Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 4.1 INTRODUCTION Jo Nuckley Student complaints can be a fantastic resource for people Head of Outreach & Insight at Of昀椀ce of the working to improve Black students’ experience within the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education 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 o昀昀er 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 o昀昀er 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 de昀椀ning 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 di昀케cult 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 COMPLAINTS to these questions. Much will depend on local context, who the & DATA 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. 4.1 Introduction 33 It is essential that, wherever students are living, they can easily 昀椀nd clear advice about how to seek help with a problem or 4.2 Recommendation 8 34 how to make a complaint. We hope the resources developed by the Commission, such as Dr Nick Cartwright’s excellent 4.3 Recommendation 9 36 EDI Data Maturity Framework, are a useful model for accommodation providers to develop their own materials 4.4 Case study: 38 for students and sta昀昀. University of Nottingham BACK TO CONTENTS 3232 33