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Complaints or grievances

University policy

The University encourages and welcomes feedback on aspects of the University’s operation. It recognises the rights of students to express dissatisfaction or make complaints about processes or services provided by the University. The University is committed to continuous improvement and ensures complaints and expressions of concern are analysed to improve academic and administrative services.

While the University is committed to providing students with an education of the highest possible standard, from time to time a student may have a complaint about a decision or action in relation to an academic matter or an administrative decision or action. The University operates several informal and formal processes for dealing with these complaints. These are explained in the ‘Student Complaint and Grievance Handling Policy and Procedures’ published on the Internet at http://www.latrobe.edu.au/policy

In general, wherever possible, the first point of contact should be the supervisor or person responsible for the area that took the action that has provoked the complaint.

University Ombudsman

If a complaint or grievance regarding an academic matter or an administrative decision or action is not resolved through the relevant faculty, school or administrative department, advice may be sought from:

Victorian Ombudsman

If the complaint or grievance is not resolved through the University Ombudsman, you may lodge a complaint with the Victorian Ombudsman: www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au. If you have not followed the steps laid down in the relevant University procedures, the Victorian Ombudsman may ask you to do so before accepting your complaint. Contact:

Whistleblowers’ Protection Act

The Whistleblowers’ Protection Act is designed to encourage the disclosure of improper conduct by public officers and public bodies including universities. It provides for the investigation of disclosures of improper conduct and for the protection of individuals who make disclosures. For further information go to www.latrobe.edu.au/policy/ and search for Whistleblowers.

Freedom of Information

The Victorian Freedom of Information (FOI) Act extends as far as possible the right of the community to access information in the possession of La Trobe University by:

• making available to the public information about the operations of the University; and
• creating a general right of access to information.

The types of information you can request from La Trobe University are:

• documents created by the University;
• documents supplied to the University by an external organisation or individual;
• documents relating to your own personal affairs, regardless of the age of the documents; and
• documents of a non-personal nature which are not older than 5 July 1978.

However, exemptions may apply to documents where the information is not required to be released, whether it is the whole document or part of the document.

The University makes special provision for students to inspect their own files and examination papers. These may be examined under supervision and a request need not be made under the provisions of the FOI Act. In the case of student files, the appropriate Student Administration Office should be contacted, while each faculty office can assist with access to examination scripts. Students should note that examination scripts are only available for six months from the date of the assessment. Applications for access to evaluation reports of student placements will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

See http://www.latrobe.edu.au/records/foi.html for more information regarding FOI requests.