You told us, so we are

Many students missed being able to come to campus to study, connect with their peers and take advantage of the on-campus experience.

So we….

Welcomed our students and community back to campus in 2022.

• Held CampusFest, a five day festival that reactivated our Campus Life and on-campus orientation activities.
• Have returned to over 70% of classes being held back on campus.
• Are offering a range of activities to help you create important social connections through our Student Hub.
• Are bringing the FUN back to campus, with events, clubs and societies, volunteering, wellness, sports and stacks of free food!
• Returned to on-campus UOW Prize Nights and Graduations to recognise the achievements and celebrate our Graduates.

Students value ongoing services and support that will help you to be successful in your studies.

So we are….

Embedding more types of personalised support, available anytime, anywhere.

• Improving the ease of access to personalised academic and English language support for students through our Learning Co-Op and Studiosity – a free online service providing guidance and feedback on your academic skills.
• Continuing to offer our free and confidential 24/7 Student Wellbeing Support Line, available to students enrolled at any UOW Australian campus to make sure you have help when you need it.
• Increasing the counselling service’s capacity to offer personalised counselling and mental health programs to students. 
• Partnering with Lifeworks to deliver specialised counselling and wellbeing services and resources, and have developed a Student Success Program, made available to all UOW international students enrolled at any of our Australian campuses and studying offshore due to border closures.  
• Reimagining how we support students with disability, moving towards a strength based approach to Student Accessibility and Inclusion.
• Diversifying our offerings to connect students to employers, through a range of employability programs and job-seeking initiatives.

Find out about the full range of services and support available for students.

Students want UOW’s online learning platforms to be easier to use.

So we are….

Supporting you to enhance your digital capabilities and working hard to improve our online learning sites and upgrade our technology.

• Improving the Digital Skills support for students with the introduction of the Digital Skills Hub (DSH). The DSH helps you evaluate your digital capabilities and develop new skills so you can feel confident you have the digital skills needed to thrive in your future career.
• Introducing a new Subject Readings Tool that integrates more seamlessly with Moodle and Library SEARCH, offering a more connected and streamlined approach to accessing and using reading lists. 
• Working hard to improve Moodle so it is easier to use with consistent navigation and user experience.
• Continuing to upgrade technology to continue to build a ‘digital campus’ – because technology doesn’t just make learning more flexible, it can also make it more engaging and effective.

Over the last two years, students have valued the flexibility of online learning.

So we are….

Keeping flexible options

• Launching our Blended Learning Enhancement Initiative to maintain the balance between face to face and online classes and learning content.
• Continuing to use online exam invigilation to uphold academic integrity whilst allowing you to sit exams where you feel most comfortable.
• The UOW Library has continued to stay open. We have made it easier to study in the Library, with more powered desks and a BYOD Docking Monitor Service. We have also put into place services such as the online occupancy counter, virtual service points and a UOW Borrowing mobile app for the safety of staff and students.   

Students are still feeling a little overloaded and want more and more timely feedback on their assessment tasks.

So we are…

• Improving the practice of giving feedback on your assessments and using innovative tools to enable more relevant feedback from your teaching staff.
• Reviewing and improving assessment practices, including addressing your concerns about ‘over-assessing’ and removing high stakes final exams, unless they are absolutely necessary.
• In 2022, we continued to waive requirements for supporting documentation for Academic Consideration, as we understand how complex managing study, work and personal commitments has been.

Students want increased community awareness and prevention training on sexual violence and to have input on what student safety looks like at UOW.

So we are…

• Launching UOW Respect Week, as an opportunity for the UOW community to talk openly about what respect looks like, feels like and sounds like to each of us.
• Continuing to train staff, student leaders and placement providers in providing appropriate first response support to anyone disclosing incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault.  
• Partnering with the Wollongong Liquor Accord to develop an online training program called Set The Bar for staff working in licensed premises.  
• Continuing to work with student representatives on our Safe and Respectful Communities Advisory Group. 
• Making the Consent Matters module compulsory for all students, to raise awareness around consent, bystander intervention and how to report incidents of sexual assault and sexual violence.