When universities have been facing complaints from students over strikes or other forms of industrial action, if those providers have been deploying contractual clauses that excuse them from liability on the basis that the action has been outside of their control, doing so is likely to have been against the law.
When, in the autumn of 2020, many higher education providers failed to seek timely, individual agreement from students about changes they were making to courses – relying instead on collective consultation with the odd student rep and the consent implied by a student re-enrolling – that was probably against the law too.
And where, having carried out a round of redundancies, a provider significantly reduces optional module choice for students with apparent impunity on the basis that such modules are not “core” to the course, that’s probably against the law as well.
