If you wish to make a complaint regarding your course - because you feel dissatisfied about certain elements or decisions, or have grievances with staff members - then you will need to follow the College's grievance procedure.

Your Personal Tutor should be your first point of contact when lodging a complaint. It is important that you identify your 'issue' as a genuine complaint early on. Remember, as a student you have the right to make a complaint, and it is your Personal Tutor's role to initiate the complaints procedure and to support you through it.

The College's grievance procedure is divided into two parts: internal and formal. The internal procedure must be completed before you move on to the formal procedure.

1. Consider whether you can resolve the matter informally; is it just a matter of communication between yourself and the concerned parties?
   
   
2. If the complaint is complicated then you should write to the Senior Tutor of your department clearly outlining
   
   
   • how your present situation has come about;
   • why you are dissatisfied; and
   • what you would like the department to do.
   
   Copies should be forwarded to any people specifically named in the letter. Your Senior Tutor will pass the matter on to be investigated by the appropriate person depending on the nature of the complaint. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of this investigation then the letter should be forwarded on to your Head of School using the same format as above, and including an outline of why the Head of Department has been unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.
   
   
3. If the Head of School is unable to resolve the matter, or you are still dissatisfied with the outcome, then the matter becomes a College issue and the formal grievance procedure is invoked.

A new complaint letter, noting the grievances and detailing that the School complaint procedures have been exhausted, and all relevant paper work, and names of parties involved, should be posted to the Principle, who in turn will forward it to the Academic Registry to investigate. You will then be contacted by the Academic Registry outlining what they have decided to do.

The KCLSU Academic Advice Service offers advice concerning any stage of the complaints process. Advice is given to students on the different stages of the procedure,editing complaint letters, and representation.