Seeking redress

It was irritating to find myself misquoted in the article "Students reject complaints code" (THES, July 2). The consequence of the misquotation should not be a distortion of a debate of central importance to us all.

My views are as follows. First, there is already an independent means of seeking redress, through the judicial system.

It is contradictory to argue, as the Quality Assurance Agency's draft code did, that there should be a system of independent review binding on both parties but preserving students' rights to seek redress through the law.

Second, the point on which I was misquoted was that senates and councils (or their equivalent) cannot evade their own responsibilities by passing them on to a third party.

Third, it is difficult to see how an external reviewer will be independent when, presumably, he or she is appointed by the senate or council in question and paid by the institution.

N. J. Andrew, Registrar and secretary, University of Bradford