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  3. Universities must deal better with complaints With student complaints at a record high, universities will have to raise their ga

Universities must deal better with complaints With student complaints at a record high, universities will have to raise their ga

admin2012-05-17  39
问题                 Universities must deal better with complaints
With student complaints at a record high, universities will have to raise their game once tuition fees rise
    Two universities that have broken official rules for dealing with student complaints are named today in the independent adjudicators (仲裁人) annual report. The two, Southampton and Westminster, are the first to be exposed in this way — yet another sign of the new era in which universities are expected to be more accountable (负责) to students who expect to be treated as customers.
    The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), which reviews complaints when students have exhausted their university’s procedures, also reports a record rise in the number of cases. Last year the office received 1,341 complaints against universities in England and Wales, the highest number ever and an unprecedented (空前的) rise of one-third on the year before.
    As the adjudicator himself, Rob Behrens, points out, 1,341 complaints represents just 0.05% of higher education students, and 53% of those were not justified. But, he also observes, the proportion of justified and partly justified complaints has grown for the first time in several years. He predicts the increase in complaints will continue. "It’s to be expected where you have rising tuition fees, where students are being invited to behave like consumers and where the labour market is difficult so students will do what they can to ensure they qualify."
    He says his decision to expose the universities of Southampton and Westminster is not "naming and shaming, with all the associations of moral censure that term implies". He was, he explains, simply following OIA rules — something those two institutions failed to do.
    Westminster fell short in its handling of two complaints. One was from a student who argued a disability hadn’t been properly taken into account. The adjudicator agreed. The other student claimed that an exam question and its marking scheme had been unreasonable. In both cases the university broke the rules by failing to resolve the cases, as recommended, promptly and in full.
    At Southampton University, four months after the OIA concluded that an undergraduate had a justified complaint about their experience on a placement, the university continued to oppose the decision and was refusing compensation.
    In a second case, the university also failed to comply with the adjudicator’s decision. And in a third one, although the complaint turned out to be unjustified, for 10 months the university delayed the investigation by failing to provide evidence despite the adjudicator’s repeated reminders.
    At both universities, it was only after the adjudicator involved the vice-chancellors (校长) that the complaints began to be resolved.
    Behrens is pleased the relationships between his office and both universities are now much more positive. "As the government places more emphasis on the student experience, complaints have an important role in safeguarding (保护) that," he says. "Universities must see complaints as feedback to become more professional."
    Both Southampton and Westminster universities want to charge undergraduates annual fees of ￡9,000. There is an expectation, not only from ministers, but importantly from students and their families, too, that all universities wishing to increase charges will move to increase student satisfaction as well.
    Before making an investment of ￡27,000, for example, each student will ask, "Is this good value? Is the teaching good? Is this the best route to a successful career?"
    Universities are being encouraged, some may say pressurised, to become more transparent and accountable in a number of ways.
    The government is urging all universities to publish a student charter, a sort of statement of terms and conditions to remind students of their responsibilities and their rights. Universities are also expected to publish "key information sets" by September 2012. These will enable students to shop around by providing the same 17 pieces of information about each institution, including, for example, the proportion of "contact" time and group work, and the careers and starting salaries of previous graduates.
    The OIA is already looking at creative ways to cope with both limited resources and likely further rises in student complaints. Settling more disputes by phone is one option; helping universities to install an independent ombudsman (巡视员) on each campus — an idea borrowed from the Netherlands and the US — is another.
    The question is, are UK universities well prepared for the new consumer culture where the deal is if you pay more, you expect more, and if you feel you’re not getting it, you’ll complain?
    The question is particularly pertinent for the universities of Southampton and Westminster on the day they are exposed for dragging their feet with a legally established adjudicator. Both vice-chancellors were unavailable for interview.
    In a statement, Professor Debra Humphris, Southampton’s pro-vice-chancellor, education, said the vast majority of the small number of student complaints are dealt with swiftly, described the dialogue with the OIA as "constructive and supportive" and said that an improved complaints procedure will be in place this autumn.
    In a more defiant statement, Professor Geoffrey Petts, vice-chancellor at Westminster, points out that the university is working with the OIA towards compliance with its recommendations: "The University of Westminster was disappointed to have been cited in the OIA report. The university has robust procedures for handling the very small number of formal complaints which it receives from students."
    Aaron Porter, the president of the National Union of Students, has welcomed the new step of naming universities that don’t fully co-operate with the adjudicator. "In an environment where students are paying higher fees and will therefore raise expectations, they need to know which institutions stick to the rules."
    He also makes this warning: "Faced with increasing competition to recruit students, many universities are being tempted to make grander and grander claims. They need to improve their offer, but they need to be honest in what they promise."
    The advice is echoed by Steve Smith, president of Universities UK and vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter. He sees, in the adjudicator’s annual report, a sector getting to grips with a new world where students are more demanding and will make sure universities correctly follow procedures. "It is vital that institutions are honest and transparent about what students can expect from their courses. In an age of marketing, don’t oversell. Any institution will have to make sure they do what they say."
What is said about last year’s complaints against universities in England and Wales?
选项 A、Few of them turned out to be completely justified.
B、They were much less than those on the year before.
C、Most of the complaints were exposed in the report.
D、The number of the complaints reached a record high.
答案D
解析 该句提到，去年，办公室共接收到1，341件针对英格兰和威尔士大学的投诉，较前年增长三分之一，为史上最多，增幅前所未有。[D]中的a record high是对the highest number ever的同义转述，故答案为[D]。
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