A pre-action letter over the loan clawback
Universities have issued a pre-action letter over the withdrawal of maintenance loans from weekend students, with one institution saying the decision has punished the most vulnerable people in the system. A pre-action letter is the step before a judicial review, and it means the question of whether 22,000 students must repay is now heading back towards the courts rather than being settled by demand letters.
£270,000 fine over physics papers sent to 14,000 students
Ofqual has fined Cambridge OCR £270,000 after AS and A-level physics materials containing errors reached more than 14,000 students, affecting some grades. If you sat those papers and your grade was affected, awarding bodies have review and appeal routes, and a university holding your offer can be told an appeal is under way.
Getting scholars out of conflict zones, after the visa
A Chevening alumnus who arrived from Afghanistan in 2021 sets out what happens after the visa is granted — recognition of qualifications, finding funding, and rebuilding a career from nothing. It is written about academics and applies to students: the visa is the start of the problem rather than the end of it.