Introduction 

Overview 

Vedere Institute strives to achieve the highest standards in the provision of services to its students but recognizes that complaints may arise, nonetheless.

As part of its commitment to ensuring the standard and quality of its programs and services, Vedere Institute has established the Student Complaints Procedure to deal with complaints from students. This procedure is intended to enable students to bring matters of concern about Vedere Institute services to its attention and to enable those matters to be investigated and discussed with the aim of reaching a satisfactory resolution, within a reasonable timescale and having due regard to the requirements of natural justice.

Vedere Institute welcomes feedback and treats all complaints very seriously. Students will not suffer any disadvantage as a result of making a complaint in good faith. However, making a complaint that is frivolous, vexatious, or malicious is likely to be a breach of a student’s obligations to Vedere Institute and may result in disciplinary action being taken against that student under the Student Disciplinary Regulations.

Vedere Institute makes a distinction between “Complaints” and “Academic Appeals”, and there are separate procedures for dealing with each. Please read the guidance below carefully to ensure that you are following the correct procedure.

  1. A “Complaint” is a specific concern about the provision of a program of study or related academic service, including concerns about teaching and academic facilities. Some examples of what would correctly be categorized as a complaint are:
    1. A complaint about the quality of teaching or supervision; or
    2. A complaint about the adequacy of the facilities provided by Vedere Institute.
  1. An “Academic Appeal” is a request for a review of a decision made by an individual member of staff or an academic body (such as the Assessment Board) in relation to the progression of the student, assessment, or the award of a degree.
  1. Where a student wishes to bring an Academic Appeal, the Student Complaints Procedure is not applicable and should not be followed. Instead, the student should refer to the Academic Appeals Policy.
  1. In addition, it is not appropriate to use the Student Complaints Procedure in relation to:
    1. Concerns about the misconduct of another student – Vedere Institute would normally deal with such matters by invoking the Student Disciplinary Policy against the student in question if appropriate;
    2. Complaints that another member of the community has committed an act of harassment or bullying – again, these matters are covered by a separate procedure;
    3. Complaints falling within another procedure established by the Vedere Institute;
    4. Private or domestic disputes between students and staff; or
    5. Complaints about people who are not members or employees of Vedere Institute.

The following complaints procedure should be used for all complaints, except those that are made against an employee of Vedere Institute. In these circumstances, the following process will follow:

  1. If the complaint is against a member of staff, it should be directed to HR who will decide the most appropriate way in which to investigate the complaint made.
  2. If the complaint is made against a member of the faculty, it should be directed to the Program Director who will decide the most appropriate way to investigate and address the complaint made.

If the complaint is about a person, the member of staff who is handling the complaint will encourage both parties to attend a face-to-face meeting if appropriate and to discuss the matter constructively with a view to resolving the complaint informally.

Vedere Institute is not obliged to report to the complainant any sanctions applied because of a complaint if reporting them would be deemed to be a breach of confidentiality.

Anonymous complaints will not normally be investigated. It will be at Vedere Institute’s discretion to decide whether a complaint should be investigated, and the findings will be kept confidential.