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STUDENT COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE Associate Academic Director Dr. A.Seeam

• What is a complaint? • Examples of complaints • What is the difference between a complaint and an appeal? • Appeals • Student Complaints and Grievance Procedure • The Procedure in Practice - Dealing with complaints at early stage • The Procedure in Practice - Dealing with complaints at formal stage • The Procedure in Practice – University level review • Examples of type of complaints:

What is a complaint? (OIA, The good practice framework: handling student complaints and academic appeals, 2021) STUDENT COMPLAINTS 3

Examples of Complaints • Failure to meet obligations in programme handbooks • Incorrect information in promotional material • Issues about the delivery of a programme, teaching or administration • Poor quality facilities STUDENT COMPLAINTS 4

What is the difference between a complaint and an appeal? Usually complaints arise when you are unhappy about something. You may feel you have not been dealt with properly, that information given to you was incorrect or that there has been an unacceptable delay. With an appeal, you may be perfectly happy with the way that you have been treated but feel that the wrong decision has been made and would like it re-examined. STUDENT COMPLAINTS 5

Appeals? • Generally, if you are unhappy about an assessment issue it is likely to relate to an awarded grade. • You may be considering making an appeal because you believe an injustice has occurred and that with further information, a decision may be revised in your favour. First, it may be beneficial to discuss your concerns with the course tutor so they can explain the reasons behind a decision. If you remain dissatisfied and you have grounds, then you should make a formal appeal. To? The Assessment Board How? A comprehensive guide to making this appeal can be found in the University Regulations. STUDENT COMPLAINTS 6

Student Complaints & Grievance Procedure

Student Complaint & Grievance Procedure The Student Complaints & Grievance procedure forms part of the University Regulations (www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations). The procedure includes the following 3 stages: Early Resolution Stage (Stage 1) - This could be either at programme level, School-level or within the relevant service department. Formal Stage (Stage 2) - This would normally be made to the Associate Director Academic (for academic programme or School-related complaints), or the Head of the relevant service department or his/her nominee (for service related complaints). University Review Stage (Stage 3) - The review will be carried out by an independent designated Senior Manager. STUDENT COMPLAINTS 8

The Procedure in Practice Dealing with complaints at an early stage

Student Complaint & Grievance Procedure https://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/student-life/your-voice/formal-complaints-procedure STUDENT COMPLAINTS 10

Stage 1: Early Resolution Complaints Form This form is intended to be used as one possible entry point into Stage 1 of the Student Complaints and Grievance procedure, the intention being to provide the member(s) of staff concerned the opportunity to respond to your complaint, to reach an early resolution and to prevent the need for a formal complaint. Personal information section *Student number User ID First name, surname Programme Year of study Contact Details : Telephone / Email STUDENT COMPLAINTS 11

Stage 1: Early Resolution Complaints Form Where do you want the form to be sent to? Are you happy for the form to be forwarded to the member(s) of staff directly involved in the event leading to your complaint. Yes/No YES: If you have selected ‘Yes’, the form will be sent to the relevant Academic Area Head or the Director/Head of the professional service department who will then forward the complaint on to the member(s) of staff directly involved in the event leading to the complaint. NO: If you have selected ‘No’, the form will be sent to the relevant Academic Area Head or the Director/Head of the professional service department who will identify an appropriate alternative mechanism of early resolution, such as nominating an Investigating Officer to deal with your complaint. STUDENT COMPLAINTS 12

Stage 1: Early Resolution Complaints Form What is your complaint? Please use this section to provide information about your complaint. It is important to be as clear as you can, but it is not necessary to include every single detail if it is not directly relevant. It is most likely that the recipient will want to have a conversation with you to better understand the complaint and to hopefully arrive at a resolution. Your complaint will be acknowledged and if there is a need for an investigation it should be completed within 20 working days. You will be communicated of the timelines. STUDENT COMPLAINTS 13

The procedure in practice : Dealing with complaints at the formal stage If a student is not satisfied with the outcome of Stage 1, they may choose to submit a Stage 2 complaint, by completing the Complaints Form. https://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/student-life/your-voice/formal-complaints-procedure This should be done within 20 working days of the release of the written response to Stage 1. If you wish to submit a Stage 2 complaint, they should do so to: - The Associate Director Academic for academic programme or School-related complaints), OR - The Head of the relevant service department or his/her nominee (for service related complaints). The form should be acknowledged within 5 days, timelines communicated and once again any investigation should take no more than 20 days STUDENT COMPLAINTS 14

The procedure in practice : University Level Review Stage 3: University-level review If a student considers that: (a) there has been a procedural irregularity in the conduct of the Stage 2 investigation; or (b) new information has come to light, which the student was unable to disclose previously and which would have had a material impact upon the investigation previously undertaken. (c) the decision reached was unreasonable based on the information that had been available to the University when the case was considered. They can request a review of the outcome of the Stage 2 investigation. A student wishing to request a review must do so within 20 working days of the written response to Stage 2. The review request must be submitted to the Campus Director. At the completion of stage 3 ‘University Level Review’ the University's internal procedures have been concluded and the outcome letter will constitute a Completion of Procedures (CoP) letter which gives the student access to external re-course. STUDENT COMPLAINTS 15

Examples of types of complaints •Administration and admin support: dissatisfaction of a service a student receives, for example, Disability and Dyslexia support received during an assessment period; • Academic Administration: dissatisfaction of administrative processes regarding a student’s academic placement, for example, the school placement offered was too far from the student’s residence; feedback on assessed work was not timely; or insufficient contact with academic staff. • Financial: disputes over fees. • Health & Safety: injury caused by faulty equipment. • Staff behaviour: allegations of discrimination, for example, stemming from to negative comments or low grades; allegation of inappropriate communication (boundary issues). • Teaching & Learning (including assessment): timeliness and/or lack of feedback; or lack of response from tutors or support given by tutors STUDENT COMPLAINTS 16

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