DASS Student Complaints Procedure
Where students encounter any problems or have complaints relating to the courses or the department more generally, every effort should be made to deal with the situation informally in the first instance. The Department has a number of procedures aimed at dealing with the problem at the ‘local’ level if possible, and these are outlined below. However, if the student takes the complaint further, academic staff should be aware of the University guidelines and procedures which can be found at /library/a32791_1.doc
Within the Department, if the complaint relates to a particular module (e.g. unavailability of reading materials, changes to teaching schedule) this should be raised with the Module Leader in the first instance. If the Module Leader is unable to resolve the matter, it should be referred to the Course Leader and/or course committee. Failure to resolve the matter satisfactorily at this level, the matter may be referred to the Academic Leader (for City campus students please refer to the Associate Head of Department) and ultimately, to the Head of Department (HoD). If the complaint is about a particular member of staff (e.g. the behaviour of an individual member of staff towards a student), this should be referred directly to the Academic Leader (for City campus students please refer to the Associate Head of Department) who will investigate and report to all parties. Failing a resolution of the matter and/or the need to take it further, it will be referred to the HoD and if need be pursued through the University’s formal complaint’s procedures. If the complaint is about the department more generally this can be raised through the relevant Course Committee or, failing that, through the HoD via the Academic Leader (for City campus students please refer to the Associate Head of Department).
(Flowchard to show how to procede with a complaint)
We would normally expect complaints to be made in writing but oral complaints should be written up by the relevant staff member, specifying how the problem was resolved forwarded to the AL and HoD for filing.
A reply would normally be sent to the complainant within seven working days of receipt of the complaint indicating the date by the investigation will be completed.
Details of all complaints will be forwarded to the DVC (Academic) for monitoring purposes.
Occasionally students will be unhappy with the grade they have been awarded for a particular assessment. In these cases, Module Leaders should be aware that the student has no recourse to challenging academic judgement, but they can query the assessment procedure (e.g. have the marks from all three examination questions been entered correctly onto the system?). Where this is the case, Module Leaders should liaise with the Course Leader/Academic Leader (for City campus students please refer to the Associate Head of Department) and/or the Chair of the Subject Standards Board to ensure that appropriate action is taken.
Generally student representatives are the means by which problems experienced by students are brought to the attention of staff. However, it is always important to establish how representative the complaint is of all the students on a particular module/course in deciding on an appropriate course of action.
