Student complaints have risen 37% in two years. Do they expect too much these days, or are universities letting them down?

Shelley Maxwell did not go to university until she was 43. She has a condition similar to narcolepsy, which means she sleeps up to 16 hours a day. She could never stay awake at school and left at 16 with just one qualification, in art.

But she always dreamed of returning to study, not least because a degree would allow her to take a job that paid enough to support herself even if she only worked part-time, rather than living on benefits.

Having separated from her husband in the 90s, Maxwell waited until her children were old enough and then began with a vengeance. "Basically, this was my only opportunity," she says. "I started from scratch. I did GCSEs, then an access course to allow me to go to university." In 2004, she was offered a place to study contemporary military and international history at Salford University.

"I was so excited because I'd done really, really well at college. I'd surprised myself – I just thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of learning. I'd never been able to do that before."

But when she started the course, she soon began to have problems. Lectures – which totalled six hours a week – were the biggest challenge because she would fall asleep. She had been given a digital recording device to tape them, but was unable to stay awake long enough to transcribe the material. Various solutions were offered, but none was suitable, she says. At one point, notetakers were brought in, but using someone else's notes did not help her when she had not heard the lecture in full herself.

Eventually, Maxwell made a complaint against the university, alleging that it had discriminated against her on the grounds of disability. Salford offered to give her printouts of her lectures, but by this time, she claims, it was too late for her to catch up. "Had that been done from the beginning, it would have made all the difference," she says. The university did offer to pay the fees for her to repeat the first year, but Maxwell decided to quit her studies, and would never return.

Salford acknowledged some faults, but disputed parts of the claim, and the case went to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), the students' complaints watchdog. The body found her complaint partially justified, awarding her £2,500 and criticising the university, recommending it review its disability procedures. Salford says it has since invested significantly in its support services. "As a university with a higher number of disabled students than the national average, we have particularly invested in this aspect of our support," a spokesman says.

The circumstances of Maxwell's case may be unusual, but the fact that she took it so far, and the importance to her of getting a degree, are not.

Student complaints to the OIA jumped by 12% between 2008 and 2009, figures published today reveal. They have leapt 37% in two years. Last year, a total of 1,007 students complained about their universities in England and Wales to the OIA.

The watchdog says fierce competition for graduate jobs in the current economic climate and a more assertive student population have triggered the boom. The threat of higher tuition fees has made students realise how valuable their degrees are – and therefore more likely to complain, it argues.

While 1,007 is only the equivalent of one complaint per 2,000 students at university, the real number of dissatisfied students is likely to be several thousands more.

Universities do not have to divulge how many of their students make official complaints – yet – and so today's numbers only reflect the students who turn to the OIA as a last resort, having exhausted every avenue of their university's complaints procedure.

Rob Behrens, the OIA's chief executive, predicts there will be still higher numbers of complaints in the future. More than £1bn cuts to higher education between now and 2013 are likely to lead universities to cut corners. He is concerned that at least one campus has already made several of its student welfare officers redundant.

But a close analysis of the figures also reveals that the proportion of the complaints that were upheld, fully or partly, by the OIA dropped to 18% in 2009 from 23% the year before. Those upheld fully fell to 5% from 6.5%. Three-quarters were found not to be justified, compared with 71% the year before.

Are students just trying it on?

Just the contrary, Behrens argues. "When students come to us, they feel very strongly about what has happened to them," he says. "It's more a case of universities handling their complaints more efficiently." He attributes the sharp rise in complaints to "students knowing that what they have – a place on a degree course – is valuable and likely to cost more in future". "They have a better understanding of their rights now, too," he adds.

Complaints by students such as Maxwell, who have a disability, are on the rise and now make up about 4% of cases dealt with by the OIA. A fifth of these complaints last year were found fully or partly justified. They are mainly a case of a university refusing to give a student the equipment they need to help them with their studies. Behrens says there continues to be "variability" in the way universities handle disability.

But the majority – 64% – of complaints are from students who claim mitigating circumstances for a low mark in their coursework or exam, or from students who argue that their university hasn't followed its procedures. The OIA cannot interfere with an academic's judgment of a student's work, but it can hold universities to account for not following their own processes or for letting down a student in the run-up to that academic judgment.

A higher proportion of complaints in 2009 were related to accusations of cheating – 11% compared with 8% the year before. And complaints about postgraduate supervision are also on the rise. Most of these stem from a PhD supervisor's reluctance to tell students they are not performing well during their studies. When students submit their theses and are told they aren't good enough, they are shocked, and complain. "Too many supervisors do not document meetings with postgraduates as their universities require them to," says Behrens.

Business studies students and those on courses that are accredited by a professional association, such as nursing, medicine and teaching, are most likely to complain. This is hardly surprising: being thrown off their course can shatter a student's career plans.

Some 16% of students who took their cases to the watchdog in 2009 were on business studies courses, while 14% came from medicine, nursing or healthcare degrees. One in 10 were studying law. While three-fifths of complaints were from undergraduates, a disproportionately high number came from postgraduates – 32%. Around 7% were from PhD students.

More than half – 56% – of complaints came from men. Forty percent of complainants were aged between 25 and 39, while a quarter were aged 40 or more. A third were under 25.

International students from outside the EU made up a disproportionately high number of complainants at more than a fifth of complaints, compared with 67% from UK-born students. "Some universities are quite cavalier in seeking to attract students, particularly international ones," says Behrens. "But their prospectuses don't link up closely enough with what students are provided with on their courses."

Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, says that while universities "obviously have to be concerned about the rise in complaints, the numbers complaining are very low indeed. We can't be complacent, but the drop in the number of complaints upheld shows universities are handling their complaints more effectively."

However, the OIA is determined to make universities handle them even better.

Behrens criticises some universities, without naming them, for their "excessive delays". The watchdog is considering whether to publish the names of universities when it discloses its decisions on cases. It will not publish the names of students, it says.

It also wants to publish how many complaints it receives about each university. As early as the end of this year, universities could be named and shamed. "I believe very strongly that it is an anomaly that the names of the universities are not published," Behrens says.

The National Union of Students agrees. Aaron Porter, its president-elect, says universities still need to do more to ensure a high-quality service, before asking for higher tuition fees.

"There should be openness and transparency in the complaints procedure, and while privacy should be protected in the details of individual cases, students have a right to know where their universities are failing," he says. "We appreciate that there are additional pressures placed on staff at a time when universities are being forced to make cuts. There is no excuse for a lack of time and resource to result in poor treatment of students." The NUS also want a three-month limit on the time universities take to deal with complaints from the time they are lodged.

The OIA has raised the amount it gives students in compensation. Last year, it awarded £163,343, with £45,000 the biggest single payout – awarded to a PhD student who fought a suspension from her teaching work, which was imposed after a harassment allegation against her. This compares with £93,535 the year before, with £45,000 the largest sum.

But the watchdog may also end up having to do more for students, too.

Although it found partly in Maxwell's favour, the OIA did not formally rule on whether Salford had breached disability discrimination legislation, saying this was a matter for the courts. Maxwell fears that without such a ruling the same thing could happen to her again were she to attend another university, and has won the right to take the case to judicial review. It will be heard at the high court next month, and is being vigorously defended by the OIA.

For now, she remains on benefits. "It makes you feel like a sponger," she says. "Studying is the only way out of it. Going to university meant absolutely everything to me."

• A statistic in this story has been corrected since publication. It now reads: "Forty percent of complainants were aged between 25 and 39."