News & Reports
e-newsletter | News | Workshops | Presentations | Judicial Reviews | Reports | Recent decisions of the OIA
E-Newsletter
OIA Quarterly newsletter - read the second edition.
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News
OIA issues its Annual Report 2008
Press coverage:
Press Releases
OIA announces new Chair (PDF).
OIA Pathway Project
The Pathway Project was launched in October 2008 to consult on the next stage of development for the OIA. We have been delighted with the very large and constructive responses to the Issues and Questions Paper. We have received 134 submissions from Universities, Students' Unions and interested individuals. Work on the related independent quantitative study is currently on-going. Surveys are being dispatched in April and May; analysis will be completed in June and July. It is hoped that a Final Report for publication will be presented to the OIA Board in September.
Download a copy of the Issues and Questions paper (PDF).
Download the press release 29 October 2008.
Press coverage:
Times Higher Education
The Guardian
Daily Mail
Upcoming workshops
Complaints and Appeals: Helping Students to stay On Track - An introduction to the OIA
- 28 July 2009at the OIA Offices, Reading and
- 20 August 2009 at the University of Leeds Student Union
Sabbatical Officers and newly appointed Student Advice Workers are invited to attend these one-day workshops.
Most students do not want to make complaints or appeals, but for those that do, the OIA can be the end of the line. The journey may be lengthy, subject to diversions and delays and students may find themselves wishing they’d taken an alternative route. How can you make sure students get back on track and reach their destination?
In this workshop, delegates will have the opportunity to:
- Develop an understanding of the role and remit of the OIA
- Discover how the OIA looks at complaints
- Consider the role of sabbatical officers and advice workers within a University's formal complaints or appeals procedures
- Discuss common themes in complaints and appeals
- Explore why student complaints and appeals are not upheld
- Meet other student advisers and share experiences
The workshop will focus on putting principles into practice. Based on the OIA’s experience of around 3000 complaints, we will share with delegates our views on the successful resolution of student concerns, including practical tips on making complaints to Universities and the OIA.
Places on these workshops are limited. If you would like to attend, please email workshops@oiahe.org.uk for a booking form. Booking forms should be submitted by 26 June 2009. We will be in touch to confirm your place and provide a full programme for the day. The cost for the workshop is £50, including lunch.
Previous workshops of the OIA
OIA Policy Seminar on Student Accommodation Complaints - Reading, March 5 2009: Summary of the day and Good Practice points.
Student Union Advisor Open Forum 15 May 2008: Report.
Date |
Workshop |
Target Audience |
Venue |
14 May 2009 |
Open Forum for Student Advisers |
SU advisers |
Manchester: The Harwood Room, Barnes Wallis Building, University of Manchester |
13 May 2009 |
Introduction to the OIA |
HEIs |
Manchester: The Harwood Room, Barnes Wallis Building, University of Manchester |
5 March 2009 |
Complaints about Student Accommodation
Summary of the day and Good Practice points. |
HEIs & SUs |
Reading: OIA offices |
22 January 2009 |
Informal Resolution of Complaints |
HEIs & SUs |
Reading: OIA offices |
27 November 2008 |
Academic Judgment: a themed discussion |
By invitation |
Reading: OIA offices |
12 November 2008 |
Informal Resolution of Complaints |
HEIs & SUs |
Birmingham: Aston Business School Conference Centre |
15 May 2008 |
Student Union Advisor Open Forum: Report |
SUs |
Reading: OIA offices |
8 May 2008 |
Introduction to the OIA (for HEIs) |
HEIs |
Reading: OIA offices |
15-17 April 2008 |
ENOHE 2008 Conference |
HEIs & SUs |
London |
24 January 2008 |
Postgraduate complaints and appeals: are they different? |
HEIs & SUs |
Reading: OIA offices |
12 December 2007
15 November 2007 |
Disability: Understanding the Issues |
HEIs & SUs |
Reading: OIA offices |
OIA Presentations
Presentation made by Robert Behrens at the UUK Conference on 19 November 2008:
Speech given by Robert Behrens at the conference hosted by Hepi - Higher Education Policy Institute on 6 May 2009:
Judicial Review challenges to the OIA
- The Queen on the Application of Stephan Arratoon v Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, University of Greenwich (Interested Party) was the fifteenth JR claim against OIA. None has succeeded.
- Of those fifteen, two have been granted permission, the other being The Queen on the Application of Siborurema v Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, London Southbank University (Interested Party) where permission was granted by the Court of Appeal so that the issue of whether the OIA was amenable to judicial review could be decided. The remaining thirteen cases have all been refused permission.
- Permission was granted in the Arratoon case before the Siborurema judgment was delivered. In the Siborurema judgment, the Court of Appeal said that the number of cases in which an application for judicial review could get past the permission stage is likely to be very small.
- In Arratoon permission was granted on one ground only. Grounds which related, essentially, to the merits of the complaint were refused permission.
- The judge gave a useful summary of the principles to be drawn from the Siborurema judgment.
- He emphasised the considerable degree of discretion afforded to the OIA, and the degree of deference which should be shown to the expertise of the OIA.
- He found that the inference drawn by the OIA, which formed the basis of the claim, “lay well within the range of judgments that could be come to on the facts of this particular case”, and therefore could not be impugned.
- He was critical of the solicitors instructed by Mr Arratoon and the approach they had taken during the OIA’s review. He found that the OIA was not to be criticised for making a recommendation which Mr Arratoon had not sought, in circumstances where Mr Arratoon had the benefit of legal representation. It could not be said that the OIA had gone wrong in law.
- He said that the OIA’s decision should be read as a whole, and that the unfortunate choice of words in one sentence did not justify quashing the decision.
- Once again the Court has declined to interfere with the OIA’s decision, and has endorsed its approach.
Siborurema judgment summary
Arratoon judgment summary
OIA Reports
All documents are in PDF format.
Recent decisions of the OIA
Please note that some inessential details have been altered slightly in order to preserve individual confidentiality.
- Case Study 1
Issues: Assessment of qualifications
Outcome: Not Justified
- Case Study 2
Issues: Disciplinary
Outcome: Not Justified
- Case Study 3
Issues: Academic Appeals and Assessments
Outcome: Not Justified
- Case Study 4
Issues: Academic Appeals and Assessments
Outcome: Not Justified
- Case Study 5
Issues: MPhil/PhD, progression, mitigation
Outcome: Partly Justified
- Case Study 6
Issues: Accommodation, disciplinary procedures, reparation for damages, disability
Outcome: Partly Justified
- Case Study 7
Issues: Pre-course information, on-course advice, complaint about internal processes, delay
Outcome: Partly Justified
- Case Study 8
Issues: Academic appeal, complaint about internal processes, delay, lack of response
Outcome: Partly Justified
- Case Study 9
Issues: University accommodation, mitigating circumstances, academic appeal, degree classification borderline
Outcome: Partly Justified
- Case Study 10
Issues: Maladministration, delays, provision of an inadequate remedy
Outcome: Justified
- Case Study 11
Issues: Course expectation, fees, MA
Outcome: Justified
- Case Study 12
Issues: Academic Appeal Disciplinary
Outcome: Justified
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