Case Summaries

The students complained about facilities that were unfinished or not available and that advance information about the programme had not been clear. The provider did not uphold the complaint. At the beginning of the students’ second year the provider made a goodwill payment to all students in the group’s cohort relating to issues with the new facilities and accommodation.

The students complained to us. We upheld the complaint and made some Recommendations to the provider. The students subsequently provided us with a report from the General Medical Council (GMC) following an inspection of the provider’s overseas campus which was relevant to the students’ complaint. We decided to reopen our review.

We decided that the students’ complaint was Partly Justified. We decided that the students had been given misleading information about some buildings and facilities which were still not ready long after the students’ arrival, and a new “health hub” which was not due for completion until after the students had completed their studies. We also concluded that the students had been led to believe that teaching and practice would be in an English-speaking setting but in fact the local language was used in clinical consultations. As a result, the GMC introduced a requirement that students had to have some understanding of the local language to continue with their studies.

The students wished to complete their studies at the provider’s campus in England. By this time UK hospitals were under considerable pressure because of the ongoing pandemic and we concluded that it would not be in the students’ interests to recommend a transfer.

We recommended that the provider should pay the students a sum of compensation of around £24,000 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the misleading information about facilities and the course, and the impact of the poor information about language requirements. We also recommended that the provider should arrange and fund personalised tuition in the local language and should arrange clinical attachments for remaining elective components of the course in England (subject to any travel restrictions). We also recommended that the provider should review its website and marketing information to ensure that it complies with its obligations under consumer protection law.