{"id":76848,"date":"2016-12-05T10:04:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T10:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=c15fb42ef267ef27f8fd23b2a5f584c9"},"modified":"2016-12-05T10:04:07","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T10:04:07","slug":"press-release-university-of-glasgow-agrees-new-approach-for-students-in-debt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=76848","title":{"rendered":"Press release: University of Glasgow agrees new approach for students in debt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA<\/abbr>) has welcomed the university\u2019s undertaking<\/a> to change a contractual term that, in the CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s view, could unfairly prevent students from re-enrolling or graduating if they owe non-tuition fee debts, such as unpaid accommodation or library fees.<\/p>\n

The CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s investigation found evidence that the university had written to students threatening to prevent, and in some cases then blocking, their re-enrolment until the non-tuition fee debts had been paid. This even applied to relatively small debts, which only needed to be above \u00a325.<\/p>\n

Gordon Ashworth, Director of Consumer Enforcement, said:<\/p>\n

\n

As a result of a change in personal circumstances, students may get into debt. Whilst it\u2019s right that universities are able to recover legitimate debts owed to them, they should do so in a way that is fair and proportionate. Students shouldn\u2019t be prevented from graduating or re-enrolling for the following year\u2019s study because they owe money for non-tuition fee debts, like accommodation or library arrears.<\/p>\n

We welcome the University of Glasgow\u2019s co-operation and constructive engagement with the CMA<\/abbr>. We are also grateful to the Glasgow University Students Representative Council for their assistance with this case. The CMA<\/abbr> expects all universities to comply with consumer law by giving students accurate and timely information about their courses, treating them fairly, and enabling them to complain if things go wrong.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The CMA<\/abbr> published advice<\/a> for higher education providers on how to comply with consumer protection law in March 2015, as well as complementary advice on consumer rights for students.<\/p>\n

Following that work, the CMA<\/abbr> undertook a compliance review and published the results in July 2016. The CMA<\/abbr> has secured commitments from five universities, including the University of Glasgow. Further information about the compliance review and the action taken to date against universities, is on the case page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Notes for editors<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    The CMA<\/abbr> is the UK\u2019s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. For more information on the CMA<\/abbr> see our homepage<\/a> or follow us on Twitter @CMAgovuk<\/a>, Flickr<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a> and like our Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    The CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s advice to the sector cited the compliance work previously undertaken by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), in February 2014, on use of academic sanctions for non-tuition fee debts<\/a>. The relevant pieces of consumer protection legislation considered in this context are the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (the UTCCRs), Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which replaces the UTCCRs, which applies to contracts entered into, and relevant notices communicated, on or after 1 October 2015, and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Whilst the University of Glasgow has agreed with the CMA<\/abbr> to make changes to its previous terms and practices, it does not consider that its previous terms, student debt policy or past conduct was in breach of consumer protection law.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    The final decision on whether or not a term or practice infringes the law rests with the courts and no such finding has been made in this case.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Enquiries should be directed to Simon Belgard (simon.belgard@cma.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>, 020 3738 6472).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Glasgow University will not prevent students from graduating or re-enrolling because of non-tuition fee debts, following CMA intervention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}