Tuition well below par

mrs_lds

So our son is studying on a masters program and the lecturers are either not attending classes, or giving a 15 minute class instead of a two hour lecture this has hapoened throughout the school year and we resent our son having to pay tuition fees when lecturers attendance is not always happening. A diary of some of the dates have been kept but not all. Any advice for refunds please appreciated.
Our son did not sign up for this course to be given below par teaching standards. This is manchester uni.

elsien

I would imagine the first step would be for him to go through the university complaints procedure. Has he already raised this with them, and what was the response?
Any other students willing to back up his assertions?

mrs_lds

elsien wrote: »

I would imagine the first step would be for him to go through the university complaints procedure. Has he already raised this with them, and what was the response?
Any other students willing to back up his assertions?

Not yet. There are lots of others on his course who would be witnesses to the poor attendance by lecturers. Not sure if he would like to be at the forefront of complaining. I suggested he do it anonymously. ?? Any thoughts

silvercar

I think you will struggle to get a refund, at the end of the day your son is on a course and will be awarded the masters at the end of it.

You can complain and hopefully improvements will be made. Manchester Uni is well regarded for its programmes; from personal experience both my kids did Masters there in recent years and were well taught, so it isn't endemic throughout the university.

agrinnall

I assume that if your son is doing a Masters then he is an adult, in which case you should step back and leave him to fight his own battles.

elsien

mrs_lds wrote: »

Not yet. There are lots of others on his course who would be witnesses to the poor attendance by lecturers. Not sure if he would like to be at the forefront of complaining. I suggested he do it anonymously. ?? Any thoughts

If he wants to get any sort of refund, unlikely though that might be, at some point that is going to mean telling them that he is not happy. It's a bit pointless complaining anonymously then asking for his money back, when the first question likely to be asked is "have you given them the chance to put it right."

Voyager2002

At Masters level, he should be capable of private study. Presumably he has been given a reading list and has access to Manchester university's excellent library. And I am sure that any written work that he produces will be marked, and if it reaches the required standard his degree will be awarded. That, in brief, is all that a Masters student should expect for the tuition fees that are charged.

Manchester was recently forced to make more than 100 of its academic staff redundant, probably as a result of Brexit. So it is simply not possible to provide hand-holding to Masters students.