The complaint: Lise was a student in the School of Social Work at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV). Three days before the end of term, UFV ended Lise’s fourth-year internship without notice. Lise was required to redo the entire field internship.

Lise told us that UFV made this decision because of a conflict Lise had with her placement supervisor about the internship. Lise asked for support, which the supervisor denied. Lise said UFV didn’t hear her side of the story, and she felt the appeal process was unfair.

What we did: Our investigation focused on whether UFV acted fairly in responding to Lise’s complaints and her appeal of its decision.

We found that UFV’s record-keeping on this matter was poor. Lise’s records were missing important information, making it hard to know why her internship was cancelled, what happened during Lise’s appeal and whether staff acted fairly when Lise asked for academic support. Key staff members involved in the decisions were no longer working with the university and were unable to fill in the gaps. We were concerned that UFV’s lack of records about important academic matters was unfair.

How we helped: To make sure another student didn’t have a similar experience, we suggested – and UFV agreed – to create a new policy to standardize records for internship evaluations. It also agreed to provide an accessible dispute resolution process for internships.

Lise successfully completed her internship. And the School of Social Work took steps to promote and support her successful completion.

Why it matters: Accurate and complete records can support fair decision-making processes. In Lise’s case, it would have helped in reviewing or appealing a decision.