A group of post-graduate students has lodged an appeal with BPP, after the legal educator denied breaching its obligations during lockdown and refused to refund tuition fees.

Students on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the LPC master’s course have demanded a ‘full investigation’ into class sizes, timetabling, assessments and refunds – among other topics – in the wake of BPP’s response to their formal complaint.

Last month, BPP rebutted claims that it degraded the quality of teaching during lockdown and prioritised students with prestigious training contracts. It also defended its decision to charge students in London more for tuition, despite the fact all learning moved online during the lockdown.

However, students claim that BPP failed to provide an adequate legal defence of its position and has not addressed many of the issues they raised.

On course fees, students wrote: ‘Put simply, students pay different levels of tuition based on location, and therefore expect to be taught with students and by tutors based in the vicinity of that location. If BPP wishes to treat LPC students as a single unit, then the fees should be reimbursed to reflect this.’

They added that BPP has ‘repeatedly failed to meet the bar of quality expected by the UK government’ so should not expect to be paid in full.

The appeal has been submitted to the vice-chancellor of BPP, Professor Tim Stewart. In September, the university’s dean of academic quality said he had ‘enormous sympathy’ for students but partly upheld just four of the 27 issues raised.

BPP has been approached for comment.