Australian universities are preparing for a new era of increased litigation, appeals and formal complaints as the user-pays environment reorients students as customers.
The shift towards a more litigious student population is also being anticipated in Britain, where the Blair Government recently won support to introduce an Australian-style fees top-up system from 2006.
A recent survey revealed most UK vice-chancellors were bracing for an increase in legal action as students began paying more for their education.
Education consultant Lenore Cooper said the partial deregulation of the higher education sector in Australia would have serious implications for marketing and course content.
"Increasingly institutions will have to be very careful with marketing where they imply grand promises," Ms Cooper told the HES.
Services such as the student ombudsman would have to be boosted and tighter appeal and marking procedures implemented, she added.
Academics would also have to ensure course outlines were accurate and not overstated as students could take it 'as the letter of the law'.
While acknowledging universities were moving to address these issues, Ms Cooper, who works with consultants Phillips Curran, felt many had a long way to go.
"Universities are preparing for (increased litigation), but their attention will only become more focused when there is an incident out there," she said.
Her warnings echo the findings of the UK survey, which found more than 80 per cent of vice-chancellors believe students, paying higher costs for education, will become increasingly litigious.
The PA Consulting Group survey also found that vice-chancellors, driven by market forces, are acting more like chief executives of large companies.
A significant number indicated they considered widening participation to students from lower socioeconomic groups was 'bad for business'.
Ms Cooper said many of the survey's findings reflected thinking in Australia's higher education echelons.
Monash University vice-chancellor Richard Larkins said the delivery of services to students was "certainly an issue". However, he did not see a trend towards increased litigation and believed existing complaint structures were adequate.
Under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act, Professor Larkins said, universities had to meet a broad range of standards in marketing and course delivery.
"We don't distinguish between domestic and international students in terms of the services we provide," he said. "It's up to universities to deliver a high-quality product."
However, Council for Australian Postgraduate Associations president Stephen Horton said course quality was an important issue for his members. He indicated legal action might be the final recourse.
"There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the quality of courses - often they are just renumbered undergraduate courses," he said.
Postgraduates were also angry fee increases did not translate into improved quality.
University of NSW senior lecturer Deborah Healey said students would have recourse to action under Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act, which "prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct", or they may be able to sue for breach of contract.
