Covid: Uni students' legal action over pandemic education

The University of Nottingham has a student population of 35,000

Thousands of students are taking legal action against their universities over their education during the pandemic.

The University of Nottingham is one of 18 institutions set to face claims.

Mikail Ranjit, who moved from Malaysia to study in Nottingham, said Covid measures meant he paid about £15,000 a year for online lectures.

A university spokesperson said it was "aware of this potential claim" but "unable to comment further on it at this point".

Nearly 20,000 students have joined group claims through StudentGroupClaim.co.uk to take action against their universities over what they say were insufficient provisions for their education.

Some paid as much as £40,000 a year despite truncated timetables and lessons being cancelled or moved online.

In 2020 students at Nottingham criticised measures put in place at halls of residence.

Mr Ranjit, who studied law, said he would have had the same standard of education if he stayed at home, and accused the university of "stringing us along for as long as they could" before announcing lectures would move online.

"I believe that the level of education that I received, and the level of material I received, wasn't worth the money that I paid," he said.

"I could have not come to [Nottingham] at all and the education would have been the same."

When Covid restrictions hit the UK, lectures moved online, and it took more than a year for universities to return to mainly in-person teaching.

For those unhappy with the teaching they received, the first course of action is to complain direct to the university. Only when that process is exhausted can they turn to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

Last year it upheld a third of complaints, many of which were about how courses were delivered. Any court might want to know if these avenues have been fully pursued.

Mikail Ranjit said his fees were about £15,000 a year to study law in Nottingham

Ryan Dunleavy, a partner at law firm Harcus Parker, which is working with students on their claims, said they "weren't given what they were promised" but still paid the full amount in fees for "a sub-par service".

"They were given online teaching, effectively a distance learning course, restricted or no access to facilities, and sometimes there was cancelled teaching, such as during strikes," he said.

"It's not that we're criticising necessarily what the universities did, it's we're criticising that they charged full fees for this.

"The universities have generally increased their income from tuition fees [during the pandemic], and quite frankly the financial impact of Covid should not have been pushed on to the students."