Student complaints about UK universities growing, says watchdog

Student complains for being unhappy are on the rise in the UK, shows an annual report by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. In compensation and refunds, a total of 650,000 pounds were given to students who weren't happy by the services provided by the Universities. Students are believing that they were being ripped off by the schools as they weren't given the promised services, be that in education or the community lifestyle. There was an 8% increase in complaints, says watchdog, from 2016 to 2017. The year 2016 accounted for the lowest complaints since the tuition fee of universities was raised. This is a call for concern as the increase in complaints means that something is going wrong besides the financial input the students are paying.

When analysed and broken down the complaints are highest among law students, business students, and International non-EU students; who make up only 13% of the student population but make up of 23% of the complaints. The universities at some instances have issued apologies to the unhappy students in addition to the compensation and refunds it gave. In one instance a post-graduate student’s studies were terminated as he issued a complaint about his post-graduate supervisor and was compensated with a hefty sum.