Complaints welcome

Helen Megarry explains how complaints can offer learning opportunities for higher education providers

I joined the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for higher education in 2023, bringing more than 25 years of experience working with complaints. Sectors vary—and so do the ways in which complaints arise—but how complaints are handled and the issues they expose are often similar.

Organisations with a profit motive sometimes take a more open approach than those supplying public services. Chasing sales or customers brings a clear imperative to improve service for those customers and to reduce waste to increase profit. Complaints are feedback on customer experience and provide insight that can be used for improvement.