Select committee: Petitions Committee
Recommendation 7
Second Report - The impact of Covid-19 on university students
Published 13 Jul 2020
Paragraph 34
Petitions Committee The Government's response to Coronavirus All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
While it is too early to know what effect the Covid-19 outbreak will have on university courses in the next academic year, there will not be a return to business as usual. We hope that all universities will be able to effectively deliver every university course to the standard that students are entitled, but if this is not the case students whose courses are affected by the Covid-19 outbreak in the next academic year should have the same easily accessible recourse to seek a refund or to repeat part of their course that we have recommended should apply to students in the current academic year. Any new arrangements that are put in place to better enable students to access refunds for tuition fees, where they believe they are not receiving the education they are entitled to, should be available to all students whose courses are affected by the Covid-19 outbreak in future academic years.
From: Petitions Committee, Second Report - The impact of Covid-19 on university students (HC 527), paragraph 34, 13 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 September 2020 (deadline 13 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's finding against a universal tuition fee refund, but says a new centralised refund system is "not a preferred option at this time" and that any refund is a matter for providers.
- It "welcomes the Committee's finding" that there should not be a universal refund of tuition fees to all students.
- It agrees that the exact circumstances in which a student might receive redress are not clear, as this depends on contractual arrangements and individual circumstances. A Department for Education working group will consider whether existing guidance can be brought together and whether additional guidance is needed.
- On additional funding or reducing student loans to pay refunds, it says "Any refund is a matter for providers, so the Government is not considering writing off or reducing tuition fee loans."
- It states that the OIA is "currently developing a bespoke approach" to complaints from very large groups of students. It also agrees students should know their rights and is working with stakeholders to "explore existing communications channels".