

2.2 Composition of the Committee

The Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean for Graduate Studies shall appoint two faculty members from each of the two standing committees of the Graduate Council, and one of the student representatives on the Graduate Council, to serve on the committee. The duration of appointment to the committee shall be for one year. (In cases where a student from the home department of one of the members of the committee has initiated an appeal, the Dean shall appoint a replacement for that committee member from the Graduate Council to hear that specific appeal. All other cases of potential conflict of interest shall be treated in a similar fashion).

2.3 Procedures for the Committee

The committee is charged with the responsibility of determining the merits of the student academic appeal, based on the letter of appeal and any other documentation requested and received by either the Dean for Graduate Studies or the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee. The committee shall vote on whether the appeal merits a hearing by the Graduate Council. Affirmative vote of the majority of the members is required to bring the appeal before the Graduate Council for a full hearing. The decision of the committee will be communicated to the Office of Graduate Studies for appropriate action.

3.0 UNO Graduate Council and Graduate Student Academic Appeals
3.1 Purpose and Limitation of Scope

The Graduate Council will hear only those appeals forwarded by the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee. The purpose of the hearing shall be to decide the merit of a student's request for redress of the academic issue being appealed. The appealing student bears the burden of proof to prove: (1) by clear and convincing evidence that the faculty member's decision being appealed was prejudicial or capricious; and 2) by the preponderance of the evidence that the Graduate Program Committee's decision being appealed was prejudicial or capricious.

3.2 Composition of the Council for Hearing Student Appeals

The full membership of the Graduate Council (quorum required) shall hear academic appeals of graduate students.

3.3 Possible Conflicts of Interest by Graduate Council Members

Graduate Council members who feel a conflict of interest might result from their participation in an academic appeal hearing shall exercise the necessary professional steps to avoid influencing the vote of the Council.

3.4 Timeliness of Council Decision

The Graduate Council shall hear appeals forwarded by the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee at its next scheduled meeting unless a delay is approved.

3.5 Student and Faculty Freedom to Present Arguments

The student and the faculty representative shall have freedom to present their viewpoints, limited only to the requirement that facts and opinions presented shall pertain to the academic issue being appealed.

3.6 Guidelines for Hearing Procedures

The following shall be made known to persons present at the hearing: 
The time: _________ The date: _________ The place: _________. This hearing will be conducted in compliance with the UNO Graduate Student Academic Appeal Policy. The student, ________, has filed an appeal in conformity with the policies of the Graduate Council pertaining to the findings of a Graduate Program Committee. The Graduate Program Committee or other designated committee consisted of Professor _______, Chair; and Professors ___________ and ___________ as members. That committee heard the appeal on __________ and denied the appeal. The student disagreed with the decision of the departmental appeals committee and continued the appeal process by submitting a letter detailing supporting reasons to the Dean for later consideration by the Graduate Student Academic Appeals Committee. That committee reviewed the student's request on ________ and, under conformity with its guidelines, has forwarded the student's appeal to the Graduate Council for action. The Graduate Council members present at this hearing have had an opportunity to review the documents provided by the person(s) involved. The agenda for the UNO Graduate Student Academic Appeal is: 
Student's presentation: 10 minutes
Faculty Representative's presentation: 10 minutes 
Council Members' questions to Student and Faculty Representative: up to 20 minutes
Student's concluding remarks: 5 minutes
Faculty Member's concluding remarks: 5 minutes

The participants of this appeal shall leave following the above hearing and the Council will deliberate the issue(s) involved. The Council's decision will be determined by secret ballot of those members who were present and voted. As soon as the votes are counted by the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean for Graduate Studies, the ballots shall be destroyed and the final decision announced to the Council by the Dean. In no case shall the number of votes cast on either side of the issue be disclosed.

3.7 Administration of the Council's Decision:

The Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean for Graduate Studies shall provide the parties of an appeal a written statement of the Graduate Council's decision within three working days.