Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Edinburgh Napier University

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Not Upheld Reference 201602917 Sector Education Category communication staff attitude dignity and confidentiality Decided 01 May 2017

View Edinburgh Napier University scorecard

Original decision on the SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) website ↗

Full decision

Summary

Ms C, an MP, complained on behalf of her constituent (Ms A). The complaint was that the university's promotional material about a degree course was unreasonable, as Ms A felt she was not told that her degree would not help her with her chosen career.

We found that, while technically correct, the university's information was ambiguous. In dealing with the complaint, the university admitted their website could have been clearer and changed their published information to clarify it. In addition, the university offered Ms A a goodwill payment.

While Ms A's circumstances were unfortunate, in our view there was no certainty she could have achieved more from the university's handling of her complaint, and we found that the university acted reasonably to clarify the information. On balance, we concluded that the university's promotional material about the degree was reasonable. We therefore did not uphold Ms A's complaint.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201602917 as a PDF (11.05 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

View original on SPSO (Scottish Publ… website