(1) This Procedure outlines the steps for students and Victoria University (VU) staff to follow in handling student complaints. (2) HESF: Standard 2.4 Student Grievances and Complaints; Standard 6.2 Corporate Monitoring and Accountability (specifically 6.2.1); Standard 7.2 Information for Prospective and Current Students (specifically 7.2.2f); Standard 7.3 Information Management (specifically 7.3.3c). (3) Standards for RTOs (2015): Standard 6. (4) National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018: Standard 10 Complaints and Appeals. (5) This Procedure may be used by: (6) Complainants who are not students may use the processes provided in other VU policies and procedures to lodge complaints, for example; (7) A complaint brought under this Procedure may relate to: (8) This Procedure will not apply to any decision regarding a student that has been made under a policy or procedure that provides its own internal appeal or review mechanism (for example, disputes about assessment results or special consideration applications, which are covered within the Assessment Policy suite). However, a student may make a complaint if they believe that the relevant policy or procedure was not properly followed. (9) When a complaint involves allegations of discrimination, harassment and bullying, these are managed in accordance with VU's Discrimination and Harassment Prevention and Management Policy, Sexual Harassment Response Policy, and VU's Bullying Prevention and Management Policy. (10) When a complaint involves allegations of sexual assault, it will be addressed in accordance with VU’s Sexual Assault Response Policy. (11) Authorised Officer: University employee or agent of VU. (12) Student Complaints Policy (13) When a student has an issue or complaint, there are four key internal processes that may be employed to resolve the matter: (14) Students are expected to attempt to resolve matters in good faith themselves, where it is reasonable and appropriate to do so, before lodging a complaint with the Integrity Office. (15) Students are encouraged to identify their issues and, if possible, think of some solutions. Once a student has identified the issues and thought about solutions, either by themselves or in conjunction with a support service or person, they are encouraged to speak directly with the staff member or student responsible for the particular issue. (16) When a staff member (Authorised Officer) becomes aware of a student issue, they should: (17) Students may also raise their issues with an appropriate person within the relevant College/Business area. In attempting to resolve a student issue at the local level, the staff member (authorised officer) may employ a range of strategies, including but not limited to: (18) Students have free and confidential access to Student Advocacy Services, who can help the student speak to a staff member about their issues. Students may also access the following support services to assist with issues: (19) Informal resolutions, whether provided in writing or not, can be lodged as a formal complaint if the informal resolution proves unsuccessful. (20) If an issue is not resolved at the local level (because either it is inappropriate or the resolution reached is considered unsatisfactory), students may make a complaint to the Integrity Office using VU's online complaint form. (21) Students unable to use the online complaint form may contact the Integrity Office or Student Services Centre for assistance to provide a hard copy form. Students may lodge the complaint form at integrity.office@vu.edu.au or submit to a Student Service Centre in a sealed envelope addressed to: Integrity Office, Footscray Park Campus, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001. (22) When making a complaint to the Integrity Office, students should: (23) Lodging a complaint via the online form will generate an immediate acknowledgment. Other methods of lodging complaints will be acknowledged in writing as soon as possible following receipt. (24) Complaints must be raised in a timely fashion. (25) The process of addressing the complaint will begin within 5 University business days of receipt of the written complaint. (26) When a complaint is lodged, a preliminary assessment and triage is performed by the Integrity Office. This involves: (27) In assessing the complaint, the Integrity Office may: (28) The Senior Manager, Integrity & Safer Community, may dismiss the complaint if it is out of time, vexatious, without merit or otherwise represents an abuse of process. (29) Wherever possible, complainants should be involved in resolving their own matters. If a third party, including a parent, seeks to act on behalf of a complainant, the Integrity Office will seek written authorisation from the complainant. (30) Student complaints will be referred by the Integrity Office to the relevant area of VU as detailed in the table below. (31) Where a complaint is referred to another process (e.g. student progress matters) or for resolution by People and Culture (e.g. staff misconduct matters), the Integrity Office will advise the student of this and, where appropriate, will provide them with contact details for the person or area handling the matter. (32) All staff members involved in