Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many students have registered complaints about their university with the Office for Students; and how many complaints were upheld in the 2021 academic year.

The Office for Students (OfS) does not get involved with individual student complaints. Such complaints are a matter for the relevant higher education provider and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA).

In 2021, the OIA received 2,763 complaints from students. Details of the outcomes of those complaints, including the number upheld, will be available in their annual report, which will be published in April 2022 on their website: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/resources-and-publications/annual-reports/.

Students can notify the OfS of issues that may be of regulatory interest to it. These are known as ‘notifications’ and the OfS uses this information as part of its regulatory monitoring activity. This helps to ensure that higher education providers comply with the ongoing conditions of their registration. Notifications can be submitted online via the OfS website at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/office-for-students-notifications/how-to-submit-a-notification/