Dyslexic student receives apology and £3.3K from Glasgow Uni after learning support failures

The University of Glasgow has made a pay out of more than £3,000 to a dyslexic student who claimed that her pleas for learning support were ignored by the institution.

26-year-old student Chloe Ritchie said that the institution was guilty of failing to make any reasonable adjustments to aid her coursework, despite her notifying them of her disability when she applied to study.

The master’s student has now been given a written apology on top of the four figure sum from the university after she lodged an official complaint, Glasgow Times reports.

Studying international law and security, Chloe said that her grades have been negatively impacted and that she will no longer pass the first term with a distinction.

Chloe , who was formally diagnosed with dyslexia when she was six years old, explained that she felt “stressed and anxious” about the whole affair, going on to say that “if the right support had been in place, I could have achieved better grades”.

After being pushed to breaking point by the mistake, Chloe also felt as though “something needs to change”. She said: “Things got so bad that I wanted to quit, and it really pushed me to the limit.

“I’ve spent so much time crying and worrying myself sick simply because my request wasn’t put in place for 12 weeks. I really thought I was going to fail everything and started to doubt myself”.

Chloe explained that she struggled with the course itself, despite the toll it was taking on her well-being.

Following her complaint, the university issued Chloe a written apology and a four figure payout. Chloe received a letter from the university’s Complaints Resolution Office which read:

“We acknowledge that the university did not provide you with the service you would expect due to the delay with making reasonable adjustments. Your complaint therefore has been upheld. As a gesture of goodwill, we will also arrange for a partial tuition fee refund, we will issue you with a payment equal to a third of your tuition fees. This will be in the form of a one-off payment of £3,333.”

The university also explained to Chloe that while it cannot adjust her marks, she will have the opportunity to resit coursework with adjustments in place.

“We are also aware that you feel you could have achieved better grades had reasonable adjustments been put in place earlier. While your marks cannot be adjusted, as the university’s regulations are clear that it is not possible, I have discussed this matter with the School of Law, and we can offer you the opportunity to resit your coursework for these classes with your adjustments in place.

Apologising for the inconvenience caused to Chloe, the letter from the university staff member wrote: “I am very sorry for the upset this experience has caused and do hope the above information has provided assurances of the actions taken to prevent this situation from recurring.”

“My hope is that in the future if someone asks for reasonable adjustments, they will have access straight away. If it wasn’t for my lecturer noticing mistakes in my written coursework and escalating my case to the university’s disability team, then I really don’t know where I’d be.”

Chloe received help three months after she started the course last September and says that she has already seen a positive change in her grades.

Speaking about the incident, a spokesperson for the University of Glasgow said: “The University of Glasgow is committed to promoting and implementing equality of opportunity in the learning, teaching, research and working environment. We do all we can to support our students to be effective learners and continually seek to improve.

“Our students are able to draw on the expertise of our disability advisers and IT professionals, along with a team of dedicated support workers. We are able to and do make bespoke adjustments to both teaching and assessments with the needs of our students in mind”.

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