Case Summaries

Consumer rights issues - CS041906

Case summary April 2019 | Not Justified

A student was studying for an HND at a further education college. The student, with some other students, raised concerns about the delivery of the course and complained that they had not received good value for money.

The college investigated the complaint and concluded that the students had completed the course in outstanding facilities and received a qualification of a good standard. Students were offered, as a goodwill gesture, a Level 5 masterclass free of charge.

The student complained to us about a general lack of one-to-one tutorials and group tutorials, issues with timetabling, a lack of a main point of contact for the course, and concerns about coursework deadlines.

It was clear that the student’s expectations had not been met. But we decided that the complaint was Not Justified. This was because the college had responded to the issues the student and others had raised, and had taken reasonable practical actions to put things right, including offering the free masterclass. The college had demonstrated that it had a system of internal quality assurance in place that it had designed to meet the requirements of the Quality Assurance Agency and the body that awarded the HND.