I better email those supervisees I keep meaning to, in case they sue me!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11376021

I think it is very interesting that you can do that.
When I was an undergraduate student, I was almost denied my degree because a professor at my uni didn't agree with my political beliefs. As a result he didn't want me to sit in the exams (oral exam) and when he finally agreed at first he told me that by believing what I did (and still do) how could I be a good teacher and then by denying to announce my grade (leading me to not knowing whether I could graduate or not!). Finally, and after a lot of pressure from the other professors he agreed to announce my grade (5 out of 10!!!) which gave me an average grade of 7,49 out of 10 and closing a lot of doors for me (in my country in order to apply for scholarships you have to have an average of 7,5 out of 10).
I couldn't do anything, as there was no formal complain procedure and the professors are considered as the masters of the universe! I just accepted the grade and moved on with my plans (2 masters, career and PhD).....

It's crazy isn't it! As far as I'm aware you can't appeal if you've accepted the degree but there is a good appeals procedure in place - he can't have been borderline or he'd have been offered that. It sounds to me as though he is griping. Its a very different situation to when you're marked down for what you beleive which should surely be a big no no! Obviously the system is open to abuse, but if this even gets a peek at court then its going to open the floodgates for anyone who feels that they didn't do as well as they hoped to try and sue the unis which is just crazy and is going to create even more red tape. It's going to be like pandora's box with knobs on at this rate! How do you prove as a lecturer that you supervised adequately and how much of the underperformance of the student is down to inadequacies in teaching, and how much to the student either not being capable of a higher grade, or having spent 3 year p*ssing it up in the SU bar??

I'll be more morivated to keep copies of my registers after this... It'll be interesting to see what decision the judge makes.

I guess its the result of tuition fees - students are now 'customers' and I can see it from the other (student) side - If I'm paying £7k for a masters degree for example, I'm going to want my money's worth. But I can't see how a lecturer is supposed to satisfy REF requirements, make an 'impact' on industry etc, the student survey AND make sure they don't get sued - well I'd want a LOT more money that current lecturers salaries anyway.

However, I agree, this bloke could have appealed earlier. My hubs appealed his degree classification and got it moved from a 2:1 to a 1st on the basis he didn't know he had dyslexia until the end of the 2nd year - and his results reflected this, i.e. they were low 2:1s before and a very high 1st once he got help with proofreading etc.

Yeah, I can definitely see why students are becoming more assertive - I would be too. But, I've also experienced students who blame the lecturer when they haven't attended or put any effort in. I think this kind of thing puts us lecturers in a really tight spot -we aren't given enough time to teach properly -I can never teach the way I would like to because there just isn't enough time: I will only see many of my groups 4 times in a semester, 8 times in a year... But we are under this ridiculous pressure from students to perform at the highest standards.

I've had 5 or 6 students email me this week for VERY simple things e.g. how to compute a new variable in SPSS - READ A BOOK! they haven't even bothered to pick up an SPSS guide, or even google it, they come straight to me :-s

hhmmmmm, yeah and we have to be careful that we don't end up being an above board version of the essay writing websites that keep posting on here.

When I worked as a teaching assistant pre PhD, a student threatened to sue bacause he got asked to leave the course for poor attendace and not sumitting work. (It was a speeach and language therapy course, which is a professional qualification as well as academic hence the strictness of rules over attendance). He tried to argue he had a medical condtion that had meant he was unable to attend but this had never been mentioned before, plus the office administrator saw him out in pubs and clubs every week! Don't think he got very far with his case mind.

Talk about spitting your dummy out because you didn't get the degree classification you think you deserved. I think these people that threaten to sue need to remember that one of the main aims of doing a degree is to advance from a dependent to an independent learner. They can scream and shout about being paying customers all they like, but the fact of the matter is that you get out what you put in. I hope this court case isn't successful.

I received very, VERY little help during my first degree, and I thought that was the point i.e. not being spoon-fed. Now, if the university has failed its obligations/responsibilities then that's a different matter, and as students pay a lot of money, they deserve recourse if the university has let them down (in terms of cancelled classes, substandard resources, abusive lecturers etc). But this seems to me (in the absence of greater detail) that he is blaming the uni for his grade.

I don't even understand what he means by 'supervision'. Does he mean on his dissertation or did he think his personal tutor would be emailing him every week reminding him to do his homework?

Year after year students go wrong thinking that they can get away with doing nothing for the first year, the bare minimum for the second year and working flat out in the 3rd and they will still get that 2:1/1st. They do not seem to realise that things are worked out on percentages and contributions from each year. If you've slacked off in the 2nd year then no matter what you do in the 3rd that second year low average will pull you right down. Then they claim it was all the fault of the Personal Tutor/Supervisor etc.

If the student genuinely failed to get supervision on a major project then I think there should be some way to appeal the mark which doesn't rely on the university's internal procedures. One of my peers was awarded a 3rd this year because the supervisor did not agree with the student's perspective on the project. This person was on for a 2:2 and had a place on a professional qualification but lost everything because of the 3rd. They are now back in the same job they were doing before the degree. They appealed the decision but the uni closed ranks and refused to change the mark. If I were this person I would have definitely gone to court to fight that decision.

If you are inept and lazy then accept responsibility for poor performance but if you've put everything you've got into it and one person decides to ruin it for you then there should be a way to fight it.

I now keep e-mails I have sent to students who have I haven't seen asking if everything is OK - not because I particualrly care about them (although some of them I do) but becuase I am covering my back in case they complain. Sad reflection of the world we live in.

I've had students make complaints about me lending books (off my shelf) to other students and saying it is favouritism. Those who get to borrow books at ethos ewho have been bothered to see me; the students who come to see me do get more support than those I don't see from one month to the next - is it favouritism or is it just that they put in more effort so get more back?

I appealed the result of my MA - I had spent a lot of money on it and was not happy with the outcome! When I applied the information I was given was that the grade was based on the final dissertation. During the time I was doing the MA this changed and the grade was based on the average of all the modules. However, the university didn't actually inform me of the change and I was still using the obsolete handbook! I actually had two modules with low (but passing) grades due to a bereavement and a bad accident that left me partially disabled. I didn't ask for my circumstances to be taken into account because I thought I would just have to pass. I don't think it is always right to sue but universities must also accept that they have responsibilities to their (paying) students.