Personal disputes can cost colleges and universities time, money, and — perhaps most important — reputation. That potential for damage prompted the creation of a British panel that is studying how colleges and universities can prevent such disputes from breaking out among their students, faculties, and staffs — and can fairly respond to disputes that are unavoidable.

The panel, which is sponsored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, issued on Monday a 60-page draft report, titled “Taking a Fresh Look at Disputes in Higher Education,” that outlines a “toolkit” of step-by-step methods institutions can use to deal with conflicts.

Many of the report’s suggestions focus on creating a central office or program to unify the handling of disputes. Institutions that have a fragmented approach to conflict resolution may find it “difficult to keep track of institution-wide patterns in the handling of disputes and improve practice,” the report says.

The document includes a series of questions, organized into various topics, that college administrators can use to evaluate their dispute-resolution procedures and identify possible ways to prevent conflict. For example, one checklist on student concerns asks, “How do you ensure that a student is not afraid to complain or raise a concern? Do you include the assurance that they will not be penalised for so doing? How do you ensure that that assurance has hard currency in practice?”

The report also suggests that institutions consider hiring a “campus ombudsman,” someone removed from the dispute who could advise, inform, and offer both parties a “reality check.”

Many colleges in the United States have begun using independent mediation and institution-wide resolution programs as a more cost-efficient approach to solving disputes. —Caitlin Moran