OIAArvostelua 

NOT fit for purpose. The following is important information that you NEED to be aware of:

Take home point: (Contrary to popular belief) They DO NOT ensure that Universities follow their own policy.

Many people understand that the OIA does not make decisions about whether a University was fair in the decision reached by a disciplinary panel, but incorrectly believe that the OIA will ensure that a University follows their own internal policies.

I found this to be INCORRECT in my case.

I was studying for a PhD at The University of Manchester, which I finished. I then submitted my thesis. The University then held a disciplinary case against me because I disagreed that a transgender man is the same as a woman. The University considers this opinion to be “offensive” and “in violation” of their Diversity and Equality policy(s).

The University punished me by refusing to assess my thesis. I was not expelled from the University, however at the end of the year my registration ended and I did not have the degree award which I should have received. I invested nearly 5 years of my time in my PhD program, time that I could have spent earning in the private sector. This has lead to an effective financial loss of earnings of around £200,000, to date.

I knew that the OIA was unlikely to rule that the University policies were absurd and therefore the decision reached should be overturned on this basis. However the University has two further policies which were important in my case:

1: The University of Manchester policy states that in cases where there is a disciplinary proceeding, and the student is required to exit the University (registration ends at the end of the academic year, not permitted to re-register for another year) then the student shall be eligible for the highest possible relevant award from the University. In my case, this was clearly the award of PhD, however both the OIA and University ignored this.

2: Additionally, there exists a Freedom of Speech and Expression policy, which makes it very clear that members of the University must tolerate views which they find “unconscionable” and “offensive”. This policy has effectively been nullified by the contradictory Equality and Diversity Policy which now seems to take precedent. The University is now against Freedom of Speech. The OIA did not make any mention of this in their case summary.

The case summary was a whitewash. I was sent a short letter less than 1 page in length stating that my case was “not valid”. I had submitted an appeal to the OIA in the form of a 25 page letter detailing numerous examples of cases law in support of my case, which I worked with one of the top barristers in the country to draft. The response by the OIA did not address any of these issues.

The case handlers, who I communicated with via email, presented their “pronouns” in their email signatures, indicating their allegiance to the transgender political cause. This was a very clear indication that the case handlers were unlikely to be neutral in my case.

I do not believe that the OIA is a neutral body but exists to ensure the prevailing political bias which already exists within our Universities continues and is intensified.

I hope that the information provided here will help you reach a decision about whether to approach the OIA for help.

My advice would be the following: Unless you have a very clear instance of the University violating their own policies (which I did) then don’t bother. Even if you do have a very clear instance of the University violating their own policies, if you are not politically “woke” I would suggest you are unlikely to achieve a positive result. As a “straight white Christian male” I was already a leper within the University, and it appears to be the case that the OIA is run by and funded by Universities.

Do be aware that my barrister advised me if you wish to take legal action in the courts against a University, then you will likely need to go to the OIA first. But consult your legal council regarding this as there are short time limits by which you must file your case in court.

My expenditure on this case has exceeded £6000 thus far. It will likely cost a similar amount if you seek legal representation to file a case with the OIA.

End.

I reiterate all the other negative comments made about the OIAHE. This organisation is not fit for purpose and should be revoked urgently and a proper organisation installed in its place.
The OIA Management team have no oversight over their staff, resulting in poor performance and incompetence. My experience is that the OIA sided with the university, the organisation is a farce, there is no organisation to monitor their performance, even when you prove that the University has broken its own policies the OIA excuses them, they take the university mistruths and excuses at face value; the OIA warrant a 0 rating.
The OIA are totally on the side of the university and biased against the student.

The OIA had asked the uni for £500 compensation and an apology but aren't fit for purpose.

Clearly underfunded as I had to wait months just for my case to be assigned to someone. They didn't look at all of the issues only three of them. In the end, whilst the OIA said they would get back to me in a week in regards of changing the results, now it's over a month and still no reply despite several emails. I have been told to 'move on' after what had happened to me, and that they view the case as 'over' - but still reply to my email??? Are you not getting paid for this job?

