Introduction
1 The Good Practice Framework: handling student complaints and academic appeals sets out core principles and operational good practice for higher education providers in England and Wales. Those principles are: accessibility; clarity; proportionality; timeliness; fairness; independence; confidentiality; and improving the student experience.
2 Where providers are supporting disabled students the principles of accessibility, fairness, proportionality and confidentiality are particularly important. A provider’s procedures should be easy to navigate and give clear information about how to access advice and support. Information provided by disabled students should be managed in a confidential and sensitive way. Providers should ensure that staff members making decisions affecting disabled students are properly trained and that clear reasons are given for decisions reached.
3 This section of the Good Practice Framework sets out some further good practice guidance for providers to consider when supporting disabled students. It includes:
3.1 An overview of what the law says about supporting disabled students;
3.2 Guidance on how providers can remove obstacles to learning for disabled students;
3.3 Information about complaints relating to the Disabled Students’ Allowance;
3.4 Guidance on supporting disabled students before induction, after induction and during their studies; and
3.5 Guidance on what to do when things go wrong, including managing disability-related issues that arise in complaints and academic appeals handling.
