Ahh there's lecturers with egos at my uni and my uni is low in the league tables. It seems once they get their PhD and lecturing job, they think they are something else and it's ok to bully students.

Cat,

The OIA might be of interest to you, as you have made a complaint to your university. There is a cut off time for complaints.

The OIA is an independent body set up to review student complaints.
Free to students, the OIA deals with individual complaints against Higher Education Providers in England and Wales.

www.oiahe.org.uk

It has been suggested to me by someone with a legal background I could contact the OIA, but there is a cut off time, so I need to get on with this quickly. The Student Union haven't mentioned this independent body and I've not heard of it before.

The OIA is an independent body set up to review student complaints.
Free to students, the OIA deals with individual complaints against Higher Education Providers in England and Wales.

http://www.oiahe.org.uk

It does make me think.. it's things to consider when choosing a supervisor.
There's an article on radio 4 today about:

Why are even women biased against women?

Mary Ann Sieghart
Women are sexist too: even avowed feminists are found to be unconsciously biased against women.

The last paragraph is interesting:

".... Yale researchers, sent job applications and CVs for a lab manager post to male and female science professors. The applications were identical, except that half were given a man’s name and the other half, a woman’s.

And guess what? The professors – both male and female – said that the man’s application was better, that they were more likely to hire him and more likely to mentor him. And they offered him a substantially higher salary. "

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/312fXcsr5T1V9p509XNMYC4/why-are-even-women-biased-against-women

Intermitting means the same as intercalating - suspending studies for a period of time but keeping your place as a student, (normally 1 to 2 years) then returning.
I intermitted for two years and the course leader refused to see me when I returned. I requested a meeting by email but the response was 'does not merit a meeting'. Of course, it did merit a meeting, I was off for two years.

I intermitted and returned to the master's course. Then I was not added to the online resources for two months, the admin person has taken responsibility for this (in an email).
I have a trail on a social media group page which shows students had a similar problem and other problems with the course. My supervisor said nothing about the submission dates, I had only had one supervision session with them at this point (a few months before this submission date).
The student services guidance officer confirmed it is the course leaders responsibility to inform students of submission dates.

Hi, I've commenced battle with my uni over my course. Your case would be interesting to read about, it is a warning for other students of what can happen.

Thanks for our replies. Uni marks are so subjective and I feel conned! Like its a scam and a sham course at a sham uni. I'm put off academia now... There have been complaints about the same course from other students and some have intermitted because of this.

I have a friend that did a related course in the same department, same uni and finished feeling disappointed with the course. I should have taken note of the warning signs years ago.

Thanks for the replies, I saw the SU today for the second time, they have been helpful. I'm going to ask for a partial refund on the course in the complaint as there were other course issues. I will ask the SU if they have a lawyer.
I have definitely now lost any chance of getting a reference but I had to choose, stay silent and get a reference or make a complaint and have no referee. It's ok, if I kept silent I would always be wondering what if.

I asked the Students Union about the reference procedure, they said an academic reference is a tick box form of questions.
I made the mistake of not making a formal complaint when writing my masters thesis. Now I am trying to prove the errors the university made.

If I could rewind time and I was still writing my thesis I would be finding out who is the manager of my supervisor and ask them questions in a diplomatic way. Oh well, I live and learn.

I've finished my postgraduate course and I'm in the process of making a stage 2 appeal for a module. I was not informed of the submission day for a particular assignment which led to problems and rushed work.

I made the stage 1 appeal and the response was....' the online university resources showed the submission date'. It didn't show the date, and I was not informed by staff, students or by any other notification at the time.

Luckily on the day I was informed that I had not submitted I did several screenshots of the online resources page and emailed them to the module leader, as evidence there's no submission date shown. That person has since changed role.

I have looked today at the online resources page for last academic year, it has been adjusted to show the submission date for the assignment.

Cheeky university! I'm so glad I took the screenshots the day I was informed I had not submitted.

The university has dismissed everything in my appeal but I will take to stage 2 and a complaint stage 1.

Anyone else experienced their uni not taking responsibility in an appeal?

I've come across bias and unconscious bias from academic staff and wondered if it is fairly common?

It was in the news today about gender bias in the general population, but I was wondering about in academia.

For example, students who did fairly well at their undergraduate degree, or those that didn't do so well. They are 'known students' to academic staff if the student goes on to a masters at the same university. I can see unconscious bias occurring for assignments where the students name is not withheld.

What do you think? thanks

I feel postgraduate education is changing for masters and PhD's, as the PhD loans are coming in Sept 2018 and masters courses have gone up substantially in price. Meaning it's much more of a financial investment to students. in 2006 I was planning to do an MA for around £2.5 thousand fulltime 1-year course, now the same uni charges £9 thousand for the same course.

Students are looking for value for money (as with undergrads now charged 9 thousand a year). It was in the news about masters students at Central Saint Martins getting a rebate for a course that was substandard. This I expect will become more common.

I think universities will not stand for supervisors who are not delivering what they should be, as students will go elsewhere. Universities are businesses. To me, a supervisor not doing what they should be doing (what the OP mentions) is a trading standards, not fit for purpose issue. If the course is funded then this isn't good value for the research council.

[quote]Quote From TreeofLife:

'You're not going to find a procedure. It's a myth that people can't give "bad" references. What you can't do is lie. '


Thanks for the info. This makes it all the more important to have a second supervisor. If I had a poor supervisor I probably wouldn't trust them in writing a reference.

tru, I agree about choosing your referees wisely and to choose someone you trust.

I will be asking the Students Union advisor what they mean by the procedure in place and how this is guaranteed, I will post their response.