Students launch legal challenge over ‘sub-par’ Covid-era education

Warwick has become one of 18 universities across the UK being sued by its students over the decline in education due to lockdown and pre-covid strike action. 

The organisation Student Group Claim is inviting any students who feel their education was negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic or by UCU strikes to sign up for the chance to gain as much as £5,000 in financial compensation.  

Ryan Dunleavy, a partner at one of the law firms working with the group, told BBC News that students had received “a sub-par service”. He stressed that he wasn’t “criticising” the universities for making the move to online education, but “we’re criticising that they charged full fees for this.” 

Many of the claimants are international students and students whose courses were supposed to include practical experience. Jowita Maniak, a forensic science graduate from UCL, complained that she was unable to find employment because her course had been moved online: “All my experience is from online learning and virtual crime scenes and virtual lab practicals… they won’t let someone like me onto real cases in real jobs.”  

Mikhail Ranjit, who studied law at Nottingham University as an international student, accused universities of “stringing [students] along”. He said that his course “wasn’t worth the money” as he would have got the same standard of education back home.  

The university advocacy organisation Universities UK has responded to the legal action with a statement, saying that they are “proud of how universities adapted” to the pandemic, but are “not able to comment on individual institutions or cases.”  

UCL, one of the universities being taken to court, has issued its own response, claiming to have provided “a high-quality academic experience” during the pandemic. 

Universities UK, an organisation representing around 140 universities, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic threw two years of unprecedented challenge at the higher education sector and our students, and we are proud of how universities adapted and managed in adverse circumstances. 

“During some periods of lockdown, universities were not permitted to offer teaching and learning as usual and instead universities adjusted quickly and creatively to ensure students could learn and graduate. 

“We are not able to comment on individual institutions or cases. Universities continually look to improve, and raise standards if students are not getting the learning opportunities they deserve.” 

The High Court will hear the students’ case in February 2023.