OIAArvostelua 

The OIA our a biased organisation to whom universities subscribe too as members. If universities were too unsubscribe, the OIA would not be able to operate, so clearly the OIA will always side with the university. The OIA calls itself a charity however operates as a members club, this is not generally considered charitable. Further too this the OIA clearly operates in such a way that violates laws, and discriminates against people with protected characteristics. This is not only highlighted by the OIA’s Google reviews but highlighted too by the lack of transparency the OIA has when it recieves new evidence IE in this case I was not notified by email or text when evidence had been reviewed and wasn't given a right to respond and review the information.

I do not believe that the OIA operates legally and ethically, it is for this reason that I hope my last academic year goes smoothly, with no issues of procedural irregularities, bias or otherwise discrimatory and unprofessional behaviour, as I do not wish to have any dealings with corrupt organisations such as the OIA again.

They are not helpful to students case and would usually choose to side with the institutions.

Let's universities get away with discrimination and bullying especially Central School of Speech and Drama.

I returned to study , my clinical supervisor locked me in a room without my consent and ignored my concerns throughout placement and accused me of gaslighting her , drama school only gave me a timetable 5 days before so I couldn't even access my support for over half the term and so I failed all over again. This was after repeatedly asking for my placement and timetable details from 3 months beforehand.

Central then reduced already failed grade from a 47 to a 38 and Craig Howlett's response was 'thank you for being so polite , good luck for the future and my revised lower grade was apparently 'a perfectly reasonable offer'. The implication being I'm lying about my traumatic experience and being a brat.

Absolutely pathetic organisation - I didn't want to return to Central but I do think I should have been refunded my fees after the trauma caused by lack of support , bullying and discrimination.

I feel I could have passed my degree had not been treated the way I was at Central and now my life savings have gone down the drain and I've used all my student finance.

Would give zero stars if I could - this organisation isn't fair and very biased in favour of universities. Hope the OIA gets disbanded.

Just another reminder that students don't have rights .

The OIA serves no purpose and is utterly toothless. If you are considering using them for a complaint I suggest you do not waste your time. They will ultimately support the university (in this case Manchester), even when the evidence is overwhelming that the student has been disadvantaged by their processes.

They were completely biased in favour of the university and brushed over key evidence of my discrimination case. Wish I hadn’t wasted my time!

It took me time to decide to write this review but, WOW - I'm truly shocked and saddened by the sheer number of bad, in fact, profoundly awful reviews. Having had a bad experience myself, having witnessed and been subjected to overtly unfair, manipulative and deceitful dealings by the university in question and by the OIA staff member dealing with my case, I'm sincerely shocked that such an organisation can be allowed to continue to cause such harm and neglect and to do so 'under the radar'. The people working here, specifically those to whom these poor reviews are directed, indeed responsible for, should really be ashamed of themselves and should certainly not consider themselves worthy of being part of the 'average' upstanding and honourable members of the labour market. Shame on you!!! Final note: the management team really have a lot to answer for, shame on you.

This is absolutely horrible office. They dealt with my issue from 2000-2024, as if I was just some kind of a hamster for them, running in circles. I had four case handlers, some adjunct managers…and I am not sure how many other stuff dealt with me! I feel that the students are like animals living in ZOO for them - they observe you, write down each of your insignificant disagreement with them, and than they twist everything in a way that it makes you speechless. Their behaviour seems criminal, they even force student who is sick to respond, and they have zero empathy or compassion to the fact that person who suffers with acute sickness might not be able to do so. Their responses demonstrate that they are unable to even understand the question of a person, or the issue they are pointing at. Very abusive behaviour, which is based on lies and total foolishness. Their manners do not belong to the first world - they lack dignity, grace and justice. By mistreating and misjudging students they harm themselves. Avoid those fools, they are not worth a second of your time.

⚠️ WARNING….⚠️WARNING….⚠️WARNING….

