Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 33 32 32 Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 COMPLAINTS & DATA 4.1 Introduction 33 4.2 Recommendation 8 34 4.3 Recommendation 9 36 4.4 Case study: 38 University of Nottingham Student complaints can be a fantastic resource for people working to improve Black students’ experience within the student accommodation sector: complaints are fundamentally a form of feedback. When students have taken the time and trouble to raise a concern, we should respect that engagement and understand it as an opportunity to take a fresh perspective. Taken individually, each complaint has the potential to offer learning from a student’s lived experience. Listening to what an individual student says can help us to identify practical steps that may improve the experience for everyone. Taken collectively, complaints offer us information about the prevalence and impact of an issue. Thorough analysis of the complaints that students make, and how those complaints have been resolved, should be a routine element in defining and evaluating success in the provision of accommodation for students. But learning from complaints is much harder if students do not bring their concerns forward. It can be difficult for students to know who can help with a problem, how and when to raise it, and what may happen when they do. There is no universal answer to these questions. Much will depend on local context, who the accommodation provider is, whether they follow the ANUK/Unipol Codes of Practice, or whether the issue is something that the university or college itself has some responsibility for. It is essential that, wherever students are living, they can easily find clear advice about how to seek help with a problem or how to make a complaint. We hope the resources developed by the Commission, such as Dr Nick Cartwright’s excellent EDI Data Maturity Framework , are a useful model for accommodation providers to develop their own materials for students and staff. 4.1 INTRODUCTION Jo Nuckley Head of Outreach & Insight at Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education