University Secretary

Complaints

The University is committed to providing high quality service and encourages both students and members of the public to raise issues where they have cause for concern about the University.

The University aims to resolve as many issues as possible in an informal and timely way. However, we accept there will be times when a more formal process of investigation may be necessary and the University has a formal complaints procedure that can be used in the situations listed below.

If you wish to raise an issue where you have cause for concern about the University, click on the link in the list which best describes you, to access the information you need to raise your concerns. We have also provided a list of other sources of help both within and outside the University, that may be helpful in trying to resolve any concerns.

The University aims to handle concerns in a way that:

  • Treats complaints with appropriate seriousness, sympathy and confidentiality
  • Is fair to all parties involved
  • Allows the University or particular section or department to benefit and learn from the process.

We will ensure that complainants are not discriminated against or suffer any disadvantage as a result of raising genuine concerns. A friend or advisor is welcome to accompany you to any meetings held during the process of dealing with your concerns.

We will treat any documentation associated with a complaint from you and/or other parties confidentially. However, if you make a complaint about a member of staff they, and their line manager, will be informed about the substance of the complaint so that the member of staff is in a position to make a response and their line manager can be aware of the situation. The formal complaint paperwork may also be forwarded to senior staff for quality purposes. The University will not investigate anonymous complaints.

It is important to remember that complaints will not always produce the outcome that you are seeking, as all points of view have to be considered. Whatever the decision, your concerns will receive serious consideration and if we are not able to resolve the problem we will advise you as well as explain the reasons for the decision. If your formal complaint is upheld, we will meet your reasonable, documented expenses in making the complaint.

Records of all formal complaints made to the University are kept in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and for the time period specified in the University of Portsmouth‘s record retention schedule – that is, six years after the last action on the case.

Anonymous details of the number of complaints received and the subject and outcomes of the complaints will be included in an annual report made to the University’s senior management for quality purposes and equality monitoring.

The complaints procedures are designed to be accessible to everyone who may need to use them. If you have any special needs that mean you are unable to use the complaints procedure in the way set out below, please contact the Complaints department using the contact details at the bottom of this page for advice on how to pursue your complaint.

In order to have the best possible chance to resolve any issues, please note that you should generally raise your concerns with the University within 20 working days of the date of the event about which you are complaining. If you have any general queries about making a complaint, please feel free to contact the staff in the Complaints department:

Samantha Hill
Title: Information Disclosure and Complaints Manager
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 3642
Email: Samantha.hill@port.ac.uk

Thérèse Kearns
Title: Assistant Complaints Officer
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 3103
Email: therese.kearns@port.ac.uk
Email: complaintsadvice@port.ac.uk

Which procedure to use?

We have separated out the procedures for making a complaint to match your circumstances.

Therefore, to access information relevant to you, please click on the link which bests describes your situation.

Are you:

Other sources of help:

The list below contains links to other sources of help that you may find useful in trying to resolve your complaint.  The internal sources of help may be contacted at any time during the complaints process although the sooner you contact them, the more help they may be able to provide.  The final link, to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), is an external link. 

Student’s Union Advice Service - for advice on anything affecting your time at the University.

Bullying & Harassment Advisors – an internal service for advice and support if you believe you are being bullied or harassed by a student or a member of staff.

Student and Neighbourhood Liaison – if you have concerns about student neighbours or, whilst as a student, you need help in your neighbourhood.

Additional Support and Disability Advice Centre (ASDAC) – for help with any issues relating to special needs.

Collaborative Programmes Registrar – for help in knowing whether you have a complaint about a Collaborative partner or the University and  how to pursue a complaint against a Collaborative partner.

Student Support Service – for help with any issues in Halls of Residence.

Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education - the OIA only considers complaints made by students after the complaint has been through the University’s internal procedures and a Completion of Procedures letter has been issued.

Applicant to the University

If, as an applicant to the University, you have any concerns about

  • the way in which your application to study at this University was handled,
  • not having been offered a place at the University, or
  • your fee classification / assessment

you can raise your concerns by following the applicant’s complaints procedure.

Current student at the University of Portsmouth

You may use the Student Complaints procedure if you are registered with this University as either an undergraduate or postgraduate student, you are studying part- or full-time, on campus or by distance learning methods.  The procedure is open to all home, EU or International students either registered with the University of Portsmouth, or those who have left the University within the last three months, where the event complained about happened during those last three months. 

If you were a student at the University but you left more than three months ago, please click here for more information.

If you are a student at a Collaborative Partner institution, please click here for more information.

