Lex Ferenda

A front page article in this week’s Times Higher Education Supplement reports on an increase in student complaints at the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) across the water.  It’s based on the OIA annual report, which should appear later in the day here.  More from the Guardian.

The OIA was created by the Higher Education Act 2004 (there is no Irish equivalent) - it replaced the traditional system whereby university ‘visitors’ (who still exist and continue to handle other appeals/disputes/matters) would hear complaints from students. Broadly, the higher education community in the UK was in favour of the OIA but everyone is struggling to make sense of the new statistics - are there more problems, are students more aware of their rights, or are we all just too litigious?