Decision report 201103440

Summary

Miss A was a nursing student at the university. She was removed from her placement and then from the nursing course. Miss A’s MP (Mr C) complained that the university inappropriately removed Miss A from the nursing course; unreasonably failed to have a clear policy in place for supporting students on placements; and failed to communicate the termination of Miss A’s studies, and explain her full appeal rights, in a clear and timely manner.

We did not uphold Mr C’s complaints. Our investigation found that the university had taken Miss A’s personal circumstances into account during her course. On three occasions Miss A had been offered the chance to defer her studies, but she declined. Taking this into account, as well as relevant university and nursing organisation guidance and regulations, we could not conclude that the university inappropriately removed Miss A from the course.

We found that the university were using a toolkit on dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia (all types of learning disorder) that was published by a nursing organisation. The university also had documents which showed that training specifically about dyslexia was undertaken with placement mentors.

In addition, we found that letters from the university did explain that her studies were being terminated. The university provided Miss A with copies of their appeal procedure which, in any case, she had a responsibility to be aware of as a registered student. University staff also explained the appeals process and referred Miss A to sources of advice and support.