171.Complaints and academic appeals are a valuable source of feedback and learning. They can help providers to find ways to improve their services and academic decision making. It is good practice for providers to record all complaints and academic appeals at the formal and review stages as a minimum so that the information can be used for analysis and for management and governance reporting. It’s also important to capture learning from complaints and appeals, including from concerns that are resolved at the early resolution stage.
172.A low volume of student complaints is not of itself an indicator of success. Providers that have been successful in establishing an open culture of feedback and partnership with students should expect to receive complaints and appeals. Providers may wish to develop analysis that takes into account other factors including:
- Whether students understand which process to use and use the right one at the right time;
- Whether there are persistent complaints about certain things or common themes in different complaints;
- Whether students’ complaints and appeals are handled in a timely way;
- Whether students and their representatives understand the reasons for the provider’s decision even if they disagree with it.
Recording concerns, complaints and academic appeals
173.Providers should have their own records management policies which set out how long information about student complaints and appeals should be kept. Providers should usually keep full, detailed records while the issue is being considered and for the time that a student might bring a complaint to the OIA. Providers may decide to record more limited information in other formats for the purpose of sharing learning from complaints and appeals.
174.The information and level of detail that providers record for sharing learning will vary depending on the nature and seriousness of the complaint or the complexity of the appeal. As a minimum, providers should record a summary of the issue or issues raised, relevant dates, and the outcome including a summary of the reasons for any decisions made.
175.Personal information about individual students will need to be removed and care taken to make sure that students are not identifiable in the summary. Where it is not possible to record information about a complaint or academic appeal without identifying the student (for example because the cohort is very small) care should be taken to make sure that only the bare minimum of information is recorded.
176.When information is recorded and used in this way, it helps providers to identify and address the causes of complaints and academic appeals. Providers may identify training opportunities and, where appropriate, improvements can be introduced.
Learning from concerns, complaints and academic appeals
177.Those handling concerns, complaints and academic appeals should always try to make sure that everyone involved understands the conclusions of the investigation and any decisions made.
178.The analysis of management reports on concerns, complaints and academic appeals will help to make sure that any trends or wider issues are quickly identified and addressed. Good analysis will consider not only the complaints and appeals that have been received, but where they have not been received, and any groups of students who are not using the processes. Senior management should make sure that the provider has procedures in place to act on such reports.
179.The reports should be shared with the appropriate committee and officers and the student representative body where relevant. This may be at school or faculty level, or at provider level, and may be through quality assurance or resource groups or committees. The level of information provided in the reports should be proportional to the role of the committee.
180.Appropriate summary information should be given to staff and students, including student representative bodies, on what the provider has done in response to concerns, complaints and academic appeals. This helps to raise awareness of the procedures and build the confidence of students and staff in their transparency and effectiveness.
Accountability for concerns, complaints and academic appeals
181.Senior management should make sure that:
- the provider’s final position on a complaint or academic appeal is signed off by someone with appropriate training and suitable authority to provide assurance that this is the provider’s definitive response and that the student’s concerns have been taken seriously;
- named individuals from senior management maintain overall responsibility and accountability for the management of handling concerns, complaints and academic appeals within the provider;
- senior management has a clear understanding of, and a role in, the complaints and academic appeals procedures (this will include an oversight role and will not necessarily mean being involved in the decision-making process);
- mechanisms are in place to ensure a consistent approach to the way information about handling concerns, complaints and academic appeals is managed, monitored, reviewed and reported at all levels in the provider;
- concerns and complaints information is shared within the provider and used to improve services to students and the student experience;
- there is appropriate oversight of complaints and appeals at governance level;
- complaints and academic appeals procedures meet the requirements of relevant regulatory bodies, including the Office for Students (in England), Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Commission for Tertiary Education (in Wales), and other PSRBs that regulate specific course provision.
