There has been another steep rise in the number of student complaints taken to England and Wales’ higher education ombudsman, with more than 3,000 raised in a year for the first time.
In its operating report, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) said it received 3,137 complaints in 2023, a 10 per cent rise on the 2,850 seen in 2022 and the seventh year in a row this figure has gone up.
A record number of complaints has now been recorded in each of the last four years, driven in part by Covid-era disruption to university teaching.
While the pandemic might still have had a role in the rise of 2023, given that the OIA only receives a complaint once a university’s own grievance process has been exhausted and students have 12 months to start proceedings, the continued increase potentially indicates that high levels of complaints are here to stay.
