Ask a Lawyer

One couple are unhappy with their son’s degree being taught online – can they sue the university to recover course fees?

QOurson started at a Russell Group university in September 2020. Due to Covid-19 all teaching was by remote learning. He wrote to his department early in 2021 to ask for help because he was struggling not having face-to-face lectures or seminars, but had no response. We believe other students did the same and also had no joy. Our son failed the summer exams by a margin of just 2pc and has now been asked to leave the course.

He has not even been offered the option of repeating the year because the new first year is oversubscribed and they say they do not have enough staff. Our son took out a student loan for his course fees and we paid for his university accommodation and living expenses, so the whole year has cost around £18,000. We feel let down by an institution apparently very happy to take in the money, but that shirks providing a quality service in return, never mind take any responsibility. Do we have any possible legal redress? –David and Sonya, via email AThe

last academic year was very challenging for students and university staff alike. Remote learning was commonly used to deliver the university experience during lockdown, with mixed reviews. Some university departments have reported higher attendance for online lectures when compared with in-person lectures in years past, and are using that as a justification for carrying on with it even as we emerge from the pandemic.

While last year I understood the reluctance of lecturers to stand in proximity to students who potentially had Covid-19, now that we have vaccinations those concerns should have been reduced and in-person teaching can return.

Students would then have a choice of either getting out of bed to attend, or to log on from under the duvet. The point with regard to your son is he was not given a choice and sadly for him it has not worked out.

There are two legal issues to address: first, a challenge to the university’s decision not to let your son re-sit, and

secondly a potential claim for a refund of fees on the basis of a failure to deliver the service promised.

Regarding the first issue, if he has not done so already your son should invoke the internal review process set out by the university. All universities have different rule books, so get hold of the one for his institution and identify grounds for appeal.

I would hope a potential ground for appeal that is allowable by his university would be on the basis the decision taken was “unreasonable” because he asked for additional support and it was not provided. Indeed, he says he got no answer at all, which I find damning.

As ever in legal proceedings, evidence is key, so a copy of his emails and any other requests for help and statements from other students with similar experiences will be helpful.

Also, if your son is aware of other students either in his year ( ideally) or in previous years who have failed by a similar margin, but have been allowed to re-sit, that would show a “procedural irregularity”, which would be another ground for appeal.

If the appeal is unsuccessful, your son can ultimately go to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. This must be done within a year of the date of the completion of the internal process. The OIA is an independent body which operates a scheme for determining complaints. It can only review complaints about universities that are members of its scheme, but most are. Another option is to ask for a judicial review of the decision, which is an application to court and therefore not cheap.

Regarding a potential legal claim for a refund of fees, we are in the territory of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The potential claimant is your son who is a consumer who has purchased a service ( the provision of education) from a trader (a university). The act states that “every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill”.

In practice this means universities have a legal duty to engage with the various issues students face. Poor supervision, poor organisation of teaching and poor responsiveness to complaints or problems raised would all be relevant to a claim under the act. The fact the university has admitted it has staffing issues, and in effect too many new students, will help his case. Again, hard evidence will be crucial.

My view is your son’s claim under the Consumer Rights Act would in the end be limited to his course fees only and not his accommodation expenses, as the university could argue he would have had to live somewhere, stay warm, eat and drink and so on, whatever he was doing with his life, but there is no harm in including it as part of the remedy sought when your son writes a formal “Letter of Claim” to the university.

Your son had a rotten experience and I hope he can make some headway with getting on the path to recovery of his self-esteem and finances.

Lecture theatres were left empty as most university courses were conducted online