Number of students complaining about poor degree results is on the rise

Complaints to the university watchdog from students aggrieved by the marks they receive in their finals have shot up 32 per cent in a year.

It also emerged that payouts by universities rose five-fold between 2006 and 2007 after a surge in "group" actions from students complaining en masse about poor-quality courses or misleading marketing.

Last year, universities were forced to pay out £173,000 in compensation to students.

Challenges to universities which disciplined students over plagiarism accounted for 11 per cent of complaints – 66 cases.

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The figures will be outlined next week in the annual report of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

It will also show high numbers of complaints from overseas students who can struggle, having been accepted at universities despite having poor language skills.

The adjudicator, Dame Ruth Deech, will sound a warning that poor command of English lies behind many of the grievances from international students.

Dame Ruth said: "Students need to be properly prepared. Too many students are coming here whose language skills are not up to it.

"They are suffering from culture shock and have not been properly orientated."

Dame Ruth's report will show that her office handled 600 complaints last year – up 29 per cent from 465 in 2006.

But complaints concerning academic results were up 32 per cent, to 384.

Many of the aggrieved were mature students, with 64 per cent of all complainants aged over 25.

Twenty-six per cent of the 600 eligible complaints were upheld to some extent, up from 19 per cent in 2006.

Dame Ruth said familiarity with the adjudicator's procedures was partly the reason for the increase in complaints.

She added that a rise in the number of graduates had also led to increased competition for good degrees to catch the eye of potential employers.

She said: "The more graduates there are in the system, the more they feel they have to distinguish themselves from each other, so more of them complain if they get poor marks or don't get a 2.1 (upper-second).

"In the old days, if you had a degree, almost regardless of the level, you were 'a graduate'.

"Since then, graduates have become more commonplace. It is not enough to be a graduate – you need to be a good graduate."