SUPRA Advice and Advocacy

20/12/2017

For students with last minute issues:

The University shut down period runs from 22 Dec - 8 January. This time IS NOT considered as working days for the purposes of appeal time limits.

SUPRA opens again on 8 January and will be operating as usual, including drop ins and scheduled appointments.

We wish you all a safe and relatively restful holiday period (We feel for you HDR students and know you're still under the gun). Take care and stay tuned for further information, resources etc in 2018.

20/12/2017

Seasons Greeting to all - wishing you all a refreshing and safe break from the SAAO team.

18/12/2017

Good outcomes with letters of demand!

Recently we've been helping students draft letters of demand for renting matters where their landlords are refusing to return bonds and other amounts and the letters of demand are working:-)

A letter of demand is quite an easy document to draft but can be extremely effective in making the other party understand that you are willing to take further action if they don't respond to your request for payment.

Critical to a letter of demand (or really in any renting context) is that you have an address to send the letter of demand to.
Generally you send a letter of demand to a landlord's home or business address.

If you don't have these details your hands are tied in terms of getting your money back. Even if you have a really great moral or legal argument to support your claim.

If you want to talk about letters of demand, you can come and talk to the casework team or the lovely Ingrid, our senior solicitor.

18/12/2017

Thinking of appealing an academic decision?

To appeal an academic decision you must address specific criteria

Many students come to us saying "I got 45 overall, I want to appeal to see if I can get 50 and pass the unit"....

Usually your appeal will not be successful unless you are able to highlight practical breaches of the Assessment Principles, as articulated in the Coursework Policy 2014, pt 14 http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2014/378&RendNum=0. The Assessment Procedures 2011 also has info - http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2012/267&RendNum=0

What you are looking for is situations where the principles have not been met in a practical context, for instance, the nature of the assessment was not clearly articulated to you, the marking was not consistent across markers, or where you were expected to do an assessment on something not covered in the Unit.

Please note that it is not sufficient to appeal an academic decision based on a Principle alone. You will not be able to appeal a decision unless you can demonstrate that there has been a failure of Due Academic Process as set out in pt 2 of the University of Sydney (Student Appeals against Academic Decisions) Rule 2006 - https://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2012/253&RendNum=0

15/12/2017

Interesting article about significant others of PhD students.... personal to me, having a partner go through the process of doing a PhD.

From outside looking in, I saw first hand the emotional toll a PhD can take. My partner was isolated from their friends and their extended family. Their life for a long time was work, PhD and immediate family commitments only and I can only imagine how stifling that was at times! Added to that was the constant self doubt and anxiety around outputs. Those were long and hard years for us both in different ways, but I wouldn't have done it otherwise 🙂

It’s almost Christmas time, when many of us have a bit of time with our families. It seems an appropriate place to pause and think about the myriad of ways that our families provide support f…

13/12/2017

Fantastic to see the page grow! Thanks to all who have "liked" or followed us! Lets see if we can create a real community here!

This is an information page for Usyd Postgrads run by the SUPRA SAAO team. For personalized casework assistance, contact SUPRA direct.

13/12/2017

This is the busiest time for our SAAO team! We know that many students will be wanting to sort things out before the end of the academic year.....

If you have an appointment and you need to show us documentation it can be really useful if you send the documentation to us electronically before your appointment. You can send docs to the [email protected] email account. Make sure you also provide your name and SID.

Your SAAOs and the SUPRA Senior Solicitor, the lovely Ingrid, will then hopefully be able to review your documents beforehand and this will help us to be able to assist you as much as possible in the appointment :-)

13/12/2017

Want to leave for the holidays, but also wanting to come back to your rental property afterwards?

You might consider subletting.

There are ways to do subletting that don't cause pain to all involved - at SUPRA we would suggest that there are a few steps that you should take to sublet without pain:

1. ask your landlord (and co-tenants if you have them!) for consent to sublet - your landlord cannot unreasonably refuse your request - asking them is important because you don't want to be in breach;

2. when you get a yes, get it in writing and keep it safe;

3. Choose someone you think will take care of the place - you are responsible for damage that they cause - they are your responsibility - ensure they can pay the rent;

4. Do a formal subletting agreement - this sets out the terms, including the time they will live there, the money they will pay (including bond), what space they will occupy ;

5. Take a bond. Bonds are normally 4 weeks rent equivalent. You should lodge the bond with NSW Fair Trading;

6. Give receipts for the bond paid and any rent.

7. Do a condition report and take photos of the room or property before the person moves in. You can download a condition report here -http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/Tenants_and_home_owners/Condition_report.pdf

The Tenants Union of NSW has a great resource on subletting that provides further info, including a template subletting agreement - https://www.tenants.org.au/factsheet-18-transfer-and-sub-letting

Keeping it professional keeps you safe and makes things clear for all.

12/12/2017

So, what do you do if you get a mark in your exam that you think isn't fair?

The first step is to request an informal appeal. This needs to be done within 15 business days of becoming aware of the decision.

Now, the Student Affairs Unit shuts down on 22 December, reopening on 8 January. Advice from staff is that the closure period does not count in terms of the 15 business days.

The informal appeal consists of contacting your relevant unit of study co-ordinator, teacher or administrative unit - whoever was responsible for the decision you are appealing.

They should explain the rationale for your mark, specific to your individual assessment. Sometimes this can involve sitting down and going through the physical assessment with them.

12/12/2017

So the SRC has Abe the dog for Q & A.... perhaps we should follow suit? I'm particularly fond of this fellow.

Now what to name him? Suggestions?

11/12/2017

Hoping all coursework students have done well in their exams to date! Home run now!

Exam results are out next week.... we'll be focusing on academic appeals posts so that students who are concerned that they were not assessed fairly can know the process of appealing an academic decision.

07/12/2017

Awesome day talking about the different structures of student associations and how they assist students. Everything from food banks to onsite independent counsellors to renting accommodation for emergency housing for students who are homeless.

So many ideas, looking forward to bringing them home to usyd!

Oh and the campus at UWA is fab! It has peacocks!