STUDENTS who finished a course at York College in January are still waiting for their results eight months later.

College chiefs are investigating what has gone wrong after the part-time students complained about the delay in getting the results out, a process which usually takes 12 to 15 weeks.

The class took a three-month business computing course called RSA Information Business Technology, which finished in January. The course is assessed by students handing in a portfolio of work completed during the course.

Tim Derbyshire, 29, of Dringhouses, said many of his fellow students had been working people who took the course once a week to improve their career prospects.

Tim, a father-of-five who has an evening job as a cleaner, took the course alongside A-level and GCSE courses and said he was trying to build up his qualifications.

He said: "I could have started the next course from this September if I had got the results. This was time I put in when I've got a family and work.

"My main concern is for the people who had to take the course as part of their jobs."

Paul Guilfoyle, spokesman for the college, said the college was aware of the situation, which was a "one-off" and had not happened before.

He said the college was investigating why the assessment had taken so long and was treating it as a matter of urgency.

He said the students' course tutor, who still works part-time at the college, was in the process of internally assessing the work from the students.

"This is a complex situation compounded by the course in question requiring internal assessment by the course tutor, moderation by another tutor and then being dispatched to an awarding body for final accreditation with an external verifier," he said.

"Assessment of portfolios can take a very long time."