R (Siborurema) v Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education [2007] EWCA Civ 1365, [2007] All ER (D) 329 (Dec)
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education is amenable to judicial review. Lord Justice Pill (at paras 53 and 54) said that the OIA is able, when deciding whether or not particular complaints are justified, to exercise a discretion in determining how to approach the particular complaint. It is entitled to operate on the basis that different complaints may require different approaches.
In assessing whether a complaint has been approached in a lawful manner, the court will have regard to the expertise of the OIA, which in turn should have regard to the expertise of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) in question.
The OIA is entitled in most cases, if it sees fit, to take the HEI’s regulations and procedures as a starting point and to consider, when assessing a complaint, whether they have been complied with. The OIA is empowered to comment upon the reasonableness of those regulations and procedures and to conduct its own investigation into the facts underlying the complaint.
However, the OIA is not under a general obligation to re-hear the merits of the case made to the HEI, although there may be cases in which a decision as to whether a complaint is justified requires that course to be taken.
