Case Summaries
Back to Case SummariesStudent transfer - CS122409
Case summary December 2024 | Not Justified
A first-year undergraduate student complained to their provider that their request to transfer to a different course had been unfairly rejected. The student explained in their complaint that they’d experienced a difficult few years, which had impacted their studies. They said they had needed to apply for an additional year of funding to be able to continue with their studies and this was therefore their last chance to be able to complete a degree.
They said they couldn’t wait another year to continue with their studies and the decision about whether to continue with their current course after their transfer request was rejected was impacting their mental health. The provider dismissed the student’s complaint because it decided the decision not to allow the student’s transfer request was reasonable.
The student complained to us. They were unhappy with the provider’s final decision because they felt the provider hadn’t properly taken their personal circumstances into account and had used information about their previous studies against them. We did not uphold the student’s complaint (we decided it was Not Justified).
The student had previously made two successful requests to transfer courses at the provider, beginning each course from the start of the first year. On the third occasion, the student did not want to start again in the next academic year. They wanted to transfer to a course in a different department. They made their request after the provider’s normal deadline for in-year course transfers had passed. The department explained that while it could exceptionally consider late transfer requests in exceptional circumstances, it could only facilitate a late-stage transfer where the student’s current course curriculum had enough in common with the course they wanted to transfer to. It decided none of the courses the student had previously studied had enough in common with the course the student wanted to transfer to and suggested the student attend an upcoming open day to help them decide whether they wanted to begin the course next year instead.
We decided that the provider’s response to the complaint was reasonable. While the student felt the department had called their character into question and acted unfairly by mentioning their previous studies and course transfers, we concluded that it was appropriate for the department to have referred to the student’s academic record when making its decision. We also decided that the decision about whether any of the student’s previous studies were similar enough to course’s curriculum to allow a late transfer was ultimately a matter of academic judgment.