Academic Misconduct in Exam - Did the Student have the Right to Judicial Review?
The student had the right to take legal action even though the expulsion period had expired.
A student at the University of Oslo won his case against the state and was given the right to judicial review of the decision of expulsion after Academic Misconduct in Exam.
Right to Judicial Review of the Decision of Expulsion
The student was caught for academic misconduct, and was as a result of this expelled from the institution for one semester. According to the university law in Norway, the main rule is that all students have the right to judicial review of a decision of expulsion. The state did however claim that the student in this case had not satisfied the requirement of the dispute law, which states that there must be a real need to have the case heard before the court. Due to long processing time in the appeals the exclusion period had passed before the student was able to bring the case to court. The state therefore claimed that the student’s claim of judicial review was no longer relevant. The requirement of the law, that the case must have legal or actual significance for the party, might in that case hardly be considered satisfied.
The Right to Sue for Previous Conditions
The Court did however reach the decision that the case could be brought before it. The ratio was given based on the conditions a student’s right to judicial review is built upon. The right to judicial review is very much built upon for the importance of legal certainty. This is because a decision of expulsion will be of great consequences for the students in question. The students must therefore be given actual opportunities of judicial review in cases of such characteristics. The Court decided that considering the student’s legal certainty, the right to judicial review could be made available even though the decision was a previous condition, which was no longer relevant per se. The Court further stated that it is highly unlikely that the law was created with the intention to create a system for the processing of such cases, resulting in the right to trial becoming illusionary.
All Rights to Appeal must have been Exhausted
To bring a case before the court, all rights to appeal to the administration must have been exhausted. The Court stated that it will then rather often be the case that the expulsion period has expired by the time the case can be brought before the court. It will be a wrongful interpretation of the legislators intentions if the student for this reason was denied the right to judicial review of the university’s decision of expulsion. It makes little sense to offer the students the right to judicial review free of charge, and at the same time create a system where this right cannot be taken advantage of.
Do you have any questions regarding academic misconduct and judicial review?
Contact barrister Svein Wennevik
wennevik@advokat.no eller på telefon: 924 11 010
Related cases:
Legal assistance in suspected misconduct (Norwegian)
Forgot notes on the desk – found to be misconduct (Norwegian)