Almost half of universities and colleges in England and Wales had more than 10 unresolved student complaints per 1,000 students between 2012 and 2014, according to a new analysis.
A study by the Complete University Guide of “Completion of Procedure Letters”, which are issued by universities to students when internal complaints procedures have been exhausted, found that 63 out of 136 institutions had more than 10 unresolved complaints per 1,000 students over the three-year period.
However, six institutions had fewer that one unresolved complaint per 1,000 students during this period, while five specialist institutions – the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, ifs University College, Ravensbourne, the Royal College of Art and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance – had no unresolved complaints.
The figures, which are recorded and published annually by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, demonstrate how effective universities are at resolving complaints before they are escalated to the OIA.
The Complete University Guide said that the figures showed that the effectiveness of universities in resolving student complaints varied widely.
Bernard Kingston, principal author of the guide, said: “It is a sad fact of life that disputes sometimes arise between students and the universities they have chosen to attend.
“Students need to know that their complaints are handled effectively and sympathetically. The data we have compiled show clearly the relative success of institutions in resolving disputes before they escalate to the OIA or peter out.”
He added that the Complete University Guide was “making no judgement about the outcome of the complaints and only a small proportion of the complaints referred to the OIA are upheld wholly or partially”.
“But we are confident that this table, using a methodology that smooths out annual fluctuations and is adjusted for the size of the universities listed, is a reliable guide to the relative likelihood of complaints being resolved,” he said.
The analysis was released as the Complete University Guide published its annual university league table, which ranked the universities of Cambridge and Oxford and the London School of Economics as the UK’s top three institutions.
The biggest riser was Manchester Metropolitan University, which climbed 16 places to 57th, while the Arts University Bournemouth fell the most, dropping 19 places to 76th.
The ranking, which includes 127 institutions, is based on 10 measures: student satisfaction, research quality, research intensity, entry standards, student:staff ratio, spending on academic services, spending on student facilities, good honours degrees achieved, graduate prospects and completion.
Institutions with the fewest unresolved student complaints
| Rank 2012-14 | Rank 2011-13 | Institution | Average number of students (2012-14) | Completion of Procedure Letters per 1,000 students |
| 1 | 6 | Conservatoire for Dance and Drama | 1,232 | 0.0 |
| 1 | 1 | ifs University College | 1,628 | 0.0 |
| 1 | 8 | Ravensbourne | 1,623 | 0.0 |
| 1 | 1 | Royal College of Art | 1,163 | 0.0 |
| 1 | 1 | Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance | 1,078 | 0.0 |
| 6 | 3 | University College Birmingham | 11,327 | 0.3 |
| 7 | 4 | University of Buckingham | 1,583 | 1.3 |
| 7 | 11 | Canterbury Christ Church University | 18,423 | 1.3 |
| 9 | 9 | University of Kent | 19,628 | 1.5 |
| 10 | 5 | University Campus Suffolk | 5,578 | 1.6 |
Institutions with the most unresolved student complaints
| Rank 2012-14 | Rank 2011-13 | Institution | Average number of students (2012-14) | Completion of Procedure Letters per 1,000 students |
| 136 | 136 | London Metropolitan University | 23,552 | 84.5 |
| 135 | 132 | Cardiff Metropolitan University | 13,305 | 64.7 |
| 134 | 134 | University of Liverpool | 21,108 | 57.2 |
| 133 | 133 | London South Bank University | 24,812 | 56.3 |
| 132 | 131 | University of Leicester | 17,035 | 52.3 |
| 131 | 135 | Newcastle University | 20,748 | 50.8 |
| 130 | 116 | Glyndwr University | 8,832 | 46.7 |
| 129 | 129 | Cardiff University | 30,218 | 45.2 |
| 128 | 119 | Aston University | 10,808 | 44.7 |
| 127 | 120 | University of Surrey | 15,578 | 43.3 |
N.B. The number of letters has been rounded to one decimal place
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Note: This story was updated on 25 April to correct errors in the original data from CUG