If you are reading this after the fact, then there is no doubt that you have unfortunately, like so many of us here, have fallen victim to the shady practices of the OIA, and so therefore sadly, it’s already too late for you!!….BUT if by some divine intervention you are reading all these genuine and heartfelt reviews BEFORE the fact, you have a chance!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, Listen VERY CAREFULLY…… STOP all dealings with this company asap, really think about it, listen to your gut right now and what it’s telling you before it’s too late, save yourself the heartache, the time and your self respect and dignity! THERE IS NO WAY ON THIS GODS LIVING EARTH you will ever get the justice you deserve from these people, trust me, trust us all here!! Go away and seek it in the courts or any other way!
EVEN if it’s proven by themselves and the university and it’s all written down in black & white and put in front of their faces that the university is in breach of their policies and procedures and even the law in some instances, the OIA will ONLY serve to help the universities by covering up their unlawful conducts/practices!
Basically, even if the universities throw their hands up in the air and admits to wrong doing, you will find that the OIA will, without any doubt, unapologetically and intentionally down play the unlawful practices committed by the universities. They are both in tandem with each other, (you scratch my back and I will scratch yours), you will have no chance of receiving the Justice you deserve from the universities. NO CHANCE. FULL STOP. No matter how much evidence you provide, no matter how much breach of practices has been proven by themselves even, no matter what your situation, 9/10 you will end your journey in their fully equipped and specially designed train wreak at the end.

PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF….SEEK OUT THE JUSTICE YOU DESERVE IN COURT or by any other ways and means! Just do yourself a really big favour and listen to what your gut is telling you right now having read all these reviews.

As with all the other people here, for whom I can sympathise with, I know first hand all the humiliation and hurt and condemnation this BOGUS and UNLAWFUL company causes people who are initially vulnerable and in need of help in the first place. Instead of all the false hope they provide you with whilst boarding the OIA train!
you will ‘guaranteed’, Instead of finding justice at the end of your journey, you will be recovering from a massive OIA induced train wreck, that can take as long as a good few months OR even a year+ like in my case and some others here!

This company NEEDS INVESTIGATING and BRINGING TO JUSTICE asap.

God if your listening….I pray for their national exposure very soon!

To state that I’m completely and utterly appalled with this organisation and it’s complaints process is frankly a gross understatement.

Having taken over 6 months to progress an institutional complaint with a FHE Provider I had reasonably expected the evidence of my case to be properly adjudicated on referral to the OIAHE, however, nothing could be further from the truth.

From the outset communication was detrimental and included excessive and inexplicable delays with correspondences summarily ignored and/or unanswered. A distinct lack of information was conveyed at practically all relevant stages, moreover there was no explicit clarity regarding the conduct of the complaint process and/or commensurate timescales.

I literally had no idea how and by whom this complaint was being addressed and indeed progressed for a period of almost 6 calendar months, which, by any referent standards might be construed as unprofessional, if not completely unfeasible.

Despite having legitimate grounds to initially raise and subsequently pursue a formal complaint, the quotient of relevant points was effectively deferred, degraded, denied and dismissed at each respective stage. In terms of the substance of pertinent enquiries, aspects of the complaint minutiae were patently overlooked and/or disregarded, others were unduly mitigated without reference to institutional policy and procedure, those that were considered to be admissible were either disabused or otherwise treated as being irrelevant.

The OIAHE actually flouted it’s own guidelines throughout the complaint process without furnishing any adequate explanation as to the reasons for this to be appropriate and/or warranted with respect to the situation and/or the circumstances. Such actions are clearly preposterous, moreover they are totally unacceptable.

Each of the above issues comprised not only blatant dereliction of stated procedure(s) but patently constituted inappropriate standards of complaint handling throughout, which is both disgraceful and scandalous.

I’m not convinced that the OIAHE exercised due diligence to any degree, nor am I inclined to surmise that it operated in any manner that might be regarded as either fair or just. My case was not reviewed properly or thoroughly at any stage of the complaints procedure nor was it adequately ‘adjudicated’. Instead the complaint that I had raised was repudiated by the very organisation responsible for reviewing it, which was, to say the least, extremely disconcerting.

