Two higher education providers have changed the terms and conditions in their student contracts after the Office for Students (OfS) referred concerns to National Trading Standards.
Terms that were considered to be unfair have now been removed or changed by Oxford Brookes University and Fairfield School of Business. Trading Standards advised the OfS that terms used by the providers caused a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of each provider and its students, which caused detriment to students. Some terms were not written in plain language, some were not transparent and others included payment terms that were not clear, as is required in law.
At Oxford Brookes University, the OfS identified terms and conditions in its enrolment contract with students that were likely to be unfair and to compromise their consumer rights. Some terms attempted to limit the university’s liability in scenarios which could reasonably be within the university’s control. The contract’s terms also offered students lower compensation than advised by the Competition and Markets Authority, and included other terms that allowed verbal or written agreements with students to be overridden by other documents, which seemed to limit the transparency and clarity of the information students received.
In response to advice from National Trading Standards, Oxford Brookes University has taken action to remove some terms and updated or narrowed others.
At Fairfield School of Business, the OfS had concerns about terms that attempted to limit the college’s liability and allowed specific documents to override any agreements made with students through other communications. Fairfield School of Business’ terms also failed to provide sufficient, up-front information about additional fees, used unreasonably wide discretion for alterations to course locations, delivery, and failed to bring terms that might be surprising or important to students – such as additional payments and interest added to late fee payments – to students’ attention.
In response to advice from National Trading Standards, Fairfield School of Business has removed some terms and amended others.
Speaking on the latest case reports, Susan Lapworth, chief executive of the OfS, said:
‘We are pleased to be accelerating our work with National Trading Standards to ensure better protection for students entering contractual agreements with universities. The case reports we’ve published today are testament to the value of this partnership.
‘It is important that both new and returning students know what to look out for in the terms of the contract they have with their university or college. We hope that these case reports – and those we’ve previously published – help students to understand what to check in their contracts and who to speak to about any concerns.
‘Universities and colleges should see these case reports as a reminder to review their terms and conditions for students and ensure that all language in contracts is clear and delivers the important protections set out in consumer law. We look forward to continuing our partnership with National Trading Standards and we will continue to refer cases where we have concerns that students’ consumer rights are at risk.’
Notes
- The case reports set out work the OfS and Trading Standards have done to ensure providers’ student contracts do not contain terms that could be deemed unfair or to affect students’ consumer rights. Only a court can determine whether consumer protection law has been breached.
- Read all our case reports, including our previous referrals to National Trading Standards.