I wouldn't recommend going to the OIA unless you are prepared to deal with the case for months and months - very draining. Just be careful with the uni you choose to attend. And remember to get some psychiatric support.

would give zero stars if I could. extremely biased on the side of the university. their fees are paid for by universities which is a clear financial conflict of interest with regards to impartiality. case staff are unprofessional and will dismiss claims on smallest grounds. total waste of time - if you can afford it you're better off suing the university directly in civil/discrimination court. quick search will show majority of reviews online are 1 star. terrible customer service.

Absolute waste of time. They are biased and corrupt in taking the side of the University. Despite clear evidence to show that the university were at fault the case worker still sided with the Uni with no reason or to justification to why. Not only did we complain about the outcome but the appeal was passed to the same caseworker who we were not happy with, to review. It’s like being given your own work back to mark. Obviously the outcome would be same as that would be like admitting they were wrong in the first place Even the reasons they provided are empty, no context or reason. Cannot believe they claim they are an independent body as this clearly is not the case. Don’t waste your time they are not impartial.

The O.I.A wasted over a year of my life, supposedly investigating my complaint. They never really investigated properly and they ignored evidence that I had submitted repeatedly.

One of the case workers I spoke to actually said that if the provider (university) said that they had done something then the O.I.A wouldn't investigate, they would take their word for it. This makes them totally useless.

They purport to run an evidence based system and yet the provider does not need to evidence their claims and the student needs concrete evidence to have theirs even considered. However, even if you do have evidence ther is no guarentee the O.I.A will look at it.

They repeatedly told me they could find no evidence of the provider breaking promises made to me during the course of my complaint, despite the fact that I had provided said evidence more than once. They even used this lack of evidence to support terminating my case and when I finally got them to grudgingly accept that I had provided this evidence they told me that the particular promise that the provider had broken didnt affect me. As if it appropriate for them to arbitrarily decide what parts of an agreement made need to be honoured!

The logic they provided for terminating my case had been disproved so they changed their logic for terminating it! It is impossible to get anywhere since it appears that they had decided my complaint was not justified and worked backwards from there, rather than approching it with an open mind and studying the evidence properly.

Their conclusion also contained factual inaccuracies and stated that I had made claims that I never did - displying with clarity tht they had not understood the situation or the concerns I was raising.

I went on to make a formal complaint to the O.I.A about the way my case had been handled. I was told that they could only look at matters of proceedue and not the details of individual cases. I replied saying that ignoring evidence was a failure in their proceedure but my emails were ignored. Since the O.I.A cannot adequately deal with a formal complaint made about them, there is no hope that they can help you with a complaint involving a third party.

My advice to anyone who is considering usinf te O.I.A is to seek legal council. Sure it will cost you but you will get someone who is actually committed to helping you

This adjudicator takes side of the university and clearly has no understanding of mental health issues.

I had such band experience at my university and it has impacted my mental health/ self confidence severely and has held me back from progressing in the chosen field of study. In their final outcome they basically held myself responsible for everything even though they are aware of my mental health and learning difficulties throughout.

Please don't waste your time with this adjudicator, you can see from the rest of the reviews that they will always support the university over the students. Go private and avoid your time being wasted.

They are not fit for purpose, and cost me my master grade. They took the side of the university and clearly have no understanding of mental health issues.
We need an independent review of the oia by the government.

The OIA are bureaucratic and legalistic. They are biased in favour of the universities and will apply what is 'reasonable' when it comes to them but then enforce strict legalism on you when you try to bring up the reasonableness of a decision when looked at in the context.

