University of Wales Trinity St David told to repay online module fees

The university claimed the changes were made due to pandemic restrictions, but an independent regular has said this not the case

A university has been told it should apologise and refund fees after claiming course changes were due to the Covid pandemic.

A complaint by 13 University of Wales Trinity St David students has been upheld by an independent adjudicator.

The university said it was committed to providing students with the right skills for their future careers.

The proposed recommendations, seen by BBC Wales, will not be confirmed until feedback is assessed.

The complaint was brought by a group of students who started their art and design courses in September 2020 after lessons on some courses were replaced by online modules.

• Students in election tuition fee reduction call

• Universities keep lectures online into autumn term

• University faces 'financial uncertainties'

The students claimed they had not been given notice of changes which meant course-specific content had been replaced by more general modules focused on employability and digital skills.

The students took the issue to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) when their complaint was rejected by the university.

The OIA is an independent body that reviews student complaints about higher education providers in Wales and England under the Higher Education Act 2004.

'We feel that we've been betrayed'

One student said the process of challenging the university had been "enormously stressful".

He said academic staff had done "a brilliant job" of adapting existing courses, but the concerns were about new online modules that were not specific to individual courses.

One student said the new online modules had "nothing to do" with students' degrees

"We feel that we were betrayed by them to be honest," he said

"They've seized upon the Covid pandemic to put in place digital delivery and causing us to spend even more time stuck in front of a glowing screen.

"It was just enormously demoralising to have them do that to us, and then to be confronted with content that had nothing to do with what we'd signed up to do a degree for".

Trinity St David, which has three main campuses in south west Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, said it had to take stock of how teaching was delivered in view of the pandemic.

But in a report seen by BBC Wales the OIA said that introducing the new modules was not due to pandemic restrictions, but driven by trying to "re-imagine" the curriculum.

The watchdog raised concerns about the way the university had dealt with the students' complaint

The OIA said that while changes were necessary during the pandemic "the university chose to replace advertised modules with entirely different modules rather than adapting the teaching of the promised content".

The report also said the university did not give reasonable notice of changes in line with consumer protection rules and guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority.

The OIA has said that students should receive a £1,050 refund for each of the two modules replaced in the 2020-21 academic year as well as an apology.

It also proposed that the university should work with the students to find a way to offer something "broadly equivalent" to the opportunities expected when they signed up.

Trinity St David said the university was unable to comment on the report, as the process was ongoing.

But the university said the new online modules aimed to provide students with "opportunities to develop their professional skills and competence alongside their academic subject knowledge".

"These are the skills demanded by employers now and in the future, particularly as a result of the digital transformation exacerbated by the pandemic."

• WONDERS OF THE CELTIC DEEP: Encounter mythical coasts and extraordinary creatures

• POETRY FOR PLEASURE : A mirror to reflect the most deep and difficult to articulate feelings