SCDC is an internal body that was originally set up as a sub-committee by Senate under Regulation XVII to have strategic oversight of student discipline at the University.  SCDC is facilitated by the Advice and Response Team and Chaired by the Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students.  Membership of SCDC includes colleagues from across the University, both academic and Professional Services, and the Students' Union. Chairs of the University Disciplinary Panel are members of SCDC.    

SCDC meets three times per year and discusses developments affecting student discipline, case feedback and trends, policy queries and policy amendments and panel memberships.  

Though Advice and Response are the daily contacts for the student discipline procedural framework, ownership rests with SCDC.  However, SCDC does not have the power to amend Regulation XVII as ownership of this documents sits with Senate. 

SCDC is not to be confused with a disciplinary panel; SCDC does not make findings, not apply penalties, in individual student cases.

The OIA is an external ombudsman set up to consider student complaints.  

When a student reaches the end of the University's internal procedures about a particular matter, such as when they have exhausted the disciplinary appeals process, they will receive a Completion of Procedures letter.  Then, if a student remains dissatisfied with the outcome, they can use this letter to make a complaint to the OIA within 12 months of the letter.

Complaints are looked at from a documentary perspective.  The OIA will  collect the University's internal documentation about a case and review this against the student's complaint.  The OIA will then decide whether a case is Justified, Partly Justified or Not Justified.  In the case of the former two outcomes, this may result in recommendations for further action by a University, such as to reconsider a case internally.

The OIA have published a Good Practice Framework for handling various types of cases.  One of these relates to Disciplinary Procedures.  Though Universities set their own internal procedures for handling disciplinary cases, though these may diverge from the OIA's suggestions, they have been written in consideration of the Good Practice Framework.  

The Office for Students (OfS) is an external body which higher education providers need to be registered with to operate as providers.  The OfS sets various regulatory conditions of registration across various areas.  These include, as particularly relevant, to Advice and Response, Student Protection and Support (which covers sexual misconduct and harassment and mental health) and Freedom of Speech.

The Information Governance Office (IGO) is an internal team which sets the University's policies on information governance and handles Data Subject Access Requests (information about an individual) and Freedom of Information Requests (general data which does not identify an individual).  

The Advice and Response Team deal with many individuals, some of whom may submit one of the above requests.  Occasionally, external authorities may ask for information from the University too e.g. the police asking for information about a student.

All requests should first be submitted to the IGO who will review the requests, arrange for information to be collected and reply to the requesting person. 

Within Advice and Response, be mindful that anything written down about an individual may be disclosable to them, such as meeting notes, hearing notes, emails etc.  Similarly, any general data that we might hold may be discloseable; common requests include Report and Support and student discipline data. 

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) is an external independent charity working to benefit students and higher education, by maintaining and enhancing quality and standards. 

The QAA produces the Quality Code which sets out key principle to secure academic standards and assure and enhance quality.  

Within the 2024 Quality Code, of particular relevance to Advice and Response are:

• Principle 11 (Teaching, Learning and Assessment) - of note this includes the support we provide to students about Academic Integrity (which is a key case type within Conduct and Discipline)
• Principle 12 (Operating Concerns, Complaints and Appeals Processes) - these need to be robust, fair, transparent, accessible and clearly articulated to staff and students.

The University's internal Appeals, Complaints, Conduct and Discipline Network is open to any and all staff (PS or academic) involved in student casework in any way. This might include academic appeals, complaints, academic or non-academic misconduct. You may also find the network valuable if you advise or support students, or are involved in processes like mitigating circumstances.

Members are added to a Teams community and gain access to our SharePoint site - our hub of information for everything related to student casework, including training, toolkits, and other guidance. We host open meetings throughout the year and hold an annual conference on campus in July.

You can request access via this link or by emailing TLD-ACD@manchester.ac.uk and asking to join the ACCD Network.‌

The Student Support Network is open to all staff involved in providing student support.  The Network meets a few times a year and arranges for presentations on a variety of topics.  The Network is arranged by the Student Wellbeing Team (studentsupport@manchester.ac.uk) in Advice and Response. 

There is also a Teams channel, Wellbeing events across campus, which anyone is welcome to join.  Please request to join via the email address above.