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Student Complaint Process

The Complaint Process

As a student of the University, when you feel the need to express dissatisfaction with a particular service or other aspect of University provision you can submit a complaint.

The complaint process is managed by the University’s Student Casework team, and all complaints need to be submitted to the Student Casework team via the Student Complaint Form.

You will always receive a response to your complaint and, if your complaint is upheld, the University will, wherever possible, put things right. If a complaint is not upheld, you will be given reasons for the decision.

You can submit a complaint as an individual or group. Where a group complaint is submitted, the group will nominate a spokesperson for the group who will liaise with the Student Casework team and receive all communication.

Students are encouraged to submit a complaint as soon as possible after the event or response causing dissatisfaction took place, to provide the best chance of any follow up and investigation being able to take place, and for matters to be put right where the complaint has merit.

A student must make a complaint within three months of the issue(s) or incident(s) that prompted the complaint. A complaint will be ‘out of time’ if the event(s) or issue(s) which form the basis of the complaint took place more than three months ago.

Your SU Advice Service can support you throughout the Complaint Process, from deciding whether to submit a complaint and completing the complaint form, to reviewing evidence and attending meetings with the Student Casework team.

Stages of the Process

The complaint form is assessed by a named Student Casework Team member who will investigate the case, if there are grounds to do so. The Casework Team will then work with the Head/Director (or their nominee) of the department/faculty in which the issue(s) formulated and try to resolve the complaint. This process will be completed usually within 5 working days, with the option of a 10 working day extension due to complexity and staff availability.

Where an Early Resolution has not been reached, the complaint will be passed to a Casework Investigator. At this stage, the Student Casework Team will speak to the student and will once again ask the student what their desired outcome(s) to the complaint is (keeping in mind this may have altered since early resolution was sought) to fully understand the direction of the complaint and enable the investigator to once again liaise with the student and Faculty to see if a resolution can be negotiated. If the interim negotiation with the student(s) making the complaint does not lead to an acceptable outcome, the investigator in the Student Casework team will run an investigation to, gather evidence and information, interview the student(s) making the complaint and interview those related to the complaint.

The investigation at Level 2 provides an opportunity for any individuals being complained about to present their position, as well as the person making the complaint.

Once the investigation has finished the relevant Dean, Director or other senior University staff as required, will provide the student(s) making the complaint with a written response as soon as possible but not later than 30 working days after receipt of the Complaint Report, unless there are exceptional reasons for the delay.

Level 3 is the final stage in the student complaints process, but can only be entered into where the student(s) who made the complaint has been considered under Level 2, whereby they can ask for the complaint to be reviewed if the Level 2 complaint outcome was ‘not justified’ or partially justified and there is explicit and clear evidence provided of:

  • Material procedural irregularity. This means that the University has not complied with its own procedures and processes on a significant scale in the handling of the complaint AND the impact of this was that it could be seen to have made a major negative difference to the outcome of the complaint.
  • New information which could not be provided for good reason at the point of submitting the complaint.
  • Bias in the process of reviewing the complaint.

The student who made the complaint simply being unhappy or dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint investigation at Level 2, is not a basis for the complaint to be looked at again.

The Level 3 review is desk-based, which means that it is reviewed on the basis of the documents submitted, and does not involve a ‘hearing’ (a formal meeting with) for those against whom a complaint is made, or for those making the complaint. The student must complete a Complaint Review Form and submit it to the Student Casework Team within ten working days of the receipt of the response, providing evidence which shows that the complaint meets the grounds for review.

How to Write a Student Complaint Form

Your SU Advice Service can provide support in writing or reviewing the Student Complaint Form and review any evidence which you wish to submit with the form.

Download the Student Complaint Form

Section 1:

  • Personal information
  • Programme of Study details

Section 2:

  • Details of any informal resolution that you have attempted
  • Why you are not satisfied with the response of any informal resolution

Section 3:

  • In this section, you will be required to detail the nature of the complaint
  • Your SU Advice Team would advise that you write your complaint as a timeline of events, in chronological order
  • Be as specific as possible with dates/times, names of people involved and details of any correspondence you have already had
  • Reference where you have evidence to support your timeline and give each piece of evidence a title (Evidence 1, Evidence 2 etc)

Section 4:

  • Detail what you are requesting as a desired outcome, what is it that you would like as result of submitting a complaint
  • Be as specific as possible, as this is what the University will work towards