resolving a complaint must be free from bias and not have a real or perceived conflict of interest, including prior involvement in handling the complaint. (33) The Integrity Office will provide support and assistance to staff involved in resolving complaints. (34) Complaints may be addressed using a range of approaches as appropriate. These include: (35) In Formal Complaints which involve more complex fact finding, an investigation process may be used: (36) A Senior Officer will be appointed by the Senior Manager, Integrity & Safer Community to investigate the formal complaint. If the Senior Officer considers that it is appropriate, another internal or external person may be appointed to conduct the investigation where specialist investigation skills and/or training are required beyond those of the Senior Officer or if the Senior Officer has a conflict and/or prior involvement in the formal complaint matter. (37) The investigator will: (38) Following the investigation, and once any quality check has been completed, a decision will be made by the decision-maker (see table above), which will be communicated to the student via the Integrity Office. (39) The Senior Manager, Integrity & Safer Community, may undertake a quality check of all investigation reports to ensure that: (40) Where an investigation report does not comply with the requirements of clause 39, the Senior Manager, Integrity & Safer Community, is authorised to require a reconsideration of a decision or request re-investigation where there is an error in investigative process and outcome. (41) A formal complaint will be found to be either: (42) A determination that the complaint is substantiated wholly or in part may lead to any combination of the following outcomes, or any other outcome appropriate in the circumstances: (43) The decision-maker will make a determination regarding the complaint and will: (44) Decisions in complaint matters must be communicated to the student and the Integrity Office as soon as is practicable once the decision has been made. (45) It is acknowledged when a student makes a complaint about a staff member, the student complaints process and the staff disciplinary process may become intertwined, and the outcome of one feeds in to the outcome of the other. (46) The outcome of any staff disciplinary process will normally be confidential to the individual staff member, although the staff member may consent to information being shared with the student who made the complaint. In any case, the student making the complaint should be given some resolution to their complaint. (47) If the staff member’s behaviour has affected the complaining student’s studies, health or wellbeing, VU will provide a remedy for that impact to the student, separately to any sanction issued against the staff member. The remedy will depend on the nature of the concern, the impact on the student, and what the student is seeking. (48) The outcomes of student complaints about staff which have involved a staff disciplinary process are not reviewable or appealable. (49) If a Student is dissatisfied with the outcome of a formal complaint decision, the Student can submit a Request for Internal Review form within 10 University Business days of the Formal complaint decision being communicated. (50) Requests for review must be submitted via the Integrity Office. (51) Reviews cannot be conducted on outcomes of complaints about staff which have been handled under the staff disciplinary process. (52) Reviews can only be requested on the following grounds: (53) The person conducting the review may consider any facts they consider relevant to the matter, including facts not presented in evidence in the original determination. (54) The reviewer may: (55) The outcome of the review must be communicated to the student and to the Integrity Office as soon as is practicable after being decided. (56) If the student is not satisfied with the outcome of the review, and has relevant grounds, they may proceed to an Appeal. (57) A student who wishes to appeal outcome of the review, and meets the prescribed grounds of the Student Appeals Regulations 2019, may lodge an appeal though VU’s Appeals process. The appeal process is detailed in the Student Appeals Procedure. (58) Students can seek an external review by the Victorian Ombudsman of the decision making process exercised by the University. The Ombudsman will consider if VU's stated process was followed in the particular instance. (59) Students may also access other external organisations such as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Australian Human Rights Commission. (60) Student visa holders who wish to request an external review about cancellation of enrolment must provide evidence of the lodgement of their complaint within 20 University business days from the date of the Appeal decision. (61) Full and accurate records will be kept of all complaint, review and appeals matters, their investigation (if relevant) and their resolution. (62) The Integrity Office will ensure that key information is captured centrally for each complaint that is lodged via the complaints process. (63) Staff involved in complaint matters at any level, including informal complaints and complaints provided verbally, must also