Student refused GOC registration
First year optometry student, Sulyman’s story
What happened
Sulyman (not his real name) had been granted a place at university to study optometry and had already started his course. He had previously disclosed to the university that he had a conviction, imposed a few months prior to starting university, for refusing to provide a specimen to a police officer. The University had given the matter special consideration before admitting him onto the course.
However, Sulyman was then refused registration by the General Optical Council (GOC) based on the recency of his conviction and was subsequently suspended from his course at university.
Anxious that he would not be permitted to continue with his course Sulyman was advised by university staff and other students to contact the AOP legal team for advice.
We assisted Sulyman in gathering additional material than had previously been provided to or considered by the GOC to appeal the refusal to register him.
We advised Sulyman to write a reflective statement demonstrating that he had learnt from his mistake and helped him to gather three references including a good reference from his Probation Officer.
The outcome
The appeal hearing was held two months after Sulyman initially contacted us for support.
The appeal was successful and Sulyman was admitted on to the GOC student register and could continue his degree course.