Case Summaries
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Case summary April 2025 | Partly Justified
A partially sighted student enrolled on a one-year taught Masters course. Students could access their core texts and additional reading using an online database. In October, the student told the provider that they were having some difficulty using the online database. In January, the student explained that their assistive software could not read the text at all. The provider contacted the database supplier to try to find a solution. The provider also supplied the student with digital copies that were accessible and printed versions of texts when the student asked for them.
At the end of the year, the student complained that the provider had not made reasonable adjustments effectively or quickly enough, and that this had affected their academic performance and overall experience. The provider rejected the student’s complaint, saying that it had responded promptly and provided alternative versions of the texts for the module that was affected. The student remained dissatisfied and complained to us.
We upheld the complaint in part (we decided it was Partly Justified). Unfortunately, the student had not made clear the extent of the problem with the database and the assistive software when they first mentioned experiencing difficulties. Once the provider understood the impact of the problem, it had acted promptly and tried hard to find a long-term technical solution. But we thought it was not reasonable for the provider to conclude that only one module had been affected. The provider had access to the reading list for the course which showed that access to many texts in the database was required across all the modules. The provider could have provided these in an alternative format proactively rather than waiting for the student to request them one by one.
The student did not want to engage in any further study opportunity at the provider. We recommended that the provider apologise and offer compensation of £2,500 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the failings we had identified.