Due to the fact that this organisation is funded directly by financial contributions from FHE Providers one might be disposed to readily question how ‘independent’ it might be, moreover to interrogate the very nature of it’s integral practices, which lack application and scrutiny.

The fact that this entire matter took far in excess of a calendar year to progress through each stage of a complaints system is ridiculous, however, given that both its material points and it’s handling exacerbated outstanding health issues in my own particular case it’s effects are altogether more serious.

My right to refer this matter to the Information Ombudsman and/or to prepare a case for judicial review based on counsel from legal representatives notwithstanding, any further actions would have likely resulted in my own unwarranted incapacity. Consequently the dictates of circumstance have necessitated my withdrawal from a study programme on which I had already been engaged for over a year at considerable inconvenience and expense not to mention being deleterious to my health and well-being. This has genuinely been one of the worst experiences of my entire 30 year career and I have no reservation whatsoever in stating it.

I have no confidence in this organisation, nor am I in any conceivable position to either recommend or endorse it. In my professional opinion it is hopelessly unfit for its stated and intended purpose(s) and should be expeditiously indicted as a matter of urgent priority.

I would duly express sincere concerns towards anybody engaged in the FHE sector to be bound by this organisation in direct relation to their conduct and practices. Indeed, I echo the sentiments of those who are calling for it to be urgently and fully investigated, commensurate with legal effect(s) and regulatory procedure(s), to be made effective immediately.

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DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND EFFORT WITH THESE GUYS.
I wish I could give 0 or minus stars if it were possible!
I submitted an appeal with my younger brother and despite numerous evidence they do just regurgitate the universities initial decision. Even when they come back to you, their reasoning makes no sense.
I wish I read everyone else's reviews first but tbh what options do you have. We should all file a formal complain against the OIA. Not everyone can afford JR it is a very expensive process even the initial part adds up. We have no option now , except to explore that. Luckily we are still within the time limit.

I complaint against bpp for over a year ago as they were pushing to go for OIA and not to go to JR, so I forwarded my complaint to OIA with a hope that OIA will support my stance, and the worst they will do is to just not to behave like university, but after whole year of struggle, evidences, and so much documentation they just copied the same decision as uni
OIA having very good way of neglecting you and wasting time in step by steps as following
1- their initial associate/caseworker/trainee will pretend to be kind to student as she/he genuinely going to help by asking uni to provide all listed docs and cc me to make me aware, yes she’s working on it (and hopefully will be in our favour) but guess what, after 6-8 weeks she/he Will push you to close the case,
2- but if you denied, it’ll be referred to junior adjudicator, junior would do exactly same as trainee and close the case after 6-8 weeks pretending asking few questions and requesting docs from uni etc but will stick to her trainee decision.
3- they even didn’t bothered to tell me the case was closed until I tried to login and login was failed I had to call them to reset login and find out it was closed
From start to finished they wasted almost 12 months so its difficult to go for JR,

People just go directly to JR instead of wasting time OIA is getting paid by uni to waste students times

Thanks

Don’t bother with OIA they will over look all the evidence against university, they will ask you if you have anything you want to ask university and then wont even pursue that not sure what the director or people running this so called “charity” are doing. They are just BIASED, will copy paste everything that the university have said, when you try and challenge them, ask them to reopen it, they wont even bother, it’s like they keep pushing or crushing people and their hopes like it’s alright and that there are no consequences to them or their behaviour. I just hope someone somewhere within OIA see and hears the voices of so many people questioning and challenge the same behaviour by OIA Staff.

I mean as a organisation you should be concerned if not one but many people are criticising the same behaviour are you doing anything about it?

As a Student representative OIA should be ashamed of themselves for not providing a fair assessment!

Please, don’t go to OIA. They are time wasters!! OIA will cause mental stress!! OIA is no help!! OIA needs to reform otherwise it’s just a charity of these big universities and it’s not a fair for students!!

