The student complaints scheme
1The Higher Education Act 2004 required that a scheme should be established for reviewing student complaints. The Act sets out the conditions which the Scheme has to meet, and the higher education providers which the Scheme covers.
2In January 2005, the Secretary of State for Education and the Welsh Assembly designated the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education as the operator of the student complaints scheme for England and Wales. The Scheme which the OIA set up and runs is defined in the OIA’s Rules.
3Since 2005 the Higher Education Act has been amended so that more higher education providers have become members of the OIA.
4The OIA’s Rules have also been amended on several occasions. You can find previous versions of the Rules on our website.
5The current Rules came into effect on 1 April 2018 and apply to any complaint we receive on or after that date. If we received the complaint form before 1 April 2018 the Rules which applied when we received it applied to that complaint.