Managing and Monitoring Student "Issues" in Higher Education: Introduction

Organizations regulating educational programs uniformly require the publication of procedures that inform students on how to submit complaints, grievances, or address other issues. Many regulating bodies, including programmatic accreditors, require programs to apply uniform processes and objectivity in the review and disposition of student grievances.

This article describes a formal system established by a large health professions college within a midsize urban university to manage and monitor trends with "student issues" (i.e., complaints, grievances, and appeals) and to teach students how to interpret academic policy and bring issues forward.

The system includes a) a philosophy for managing student issues; b) the designation of a single academic administrator, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, who works with students throughout the grievance process, including preparing documentation for the dean or provost for final disposition; c) clear, accessible policies describing student issues processes and procedures; and d) an annual summative report of all student issues.

This system and annual report informs academic administrators about possible changes needed to policies and procedures and encourages best practices in managing academic and student affairs. Seven years of data are presented. The tracking of grievances and complaints also makes data readily available for site evaluators during accreditation review of health professions programs in a university/college.