OIA publishes Operating Report 2019 and Operating Plan 2020

The OIA’s Operating Report 2019 records another successful year for the organisation.

The number of complaints we receive has risen three years running. We received 2,371 complaints in 2019, which represents around a 20% increase for the second consecutive year and is our highest ever number of complaints. Despite this, we met all our targets for timeliness of our processes and we closed 27% more cases than in 2018.

We continued to share learning and encourage good practice through our outreach work. We developed our extensive programme of workshops and webinars, and we launched a new, more user-friendly website. We consulted on and published a new section of the Good Practice Framework on Fitness to practise.

We used our experience as an impartial and independent ombuds organisation to promote fairness for students, working with governments and key organisations in the sector and beyond, and brought our expertise to the debate about live and emerging issues in the sector. We continued discussions with the Welsh government about legislation on higher education and we contributed to the work of the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment and to the Quality Code.

We will explore trends and themes from the year in more detail in our Annual Report 2019, which we will publish at the end of April.

Our Operating Plan 2020 is based around our four key priorities through which we fulfil our purpose: reviewing student complaints, sharing learning, working effectively with others and continually developing our organisation. The Plan sets out what we will do in 2020 to advance each of these priorities and what we intend to have achieved by the end of the year.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) is the independent student complaints ombudsman for higher education in England and Wales. It is the designated operator of the student complaints’ scheme under the Higher Education Act 2004.