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Information for Coursework Students

Academic Support

All academic matters should be referred to your unit of study coordinator or Course Coordinator. These people are designated specifically to support postgraduate students within a course. If you are not able to speak with either your unit of study coordinator or your Course Coordinator for any reason, you may want to then contact the Head of your Discipline or School. If you are unsatisfied with a response from your Head of Discipline or School, matters can be raised with the Chair of the Board of Postgraduate Studies and in certain circumstances may need to follow the lines appeal which are detailed below.

Administrative Support

In most cases, administrative problems can either be addressed with Administrative staff in your Discipline or School or the Postgraduate Student Administration Unit. The Postgraduate Administration Unit are more than willing to help and for more serious matters the Postgraduate Manager may be the best person with whom to address your concerns.

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Students at Risk of Failure

Postgraduate coursework students who are considered to be at risk of failure will in the first instance be sent notification that they have been identified as a student at risk. Students considered to be at risk of failure include:

  1. students who fail to complete more than 50% of the credit points for which they enrolled
  2. students who achieve a Weighted Average Mark of less than 50%
  3. students who fail to complete a compulsory component of their course
  4. students who fail the same unit of study twice
  5. students with an unsatisfactory attendance record
  6. students who are unable to complete their course within the maximum permitted time while carrying a normal student load.

Students identified as at risk will be required to complete a staying on track survey, attend a staying on track information session and consult their course coordinator.

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Show Cause

If a Faculty believes a student has not made satisfactory progress in his or her candidature, which will occur if a student is identified as a student at risk for the second time, the Faculty may ask the student to show cause why his or her candidature should not be terminated. In such cases the Postgraduate Student Administration Unit will write to the student with instructions.

If you receive such a letter you will need to write to the Coursework Subcommittee of the Combined Board of Postgraduate Studies, within three weeks of the date on the original letter, detailing reasons why you believe your candidature should not be terminated; for example you may have had unexpected personal problems which have negatively affected your studies.

Please note that where a student does not contact Sydney Medical School within the stipulated dates, it will be assumed that there is no good cause and the candidature will be terminated.

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Appealing Academic Decisions

In cases where you are unsatisfied with an academic decision you may appeal the decision.

The first step in such instances is always to informally appeal to the person who made the decision, such as your unit of study or course coordinator, this must be done within three months of the decision being made. The relevant unit of study or course coordinator must give you a prompt response detailing why the decision was made.

If you remain unsatisfied with the decision you can then make a formal or informal appeal to your head of Discipline or School within 15 days from the discussion with your unit of study or course coordinator. In such cases the head of Discipline or School must explain the reasons for the decision made.

It is possible at this stage that you may still remain unsatisfied with the decision and at this point you are able to make an appeal to the Chair of the Board of Postgraduate Studies (who acts on behalf of the Dean). Any appeal at this stage must be received within 15 days of the previous communications with your Head of Discipline or School. Again the Chair of the Board must explain the reasons for the decision made.

If you remain unsatisfied with an academic decision of the Chair of the Board in Postgraduate Studies (Coursework students) or the Chair of the Research and Research Training Committee (Research students) then you may appeal to the Student Appeals Body. However an appeal can only be made on the ground that due academic process has not been observed by the Faculty in relation to the decision.

To do this you must lodge a written appeal to the Registrar within 21 days of the previous decision. The Faculty will be asked to give a written submission to the Student Appeals Body on the matter in question. A hearing will then be held to which you and a representative from the Faculty will be invited to attend to answer any questions the Student Appeals Body may have.

The Student Appeals Body will uphold or dismiss your appeal and may refer the issue back to the Faculty for reconsideration, make a new or amended decision, or determine that no further action should be taken in relation to the matter. The decision made by the Student Appeals Body is final and you will be notified of the outcome.

Relevant policies:
Student Appeals Against Academic Decisions – Academic Board Resolutions
University of Sydney (Student Appeals against Academic Decisions) Rule 2006

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