University of Wolverhampton - Controversies

Controversies

In a Times column dated 29 February 1988, the writer Bernard Levin cited the then Wolverhampton Polytechnic as an example of how student unions were allegedly dominated by the political hard left.

In 1998 Dr. Ian Connell left the university after being found guilty of academic misconduct. A few weeks later he committed suicide, apparently depressed by his situation.

In 2001 the University was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive after local doctors reported an unusually large number of staff seeking their help for stress and bullying.

In 2002, the university paid out £30,000 in an out-of-court settlement to Mike Austen, a dissatisfied law student, who sued on the grounds of multiple misrepresentations and multiple breaches of the student contract.

In July 2006 in a swimming pool at the university's Walsall campus, a disabled rugby player drowned whilst not being supervised properly by lifeguards and managers, an inquest jury ruled.

In 2009 the University Executive announced that the University was in financial difficulties, needing to make savings of £8 million. This followed reports in the media that it had understated student non-completion rates to HEFCE. The University announced it was taking steps to reduce expenditure on staff pay and launched a voluntary redundancy exercise on 1 October 2009. This concluded with the loss of 150 posts through voluntary redundancy.