Student Rights
As a large institution with a wide variety of courses and programs, RMIT necessarily has a number of policies and procedures which help govern our work and study as part of the RMIT community.

Sometimes these policies and procedures apply to everybody across the university: and sometimes Schools and Portfolios have their own policies which you must follow. Make sure that you follow the right procedures and read all available information, because you don’t want to be told that you could have avoided an unjust situation by reading information provided in the student diary, for example!

Recently, RMIT underwent a restructure. Faculties were scrapped, some former faculties became Schools, and three ‘super faculties’ called Portfolios were introduced. If you still see the words ‘Faculty’ here and there, it is a relic from the past.

The thing is, we don’t normally need to be versed in the vast majority of these policies and procedures – until something goes wrong. And often it is difficult to find out what your rights are when, for example:

• you believe that your course was inadequate for the fees you paid;
• you aren’t getting along with your supervisor, and aren’t sure how to resolve the situation;
• your minor thesis has been delayed by circumstances beyond your control, yet you
are told you will have to pay more fees to complete.

There are several ways with which you can get help. You can have a scout around the RMIT website, or you could speak to someone at the Hub. But if you are still getting conflicting information or are not sure how to approach resolving your issue, you should contact a Student Rights Officer at the Student Union.

Who are Student Rights Officers?

Student Rights Officers are employed by the RMIT Student Union to ensure that students have assistance when they run into trouble for whatever reason in the academic sphere. The Student Union recognises that the university can sometimes be a hostile place – especially when a student is challenging a ‘respected and learned academic’.
Student Rights Officers will talk to you about your options and will also – if you wish – advocate on your behalf to the university. They are located on the main RMIT campuses.
All research students should contact Kate Habgood, whilst coursework students should see a Student Rights Officer on their campus. See the contact details below.
Research students and coursework students often have very different issues – or perhaps similar issues will be resolved through different channels.

Research students – delays and extensions

Whilst coursework students follow the same appeals processes as undergraduate students, there are different rules in place for research students. The peak decision-making body for research students is the Research & Graduate Studies Committee. It is crucial for research students to have the Policy and Procedures Manual for Research Students.
This manual should be given to all research students when they commence and is the source of virtually all rules and regulations governing research students. If you were not given a copy upon enrolment, you can get it from the web at http://www.rmit.edu.au/higher-degrees.

Many students need a bit of extra time to finish off their research degrees. Unfortunately, the Howard Government has imposed really strict rules on how long students are allowed to have for their research degrees. The university last year was even thinking of ‘fining’ students who went over time (we are not sure whether this will be implemented but we will be fighting hard against it). Very, very often, students are delayed by circumstances beyond their control. However, the real problems with delays and extensions arise where fee-paying students are concerned. If the delay is the fault of the university, then the university may be reluctant in admitting this fault (particularly if the delay was due to poor resources).

Fee-paying students may be forced to pay for more time to finish their degree. If you need more time, and you believe that you have been delayed by circumstances beyond your control (even if these reasons are not academic), you should contact a Student Rights Officer for a chat about your options.

Coursework Students

Coursework students often encounter problems due to the fact that their program is of a lower quality than most undergraduate degrees. This is due to a number of reasons, and it is a problem that is occurring at universities all over Australia. The most probable cause is underfunding. Alternatively, the course could be new and going through initial problems with the course content and assessment.

Quite often, coursework students (and lots of ‘em!) are a bandaid solution to a financially struggling department or School. Money is saved by offering rebadged undergraduate courses, and tired, overworked staff are forced to take on additional lectures and co-ordination roles, sometimes in the evenings. It is estimated by the NTEU (National Tertiary Education Industry Union) RMIT Branch that RMIT staff work on average about 10 hours per week overtime. This does not necessarily help create the challenging and innovative courses that RMIT really needs to offer to postgraduate coursework students. Additionally, as coursework students are a source of income for RMIT, there’s the additional dimension that as students are paying full fees, they expect a quality product to be offered to them in return.

If you are not getting what you expected to receive upon commencing the course (whether it be through a reasonable expectation of quality, or you were misled by agents and promotional material), or you believe there is a significant disparity between your course and your friend’s course in another School, then let us know!

Even if it’s the rare amount of free printing you get (nothing), or the fact that you were told there were going to be twelve electives and there’s only three, or you were told there would be no minor thesis component … come and see us, because otherwise we won’t know about some of the dodgier recruitment practices, particularly from overseas agents. We can then inform the University, to try and stop them.

Special Consideration, exam deferrals and appeals

For information on these issues, please check out the Student Rights website at www.su.rmit.edu.au/rights/SR.html, where you will find updated information on how to follow RMIT policies and processes to your advantage.