Certificate Sent In Error

[mssiah]

What does the law say.I am in debt to a scottish university.Because of a clerical error .I was mistakenLY alllowed to graduate .The university has just discovered it.and has informed me I can use the certificate but they will not provide any reference fOR me.

[GlasweJen]

no one is obliged to provide a reference for anyone I'm afraid.

[tiglet]

They would actually ahve to provide the reference, but it might only be on the lines of "this person attanedd on such and such a date".

I wouldn't worry about it, to be honest. you ahve your certificate and if you have a tutor you got on well with, they can provide a personal reference.

[GlasweJen]

yes sorry you're right tiglet. I wrote that post in a hurry, what I meant was pretty much what you said, they can provide a basic reference but they don't have to provide a "proper" reference.

Something my university is doing to prevent personal references is refusing to allow any references not requested through registry services. Lecturers are not being allowed to write a reference unless the student has filled in the form to allow the lecturer to write about them and send it on to another company and RS has control over who gets a reference request form. Registry services say this is so that they have a record of who says what about students so that they can comply better with the data protection act (not sure how true this is though).

You could always negotiate, would they give a reference if you were paying towards your debt in regular installments?

[mssiah]

Thanks,

Am working toward paying the debt and have discussed with the University about this.

I wish to know ,is an international student debt add to his credit history or report.

Does anyone have an idea.

[mssiah]

How can invoke a Data Protection act for information from the university.

Does anyone have an idea on what kind of information I am allowed to ask for.if possible a template.

[tiglet]

1. Data Protection Act, Subject Access Request letter - List of charges

Basically, amend it to suit your situation and they should supply everything they hold on file for you for the last six years.

[mssiah]

THE Data Protection Act you sent me is for a bank.

I was asking for draft to be sent to university.Why I asked is because I am not clear with what information I am allowed to ask a university to provide.

[tiglet]

Any information they hold on you, basically, which is why I suggested amending for your situation.

[mssiah]

Thanks a lot

[Hippy-chick]

Originally Posted by Jenschnifer

Something my university is doing to prevent personal references is refusing to allow any references not requested through registry services. Lecturers are not being allowed to write a reference unless the student has filled in the form to allow the lecturer to write about them and send it on to another company and RS has control over who gets a reference request form. Registry services say this is so that they have a record of who says what about students so that they can comply better with the data protection act (not sure how true this is though).

Wow!

I think it depends on your university then. At mine we frequently provide references for past students without going through Registry.

I guess they have a point about the Data Protection Act, but I suspect this is more an attempt at justification of the practice rather than the reason for it.

HC

[GlasweJen]

Allegedly something happened in the past and a student blamed a lecturer for her not getting a job because of a bad reference. The reference was found and it turned out to be a good one, (she just never got the job as she wasn't suited) and registry brought in the new rules to protect lecturers from this type of allegation again (I think the girl was trying to sue the lecturer using libel laws).

[Conniff]

A reference can be refused, but a 'bad' reference is not allowed.

[tiglet]

That was what I was thinking of.

[Conniff]

Of course a refusal could be construde by a prospective employer to have the same meaning as if a bad reference had been given.

[Goldlady]

I have to say that after typing a dissertation for a student many years ago he refused to pay the full bill, after already bartering the price down - no further comment on that to prevent moderation - I found out that if I contacted the University they would refuse to give his doctorate until he paid me - which was indeed the case.

I have given what are called factual references for dodgy people - ie - yes the person did work here between x date and y date. I think a lot of big firms do it now to prevent any potential litigation rather than because they had a problem with the person.

[Hippy-chick]

Originally Posted by Goldlady

I have given what are called factual references for dodgy people - ie - yes the person did work here between x date and y date. I think a lot of big firms do it now to prevent any potential litigation rather than because they had a problem with the person.

Yes. I've done that in the past. My fave was one of my previous line managers who had to write a reference for a really hopeless ex-employee. He wrote it by saying that "X believed himself to be..."

Is it against the law to give a bad reference? Or is it just not done because of a worry about litigation? I do hope the latter. As, if somebody is not good at their job it should be possible to state this.