This organisation is a total waste of time. I presented them a complaint with a solid evidence of contract breaches by the University, negligence evidence, personal injury evidence and this organisation produce a shocking review that they cannot see anything wrong with University actions. I believe this organisation should be defunded as it is repugnant and not useful and takes a side of the University. Reading their work is making my stomach get upset. I wasted extremely a lot of time with the University and only court actions can be effective. Do not trust any Universities in the UK. Use solicitors who are competent if you have money to solve problems with academia in the UK or avoid academia to save yourself time and protect your health. They do not care that they damage your health, subjugate you to harassment and mistreatment. For them all such actions are normal and reasonable as long as some academic is doing it. This organisation is a pathological construct. I am extremely angry having had such awful experiences at the University and later wasting time with the OIA. Totally disgusting experience. Since then I contact the MP and have solicitors working on my case and I will not leave the case in case of such creepy organisation. Totally disgusting organisation. It is several years of my life severely affected and the OIA did not see anything wrong with University actions.

Sadly do no not care about the welfare of Students in my experience.

They waste your time - promise the world, only to let you down, have students jumping through hoops in obtaining corroborating medical evidence at their own expense, only to refuse irrefutable medical evidence.

The OIA is paid by the Universities, therefore not impartial. How are you supposed to receive a fair impartial decision from an organisation on the payroll of the University?

They go through the motions of pretending to help Students, to be seen keeping up appearances. Unfortunately this is a smokescreen.

The OIA did everything in their power to minimise my complaint, whilst also doing everything they could to justify the university's actions.

I explained to them that my course did not have a lecturer which shouldn't take a genius to figure out is wrong. But the OIA highlighted that the university did take the time to provide me with a formal written apology, so apparently that makes it all okay.

It pretends it's there to help students, but really it's the university's get out of jail free card.

From the other reviews it's clear to see that this is an ongoing issue and I don't doubt that most of the good reviews are from their staff.

I look forward to the day this organisation gets publicly exposed for the scam that it is.

I must say when I initially applied for my complaint to be looked at by the OIA I did it with little to no faith due to angry mobs at student room and trust pilot.
Today I changed my mind as I was able to settle a long 3 years dispute with my previous university.
I believe that if your complaint really holds ground and you have evidence to back it up they will look at in a fair and unbiased manner.
It can be a long process but with my overall experience they are actually there to help.
My case handler was extremely helpful and even after my case was settled she looked at things with my best interests in mind.
I am eternally grateful for all the help provided.

This "organisation" is an absolute farce. They take (literally) years to respond, then do nothing. They are funded by the Universities they "investigate", so where is the "independant" part of their title?
I am currently raising a case against them for Discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, so let's see if that one appears on their website.

Mala calidad, pésimos!!! Mi experiencia fue desastrosa, se rompen con facilidad. Los compré y los recibí ayer y ya unos venía rotos. No los recomiendo

Please do not use this service it is a farce funded by
the same colleges/universities you are complaining about. You will not win as it is a system set up in favour of the learning provider. Trust my word I am an edcational examiner over 17 yrs and reviewed them in 2 cases.

Although they took lot of time to take over my case. Eventually they solved my problem. I got my refund back. Patience is the key. Thank you OIAHE

Looking at all the negative reviews all over the internet there is a common thread..BIAS. as they say, the man who pays the piper calls the tune. Please folks dont waste your time in complaining to these so called ADR facilitators, go direct to the county courts.

There's no real point in the OIA. All they do is check that the university has followed its own internal complaints procedure - that's it. They do not look at the merits of your complaint. If the university followed procedures, then your case is thrown out. They should be defunded.

I bought the oia skin anti wrinkle face patches. I ordered face-lift kit. But when it came I was missing a neck patch. However oia are sending me out another full kit. But for now I'm using the 5 face patches. Iv noticed a different but yes leaving them on and gradually working on face they don't do lip one so I make do with the smile and eye patch. It worked. I'm 49 with visable ageing. It's made a difference and I recommend using Oia skincare anti wrinkle skin patches. Also Soi do them cheap