Can anyone advise please

[AngelicInnocent]

Dd is just finishing her first year at university.

During the year, she has developed a medical condition which means she can no longer do her original degree.

She has chosen a different degree where this will not be an issue and she has the grades for it. Unfortunately though, even though they advised her she could no longer continue her original degree, no one will help her to change it.

After 6 weeks of emails asking for help, her course leader has told her to come back in September as if she is resitting the year and ask to change course then. No reply to emails asking if that will definitely be possible, what if the new course is full.

Her tutor says sign up to ucas again and apply through clearing. No reply to any questions there either.

No one seems to be able to tell her who the course leader is for her new degree. Different department so they just say they don't know.

Does anybody in the know have any suggestions or advice please?

Changed username as a couple of family members are on here and they are the gossipy sort.

She needs to contact the new department herself. It shouldn’t be necessary to go through UCAS, it would just be a course transfer if the new department agrees, but she needs to initiate the request. If she can’t see who the course director is, she should contact the (new) departmental administrator and ask them.

I would suggest contact the university's admissions team. My dd was looking to transfer at the end of Y1. Although she had discussions with the course leader, it was admissions that advised her on the procedure to follow.

I'd probably try student services. If they're not the right people to ask, they should at least be able to point her in the right direction.

As previous posters have suggested - student services/Registry department would be good place to start - less so with admissions, she isn’t an ‘applicant’ she’s a registered student looking to transfer and may be able to transfer some credit from her 1st year etc. If you don’t get a clear answer submit a formal complaint.

Thank you all. I shall pass this on. As always, there is always someone on mumsnet who knows.

@AngelicInnocent

Thank you all. I shall pass this on. As always, there is always someone on mumsnet who knows.

But it really shouldn't be down to MN. Why on earth is the personal tutor not passing on the right info? If they don't know, they should find out.

Different department so they just say they don't know.

Has she spoken to that department? If a student wanted to swap whole degrees and asked me, I’d have no idea - I’d refer her on to the department she wants to move to. Common sense, really

At the Uni I work at, students can log into their online account and initiate a course change request themselves, it would then go through to the School/Dept the student wanted to transfer to, for them to review and approve (or reject!).

If the student wanted to discuss it with someone before submitting a request, they would be directed to the Programme Director for the new programme.

She has spoken to the course leader for the degree she is looking to change to and got a response today directing her to the admissions office. They have asked her to put it all in writing to them so they can see what they can do.

Unfortunately, the delays mean that offers have already gone to students for next year but the new course leader thinks there may be places still available.

I don't know why she'd have to go through admissions. At our uni it would be an internal course transfer request via student portal which would trigger notification to both old and new course leader, and our student records administrators. It would be up to the new course leader to agree to the transfer or not. Usually I would invite student in for a chat or do it via teams. Then you just approve the request or reject it. Old course leader also has to agree.

I honestly have no idea. I'm just so relieved that someone is actually trying to sort it out after the way the old course leader and tutor have been so unhelpful.

It doesn't help that she can't see them in person, it's a lot easier to ignore an email than it would be to ignore someone face to face.