There are a few points to note when making a complaint;

- in order to have the best chance of resolving a complaint, it must be made within 20 working days of the event happening about which you are raising concerns,

- you can raise your concerns as an individual student, or as part of a listed group of students where this is appropriate, although one student should act as a spokesperson for the group,

- a student cannot make a formal complaint to the University without having attempted to resolve the issues informally first unless in certain circumstances, e.g. where a relationship between staff and student has broken down,

- you may be accompanied to any meetings held during the process of dealing with your concerns by a friend or a student representative,

- anyone found to have made a frivolous or malicious complaint will be dealt with seriously under the student disciplinary procedures,

- you may withdraw a complaint at any time during the internal procedure by giving notice to either the staff in the Complaints department or to the Investigating Officer to whom the complaint was referred,

- if you study via distance- learning methods with the University, any discussions or interviews can take place over the telephone at an arranged time to avoid you having to come to University if that is not practicable,

- in the first instance, we ask students registered with the University to try to deal with any concerns informally, by raising them with a member of staff.  This could be the member of staff that has caused your concerns, if it is appropriate to approach them, your personal tutor, a member of staff who works in the area in which your concerns are based e.g. an administrative member of staff in an academic school / department , or anyone in the list of Other Sources of Help.  By the end of this part of the process you should understand what will be done to remedy the situation,

- an informal complaint should be resolved within a ten working days; an investigation into a formal complaint will take 30 working days from the date on which your formal complaint is accepted.

If your complaint relates to your accommodation in University Halls of Residence, you should first report any problems to Hall reception staff as set out in the Halls of Residence Handbook. You should follow the Halls complaints procedure as set out in the Handbook before using the Student Complaints procedure.

If you have tried to resolve your concerns informally and you are unhappy with the proposed remedy, you have the right to make a formal complaint. Guidance on how to make a formal complaint can be found in the leaflet Guide to making a formal student complaint (insert link to new guidance leaflet).  The actual complaints procedure on which this guidance is based, and against which any procedural queries will be compared, can be found here.

You should submit your written formal complaint to the Complaints department either by post to Complaints department, University House, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, or  by email to complaintsadvice@port.ac.uk or by completing the online student complaints form.

Student registered with a Collaborative Partner Institution

The University cannot intervene in complaints that a student registered with a Collaborative Partner may have, unless the complaint relates to some act or omission by the University itself as part of the partnership.

If you are registered with a Collaborative Partner of the University and wish to raise concerns with the partner institution you should use the partner’s complaints procedure which (should be / is) available on their own websites.

If your complaint concerns something the University should have done but has not, or has done in a way that does not meet your expectations, you should first raise the situation informally with staff in the Collaborative Partners team within the Quality Management Division of the Academic Registry, details of which can be found in the Other Sources of Help section.

If you do not believe that the suggested resolution is appropriate, you may submit a formal complaint to the Complaints department either by post to Complaints department, University House, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, or  by email to complaintsadvice@port.ac.uk or by completing the online student complaints form.

Complainants who are not a student at the University

The University has a Student Complaints procedure for current students but we realise that there might be times when someone other than a student may feel it is necessary to complain about something related to the University.

Any member of the general public whether living in Portsmouth or not, including parents of a student at the University, or a former University student, may complain using the following procedure.

In the first instance, you can contact the University’s Complaints department on 02392 843642 or by email at complaintsadvice@port.ac.uk .  Staff in the Complaints department will discuss your complaint with you and will contact other members of staff to try to resolve your concerns.

If your complaint relates to students in your community, you will be directed to the Student and Neighbourhood Liaison Service. We have a firm commitment to solving this type of complaint through goodwill and co-operation.

We hope that most complaints can be resolved in this informal way, but if that is not possible, you can still make a Formal Complaint.

Formal complaints

If you wish to lodge a Formal Complaint you should write to the staff in the Complaints department providing the following information:

  1. the background to your complaint,
  2. the informal attempts you have made at resolving the complaint and who you discussed the matter with in the University,
  3. why the outcome of the informal attempts is not considered to be satisfactory, and
  4. the desired outcome of your complaint.

The Complaint staff will decide whether, on the basis of the information contained in your letter of complaint, an investigation into the matter is warranted.  If an investigation is not warranted, because the Complaints Manager believes you have not exhausted the informal complaints procedure, you will be told within ten working days of receipt of your complaint.

If an investigation is warranted, you will be told that one will be carried out and given a date by which you should receive a report on your complaint.  The investigation will be carried out by the Head of Department / School from which your complaint arises, within 30 working days of your formal complaint having been accepted.  Once the investigation is complete, you will receive a written report of findings and conclusions including, if appropriate, recommendations for action to resolve the complaint.

Where the report contains actions for the University in resolving the complaint, the member of staff charged to look at the recommendations will do so within ten working days of the date of the report and will decide whether to follow the recommendations or take other action to remedy the complaint. You will be sent a letter outlining his / her decision, at which point the matter is closed.

Withdrawing your formal complaint

You may withdraw your formal complaint at any time, at which time the matter is closed.

Useful documents / links

You may find the following documents / links helpful in making a complaint to the University:

Student Complaints procedure 2012

Applicant Complaints procedure

Guide to making a formal complaint

Handling student complaints  - guidance notes for staff

Online complaints form

Annual statistics – link to a synopsis of the annual report – tables only.

Link to OIA Annual letter -  Link goes to main page from which people can choose the Portsmouth letter, but this gives them some background to the letters.

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