It’s being reported that Andrew Croskery has failed in his bid to review the 2:2 engineering degree he was awarded by Queen’s University Belfast. According to the BBC:

Judge rules no judicial review over disputed degree

A judge refuses leave for a judicial review of decisions made by Queen’s University over a graduate’s disputed degree classification.

Andrew Croskery, from County Down, was seeking leave for a review of decisions made by the university’s Board of Examiners. But a High Court judge ruled the case should remain exclusively within the jurisdiction of Queen’s appeals body. …

Mr Justice Treacy said that even if this confirmed the existing classification, two further rights of appeal were open to Mr Croskery. He can take his challenge to the University’s Central Students Appeals Committee, and to a Board of Visitors. …

According to the UTV news website, Mr Justice Treacy concluded: “The matter in dispute remains exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Board of Visitors.” And, according to the RTÉ news website, Queen’s has said it will convene a further hearing of the Board of Examiners to study the case. When the judgment is available on the NI Courts & Tribunals website or Bailii, I’ll return to this case. In the meantime, it seems to be a welcome endorsement of the view that the courts should be slow to become embroiled in matters of purely academic judgment.

Updates (9 December 2010): Belfast Telegraph | Irish Times

Updates (10 December 2010): Education Law Blog | iLawBlog