Advocacy fact sheet: University Postgrad Policies
The Basics
University policies and guidelines spell out your rights, list the University's obligations and responsibilities to you, and explain how the University handles complaints.
What the different policies cover, and other advice on reading, is given below. But if you want, you can just skip to the summary. These policies affect Honours students, Masters students, and PhD students.
The following policies all come from the University's A–Z Listing of Policies and Guidelines.
Grievance Policies
These policies explain how the University handles complaints (“grievances”). This includes the steps you should take to make a complaint.
Academic grievances relate to problems you encounter related to your study: unfair marking, inadequate supervision, etc. Other problems are just called grievances. These include racism, sexual harrasment, and bullying.
- Academic Grievance Policy (Coursework & Honours Students)
- Academic Grievance Policy (Higher Degree Research Students)
- Grievance Policy (92 Kb PDF)
Appeals
The grievance policies already contain explanations on how to appeal a University decision.
However, if you want to appeal against a decision not to award a postgraduate research degree or not to allow re-submission of a thesis for re-examination, you will need to refer to the following policy:
Codes of Practice
These policies detail how you are expected to behave as a student, and what the University (your supervisor, the academic unit, and so on) is supposed to provide in return.
If you're a Masters by research or PhD student, you should also read the Code of Practice – Supervision, so you know how your supervisor is supposed to behave.
When you're reading the Code of Practice relating to you, be sure to read the "Related Policies" listed at the top too.
- Code of Practice – Honours
- Code of Practice – Practical Placements
- Code of Practice – Research
- Code of Practice – Supervision
Other Policies
Summary
- Everyone should read:
- Grievance Policy (92 Kb PDF)
- Intellectual Property (IP) Policy (80 Kb PDF)
- Students with a disability should read:
- Students who do workplace experience (law, medicine, nursing, teaching, etc.) should read:
- Honours students should read:
- Coursework postgraduates should read:
- Research postgraduates should read:
