Complaints Procedures

The Language Centre is committed to high quality of educational and other provision for students, and encourages students to say where there is cause for concern in individual or general matters. It undertakes to take such representation seriously. In raising possible issues of complaint, students themselves will have to be aware of their obligations as members of the University.

The Language Centre aims to handle complaints in a way which is sympathetic, fair, and efficient, which encourages informal conciliation, facilitates early resolution, maintains individual privacy and confidentiality, and permits useful feedback. A complaint should therefore be made promptly and indeed may, for instance, be founded on misunderstanding or disagreement, requiring a calm, balanced and non-prejudicial discussion between parties, without the need for any further action.

However more serious complaints do from time to time arise and this procedure also covers how these will be handled more formally.

Complaints about Courses and Teaching

Informal Process

As the first stage in making a complaint, the student should contact their ADTIS Supervisor and explain the nature of, and grounds for, the complaint. The ADTIS Supervisor will discuss this complaint with the Director of ADTIS to inform their response, and/or to ensure that there is full awareness of the issue concerned and how it has been resolved. If the complaint concerns the ADTIS Supervisor, the complainant should address his or her complaint directly to the Director of ADTIS, or the Director of the Language Centre if the Director of ADTIS is the ADTIS Supervisor.

The student will normally be advised to put the complaint in writing, but may raise it orally in the first instance. Once the Director of ADTIS has been able to ascertain the nature of the complaint a response will be conveyed orally, with confirmation in writing.

Formal Process

In the event that the complaint is not resolved informally or does not appear capable of informal resolution, the Director of ADTIS will refer the matter to the Director of the Language Centre who will proceed to consider the complaint formally in consultation with those concerned in the provision of the service. The Director of the Language Centre will normally appoint someone external to the Language Centre to assist with the investigation into the nature of the complaint. The student will be provided with a provisional response in writing as soon as reasonably practicable, depending on the extent or nature of the complaint. The student will be invited to comment on the provisional response in writing. The Director of the Language Centre will review the provisional response in the light of any observations communicated by the student and then provide the student with a written response in final form normally within 15 working daysafter the date by which the student was invited to comment on the provisional response.

If the complaint is upheld, the Director of ADTIS, with support from the Director of the Language Centre, will procure so far as possible such remedy as he or she considers fair and equitable in the circumstances.

If the student is not satisfied with the outcome, whether the complaint is upheld or not, the student should contact the Director of the Language Centre within 20 working days of learning the outcome of the investigation into the complaint and the matter will be referred to an appropriate body within the University, accountable to the General Board.

Complaints about the language condition

Any complaint with regard to the outcome of a language condition assessment, or the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of a condition that was set as a result of the outcome of the language condition assessment, should be referred in the first instance to the University body which is responsible for the setting of that condition.

• In respect to the language condition for postgraduate entry to the University, this is the Postgraduate Admissions Office.
• In respect to the language condition for ERASMUS applicants to the University, this is the International Student Team.
• In respect to the language condition for Visiting Students to the University, this is the International Student Team.
• In respect to the language condition for courses run by the Institute of Continuing Education, this is the Institute of Continuing Education.
• In respect to the language condition for courses run by the Judge Business School (MBA, MFin, EMBA), this is the Judge Business School.  

In all language assessments that the Language Centre carries out for the above-listed bodies within the University, the Language Centre acts solely in an advisory function to the respective body as to whether the applicant's English language proficiency is suitable for the course for which they have applied.

All courses at the University have a minimum English language requirement for applicants whose first language is not English, which should be fulfilled by the successful completion at the required grade of a recognized Secure English Language Test, which remains the primary benchmark of achievement of the language condition. The Language Centre carries out supplementary English language assessments at the request of the above-listed bodies where this is deemed to be helpful in clarifying whether the language condition has indeed been achieved, in the light of ambiguous results in a SELT, and these assessments are deemed a privilege and not a right.

Please note that University Student Complaints Procedure can be found here.

Language Centre
November 2021

 

---