Informing the university of what subjects you hope to take next year
and/or
Appealing against Academic Exclusion

Returning to Rhodes University in 2012

If you hope to return to Rhodes University in 2012 you are asked to complete and return a form that gives details of the subjects you hope to take. This allows the administration to enter these subjects on the data base before you return, so that the processes of Administrative Registration and also of Academic Course Approval can be completed as smoothly as possible early in February. The form and a list of course codes should have been mailed to you with your examination results, and a version of the form can also be downloaded by using the link below, or by using ROSS. The form is supposed to be returned by 6 January,

Academic Exclusion

The University has a rule that is applied to students whose academic results are unsatisfactory, whereby they may be "excluded", and prevented from registering at Rhodes in the following year. This rule was known to generations of students as "Regulation G1(bis)", but in the latest revision of the Calendar it has been renumbered as Rule G.7.

Appeals against Academic Exclusion

If you are excluded on academic grounds, an exclusion letter will be sent to you by the Registrar. You then have the right to appeal against your exclusion, but only in writing and on a prescribed form to the Registrar.

On receipt of your appeal your academic record will be endorsed with the comment "Appeal against exclusion received". The comment will be visible on ROSS (Rhodes on-line Student Service) within a few hours but no later than 24 hours after it is captured, as there is a short delay in uploading data from the database to ROSS. You can check on the comment to confirm that the university has received your appeal.

Your appeal will first be considered by the appropriate Dean. If your appeal is successful you will be re-admitted and a re-admission comment will appear on your academic record. If you see the comment on ROSS you will know that you have been re-admitted and that you are expected to register on the appropriate day in February 2012.

If your appeal to the Dean is not successful your appeal will be referred to an Appeals Review Committee. The committee comprises the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & Student Affairs) and/or the Registrar and two other Deans (other than the Dean who turned down your appeal). The referral of your appeal to the Committee will be automatic, it does not require you to do anything.

The decision of the Appeals Review Committee will be FINAL and no further appeals will be entertained. Depending on the outcome, your academic record will be endorsed with either a readmission comment or the comment "Appeal against academic exclusion unsuccessful". You can look for the comment on ROSS to determine the outcome of your appeal. The outcome will also be emailed, faxed or posted to you, depending on the choice you indicated on the appeals form.

From the above you will see that if your appeal to the Dean is unsuccessful your appeal will be automatically reviewed by a committee. This means that you have only ONE opportunity to submit an appeal, so you MUST ensure that the appeal is complete and fully substantiated (psychologist or doctors reports, death certificates, etc). You will not have an opportunity to provide new evidence after the submission, so you must not submit your appeal until and unless it is complete.

You can download the form using the link below, or by loggin into ROSS. Once you have managed to do that you can complete it, edit it, and e-mail it back as an attachment to

registrar@ru.ac.za

Please note that telephonic and/or face to face appeals will NOT be considered.
Please don't waste yours and everybody else's time. trying to make them.
In particular, do not bother Heads of Departments or Deans. You will only annoy them!