Abstract:
Vivian Tang was excluded from her doctoral program at Griffith University on the basis of academic
misconduct. Her academic dreams in that or in any other university were thus effectively curtailed as were
her prospects of following a career in her chosen field. She sought judicial review of the university’s decision.
Her application and its progress through the courts have recently brought into focus the justiciability of
university decisions of an academic nature. The university unsuccessfully sought to have the action dismissed
in both the Supreme Court of Queensland and the Court of Appeal. However, the High Court allowed the
university’s appeal and by a 4-1 majority held that the student was not entitled to judicial review. Has this
case effectively shut the gate on court intervention in university decisions affecting individual students? This
article considers the nature of the relationship between Australian universities and their students and the
desirability of the court’s scrutiny in light of the High Court decision and judicial attitudes in comparative
jurisdictions.
