Nearly 20,000 students from across the United Kingdom have launched a multi-million-pound group legal action against UK universities after being charged full fees during COVID lockdowns and teaching strikes, claiming they received a sub-par educational experience during the disruptions.

Leading law firms Asserson and Harcus Parker are helping Student Group Claim members make their claims on a no-win, no-fee basis. If successful, students at university during the pandemic are estimated to win compensation of around £5,000 each, with international students potentially winning significantly more - something that could cost institutions huge sums of money.

In a statement, lawyers said: "During the Covid-19 pandemic and strike action by university staff (from 2018 onwards), universities across the UK breached their contracts with students, failing to provide them with in-person tuition by cancelling classes or moving them on-line and denying or severely restricting physical access to campus facilities like libraries, study spaces and labs."

“Like any other consumers, they deserved compensation when they received substantially less valuable services than those for which they paid," lawyers added. "Notwithstanding the significant cancellations and changes made during strikes and the pandemic, often for months on end, universities have largely failed to offer financial compensation to students.”

Lawyers added that in exchange for tuition fees, universities were contracted to provide in-person tuition, facilities and services to students, but from 2018 to 2022 there was “a material difference between what students paid for and what they actually received”.

Jowita Maniak, forensic science graduate says she is unable to find employment in forensics because she failed to gain any practical experience during her course. She told ITV: “I’m a Covid student and all my experience is from online learning and virtual crime scenes and virtual lab practicals. Unfortunately they won’t let someone like me onto real cases in real jobs”.

Former UCL  international politics student David Hamon told ITV: “There’s a reason online degrees are usually cheaper than in-person degrees. It’s because the experience is not equivalent, the tuition is not equivalent and the social experience is not equivalent - and because the costs are lower.”

Letters before claim have already been sent to 18 universities including University College London (UCL), London School of Economics (LSE), Kings College London and the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Warwick and Cardiff seeking damages on behalf of current and former students. 

The High Court will decide whether to issue a Group Litigation Order for the first group claim which is against University College London on 2nd February 2023. If this is successful, similar orders are likely to be made for the other student groups for litigation against their respective universities.

Announcing the action lawyers acting for students said: "No other service provider would get away with cancelling a service or replacing it with a lower-value substitute without offering a price reduction”.

"Access to state-of-the-art facilities and world-renowned in-person teaching are decisive factors when choosing a university. However, notwithstanding the significant cancellations and changes made during strikes and the pandemic, often for months on end, universities have largely failed to offer financial compensation to students."

They said students understood universities sometimes had to close campuses and could not necessarily stop lecturers going on strike. But students’ losses – disruption to courses and access to facilities – should fall on the shoulders of the universities, not the students.

Shimon Goldwater, solicitor to the Student Group Claim and a partner at Asserson said: “When you pay for a service, if you did not receive what you paid for, you deserve compensation. Universities promised students in-person tuition and access to facilities and other services in return for substantial fees”.

“During strike action and the pandemic they failed to provide this but still expected to be paid in full. Students have often taken out substantial loans to pay for a package of education and experiences which they did not receive. We want to ensure students get fair compensation for the disruption to their academic lives and their ruined university experience.”

Ryan Dunleavy, partner at Harcus Parker, added: “These universities are often huge, wealthy institutions that pushed the financial impact and burden of Covid and of their own staff striking onto their customers, the students”.

“Unlike the universities, a significant number of which increased their income over the pandemic period, those students largely survived on limited financial means and loans. Despite this, universities generally took few steps to compensate students for the subpar services they delivered in these periods."