OIA is unjust!

You are no independent reviewer you are bunch of puppets that rely on university funding and crush the hope of many students. Nobody should go through what us students are going through because of you and your incompetency dealing with our cases independently. The OIA proudly say “We review unresolved complaints” well they don’t because it wasn’t resolved by the university that’s why we came to you and you just wasted our time, energy and resources and caused a lot of grief… should have listen to trust pilot review you are biased towards university you don’t learn you are just in the business to make numbers and don’t give a fair chance to those seeking your help. You should be shameful about it once in a lifetime everyone is a student had any of you been through what we have been through you would have had a lot of sympathy towards student who genuinely need your help.

What’s the point of having an appeals section if you’re not going to look at appeals at a case by case basis and just going to shut down the student! As it is life is tough, but losing hope is so much more and these guys get away with it and that too without any consequences. Feels like nobody is listening, or being helpful.

PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF AND DON’T GO TO OIA.

One of the most unreliable, fraud organisation.

I thought I was going crazy until reading these reviews and finding out I was not the only one. The OIA basically just take your case file and paste exactly what your university concluded, even if you have already seen the case file and addressed glaringly obvious issues with the university's decision making during its internal process. They offer nothing unique in their review contrary to what they say.

They clearly do this because they want to protect the university from revising their original decision, and so are given a remit to put your case against you as much as possible by ignoring its merits or your point of view. Even if you meet the caseworker with a student advisor calling the university's processes out it still makes no difference. Surprised nothing has yet been done to make them fold, waste of time/funding.

After deliberating over a recent response (to a formal SAR) from a college principal, I think the failures of the OIA a couple of years ago have led to some risks, as I perceive them, for students. I raised a concern about an individual in a department at the college. The OIA were not helpful. I asked for a recording of a telephone conversation between a member of their team and someone at the learning centre. I detected laughter and I knew they were treating my complaint carelessly. They tried to convince me they had not laughed - but I heard them. When you consider the type of issue I raised, and the fact the individual who bullied me is still employed within the college, still being referred to for a discussion about personal data as if he was "safe", with potential to affect another student ... well.

Shouldn't be a legal aid site to begin with. I've reached out and written to them one too many times, and they never got back to me- despite the 2 day response frame they promise, it is a complete lie! I initially wrote to them on January, it's been months and nothing. I then wrote to them again in April, then once more in May, yet nothing! GOV UK should take this site down from their website, I'm sure that many people like myself require urgent support on matters that can only be taken forward through such organisations. This organisation however should not be the place to go for legal aid from my experience. Will only change my mind and review once they prove me wrong.

I, like many, have had terrible experiences with the OIA who are completely unaccountable except for by the one in a zillion student who has a spare few £100k for judicial review. My case has been troubling, recent cases are extremely troubling, historical cases are troubling, as are judgements by extremely corrupted or misguided judges in certain cases. We have set up an organisation to watch the watchdog called OIA Watch, and we are a group of citizens/residents who will be watching every move this organisation make. We are going to be gathering case reports from disgruntled students, keeping track of biased judgments, and any other misconduct, and building to a class action lawsuit if necessary. To get in touch with us email reporttheoia at gmail.com or come to our twitter page which is @WatchOIA

Phoned this morning to resister a complaint was told I have to wait for 3 months or more and each stage. Said it’s coming up to three months, was told go via the students Union or get someone else to help… whet a Joke! Shoul be dissolved and get something more independent

Do not waste time with them, doesn't help the Students, University seems to have a power over OIA, Waiting about 6 months to resolve my case withdrawal from University , I just hoped to register for exams and nothing works , this option is very simple to register but they just want to sleep , no encouragement , nothing.

After reading these reviews I am concerned. I have just received my COP letter from my University. Therefore, I promptly made a quick call to the OIA in regard to my complaint and they were rude and unhelpful. I have not filed the complaint with them as of yet therefore I am mindful of the need to go down the civil route. Thank goodness I came across these reviews.