Pip’s Patch

In December I sent the following report to The Lamp Post, a website about the deficiencies of Lampeter College. It was posted on that website under the heading Merry Christmas:

Christmas 2007 was a sad one for me as I felt the full impact of the loneliness of the part time distance student when there was insufficient support from a tutor. I had started the research masters course with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies (DTRS) at Lampeter College with high hopes and, after sending a large tranche of research material to my tutor, he told me that it was his intention to push me on to achieve what was required for an academic degree study.  Sadly that support was not forthcoming and, in November 2007, he did not even respond to an email from me requesting a discussion on theoretical frameworks.
When later I queried the DTRS about this the department not only  never answered my complaint about the lack of response to my email, but stated it was not the function of a research supervisor to develop an interesting debate with his or her students. Given that statement I had no confidence in continuing my studies through the DTRS and asked for a full rebate of my fees.
When I studied the complaints procedure I realised how long winded and biased it was towards a university. Throughout the process I often wondered why I was doing it as I felt there was little likelihood of success. This was not helped by the delays in response from the department to some of my letters and emails. In my complaint I stated that the DTRS and Lampeter College were prepared to take the fees from distance students but not provide the necessary support that such students required given that they could not access the facilities at the college.
In January 2009 I received a letter from the Pro Vice-Chancellor informing me that the first stage of the investigation had been held and that she did not feel there was sufficient evidence to uphold my complaint – a decision which I did not accept. The Assistant Registrar was helpful in trying to arrange the Academic Complaint Re-examination which took place on April 20 at Lampeter College. I felt that those who represented the university at that hearing were fair and professional and I was assured I would receive a report within a few weeks.
Six months later I was still waiting. By then I had found The Lamp Post and been in contact with Trevor Mayes. I contacted the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education and was informed that I should ask Lampeter College for a Completion of Procedures letter or ask the College to progress my complaint. Only if I had sent more than one reminder and had not received a response within a reasonable time should I contact the OIA again! I did write to Lampeter College on that basis and, after another two weeks of silence, had decided that I would prefer to contact the Quality Assurance Agency.  But then I received a phone call from the quality assurance office at Lampeter College.
That was followed by a letter which stated that the Chair of the Complaints Committee, had reported: “The University of Wales, Lampeter accepts that it cannot demonstrate that the student was given adequate guidance on what to expect from her main supervisor or that the student received adequate supervision. Therefore the fees paid by the student should be reimbursed….”
A good ending? Not really because it has been a long, often traumatic process and I never did receive from Lampeter College that which I had really wanted and thought was on offer: an interesting and informative discussion of the material I had researched leading to a thesis that would have academic merit. The question now is: will the College learn from such experiences and offer better supervision and support for those who come to them hoping to obtain a degree? I do hope so.

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I am very grateful to  Trevor Mayes for his support during the past few months – and to those friends who kept urging me on even if, on occasions, the university complaints system was so discouraging. I hope in the coming months to share on pipspatch my research about the women and girls who were involved in setting up the first girls’ schools in India, Africa and China in the early to mid nineteenth century.