ensure that a record is made of the complaint and any resolution reached. (64) The Integrity Office will provide an annual summary of de-identified complaints outcomes, trends and actions taken to improve services to the Academic Board and its relevant committees. This will include performance statistics showing the volume and type of complaints and key performance details, for example on the time taken and the stage at which complaints were resolved. (65) The report to the Academic Board will focus on case studies and examples of how complaints have helped improve services and may also include positive feedback from students and/or members of the public. (66) This will demonstrate VU’s approach to improving services on the basis of complaints and show that complaints can influence University services. It will also help ensure transparency in VU’s complaints handling service and will help to demonstrate to students and members of the public that VU values complaints. (67) Senior Officers making decisions in formal complaint matters and/or the Integrity Office will also have responsibility to: (68) The analysis of management reports detailing complaints performance will help to ensure that any trends or wider issues, which may not be obvious from individual complaints, are quickly identified and addressed. Where the Senior Officer and/or Integrity Office identifies the need for service improvement: Student Complaints Procedure
Section 1 - Summary
Section 2 - HESF/ASQA/ESOS Alignment
Section 3 - Scope
Section 4 - Definitions
Section 5 - Policy/Regulation
Section 6 - Procedure
Part A - Overview
Part B - Informal Resolution
Part C - Lodging a Formal Complaint
Part D - Formal complaint preliminary assessment and triage
Part E - Formal Complaint Management
Nature of Complaint
Referred to
Methods of Resolution Available
Decisions available
Decision-maker
Any aspect of an academic program (excepting assessment and academic progress)
Director Learning and Teaching in relevant College or nominee
Program Manager (VU Polytechnic)
*Where the Director Learning and Teaching is the subject of the complaint, the matter must be referred to the Executive Dean.- Facilitated conversations
- Fact-finding activities
- Conducting an investigation (see Part F)The complaint can be substantiated in whole or in part, or dismissed.
Recommendations for actions may also be made.Director Learning and Teaching or nominee.
Where the Director Learning and Teaching is the subject of the complaint, the matter must be referred to the Executive Dean.
Where the Program Manager (VU Polytechnic) is the subject of the complaint, the matter must be referred to the General Manager, Risk, Quality and Compliance
Any administrative or fees related matter
Appropriate branch of University administration
Fact-finding activities
- The complaint can be substantiated in whole or in part, or dismissed
- Rectifications of administrative errors, including fee adjustment as appropriate.Appropriate Authorised Officer
Academic progress matters
Academic progress process
Refer to Academic Progress Regulations 2016 and its processes
N/A
N/A
Behaviour of a student
Safer Community
- Facilitated conversations
- Fact-finding activities
- Conducting an investigation (see below)- The complaint can be substantiated in whole or in part, or dismissed. Recommendations for actions may also be made
- Where appropriate, the complaint may be referred to the student misconduct process, as outlined in the Student Misconduct Regulations 2019 for the application of penaltiesSafer Community – Senior Coordinator or a Senior Officer managed in line with the Student Misconduct Regulations 2019 or if applicable the Exclusion for Safety Reasons Regulations 2019.
Staff Misconduct
Chief Human Resources Officer or nominee
Treated as a staff misconduct matter under the relevant misconduct provisions of the Enterprise Agreement.
- The complaint can be substantiated in whole or in part, or dismissed. Recommendations for actions may also be made
- Where appropriate, penalties may be applied in accordance with staff misconduct processesChief Human Resources Officer or nominee
Behaviour of a Staff member
Appropriate Senior Officer in College or Service Area
Treated as interpersonal conflict between a staff member and a student that does not amount to staff misconduct under the Enterprise Agreement.
- The complaint can be substantiated in whole or in part, or dismissed.
- Recommendations for actions may also be madeA senior officer with frontline management of the staff member, such as an Executive Dean, Director of Learning & Teaching or Director of Service.
a. fact-finding activities (e.g. requesting documentation, checking data systems, conducting conversations and interviews);
b. facilitated conversations involving the student and other parties;
c. investigations (see Part F below).Part F - Investigation of Formal Complaints
Part G - Quality Assurance of Formal Complaints
Part H - Decision-making in Formal Complaint matters
Part I - Outcomes of Student Complaints about Staff
Part J - Internal Reviews
Part K - Appeal
Part L - External Review
Part M - Information management and recordkeeping
Part N - Reporting and Continuous Improvement
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