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Constitution and powers of the visitor

  • Article 6 of the Charter of the Ulster University states “There shall be a Visitor of the University who shall have the right at any time and in such manner as he shall think fit to direct an inspection of the University, its buildings and equipment and also an enquiry into the academic and general affairs of the University”.
  • Prospective appellants are asked to note an exclusion to the Visitor’s jurisdiction as described in Article 7 of the Education (Academic Tenure) (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 (see Annex 1).
  • The present Visitor, Mr Justice Gerry McAlinden, was appointed by the Queen in Council on 10 April 2019 for a period of five years from 1 May 2019.

Role of the visitor

  • In dealing with appeals made by staff or students of the University, the role of the Visitor is to ensure that the Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations of the University have been properly observed and carried out and that natural justice is observed wherever it may apply between the appellant and the University.
  • The Visitor is normally concerned with such matters as procedural propriety, fairness, prejudice and irregularity.
  • It is unlikely that the Visitor will intervene to substitute his opinion on academic matters for the opinion of the University authorities and that he will only intervene if there has been some real impropriety on the part of the University

Further information

The Office of the University Secretary acts as secretariat to the Visitor.  Any communications regarding the Visitor should be forwarded to universitysecretary@ulster.ac.uk.