Just turning to the always helpful & knowledgable folk on CL.
My wife did a 4 year degree course in a UK University College in the early 90s to obtain a professional degree (a First no less) in Environmental Health - so she could practise as an Environmental Health Officer (EHO). Now we are in Canada & she wants to become a Canadian EHO, to do this she has to obtain a license through a Canadian University here. The Canadian University needs to see the details of her UK course, modules, marks etc - basically a transcript of her degree. A transcript is an official document held by the University with the marks you have received for each module during your time at university, the credits you have received for passing each module, and your final grade if you have graduated.
So far so simple, in most cases you can apply to your university & obtain this. She could obtain the transcript & almost certainly obtain the Canadian license straight away. ie
http://shop.salford.ac.uk/browse/product.asp?catid=118&modid=1&compid=1However her University merged with a larger university in the mid-90s and for some reason certain student records were completely & utterly lost during the merger - including hers. So basically she cannot provide the transcript necessary for the Canadian institute to licence her to practise. Other than a degree certificate, all trace of her time & studies at the UK institution have simply vanished into thin air.
The Canadian University are telling her because she cannot provide the transcript she needs to go back & do a year of further training in a city, 600km from where we live.
Would we have a case against the now merged British University for negligence in losing the records - effectively preventing earnings & incurring extraordinary expenses if she wants to follow this route she is now forced down over here.
Comments
Being realistic, you could sue with little prospect of winning in my opinion and could wait five or so years for a verdict and spend thousands in the process, all to no avail. Equally, you might get a result, but I doubt that very much.
Unfortunately another example of useless 'public servants' falling down on the job. This affair must be very, very frustrating. Good luck in trying to resolve it
However you must be able to threaten them with litigation and hopefully they would at least stump up costs for the hassel and ongoing costs your wife if getting hit with.
Good luck
A list of the compulsory courses your wife had to take in order to get her degree. I am assuming that the UK University is not so incompetent that they have lost all their degree catalogues from that time. They could then confirm, in writing, that your wife, because she got a "first", must have earned grades in the high 60's to 70's in all of them.
Hopefully your wife didn't take a lot of elective courses. The University could at least provide a list of the courses available, and again point out that your wife had to get high grades in all of the courses she took in order to get a "first". Some universities won't give a "first" if a student failed a course. They could also confirm that, if possible, just as they can confirm that the records have been lost, and that it is their fault.
I spent a long time working for a university, and they are far more likely to look positively on a letter of the above kind sent directly from somebody high up in the UK university to somebody high up at your Canadian university.
I would suggest that you find out the names of the "decision makers" in Canada, and that you demand that the UK university does everything in their power to help you wife by sending a letter of the above kind. If they won't, then a "threatening letter" from a lawyer should do the trick, and also wouldn't cost a lot.
Good luck!
i did have a very similar problem myself, i needed some a level results and my school had turned into an academy and all records from the previous school had been binned. I got in touch with the education department of the council that it was in and they found all my results, exam boards and everything that i needed to then get in touch with the exam boards and get replacement certificates.
hope this helps
for example, if they are only obliged to keep records for say, seven years then unfortunately you are in difficulties.
any possibility another body could have a copy of the transcript?
Did your wife have to register or was automatically registered in a professional register or central body like the DFE for education? Might be worth digging further as to who the degrees are registered with. Good luck.
Very possibly yes....
This sounds like a case of pure economic loss.
First, your wife has suffered two losses - firstly of opportunity (as she cannot practice until she provides the correct documentation) and secondly would incur other expenses such as re-sitting exams, travelling, re-doing the course etc.
That means demonstrating that the loss was a result of negligence on behalf of the university. To establish a tort of negligence you would have to establish that a duty of care was owed by the defendant/that they have a responsibility to store this type of documenation, that there was a breach of that duty, then that there is a causal relationship between the breach of duty and the damage suffered and finally, damage to the claimant.
I agree that we need to establish whether they have a duty of care to maintain these records - you would have thought that with a degree which leads to certification to practise there would be extra responsibilities on the institution to maintain records from both the students perspective & the chartered institute's perspective (ie they need proof of qualifications).
Once again thanks - this site is a font of knowledge.