Case Summaries

Student wellbeing - CS042302

Case summary April 2023 | Partly Justified

A disabled student and their provider agreed a support plan during their second year of studies. In the final year of the course, the student sought help managing deadlines because their mental health was declining.

The provider met with the student and agreed a new support plan. The student and provider discussed taking time out and completing the dissertation in the next academic year as an external student.

The student did not submit their dissertation at the usual time and the provider decided to award the student a 2:2 based on the credits they had successfully completed. The student submitted an academic appeal, based on personal circumstances that had affected their performance, and saying that the decision to make the award had been unfair.

The provider partly upheld the appeal. It said that the student had not submitted new evidence about their personal circumstances. But it accepted that the student wanted to complete the dissertation, and it offered the opportunity for them to do so.

The student complained to us. We upheld some of the student’s complaint (we decided it was Partly Justified). It was reasonable for the provider to offer the student the chance to complete their dissertation. But the provider had not kept clear records about what had been agreed as the student’s new support plan and its communication with the student about the dissertation had caused them some distress. We recommended that the provider offer the student an apology and £350 in compensation for distress.