This policy articulates the general approach of academy³ in resolving complaints relating to decisions, acts or omissions of academy³ academic or non-academic staff or committees which may adversely affect the well-being of students, and the informal and formal procedures that students should follow in pursuing grievances regarding their wellbeing. Students will be informed of the policy prior to enrolment.

All students of, or persons wishing to enrol in a course of study provided by, academy³ are entitled to access the academic complaints and policy and related procedures regardless of the location at which a complaint may have arisen, or the student’s place of residence or their mode of study.

Academic complaints may be about the decisions or actions of staff or committees at academy³. They may not be about the policies, procedures or academic standards of academy³. An appeal may be about the manner in which someone has interpreted orimplemented a policy or procedure, but it cannot be about the policy or procedure itself.

Complaints

In the first instance, complaints should be addressed to the relevant staff member. In reviewing the complaint, the staff member is obliged to adhere to the principles of natural justice, as they are understood at the time in Australian law, are to be applied. These principles include:

• The right of the complainant to obtain (on request) written reasons for the decision made, and
• The right of the complainant to comment on materials that may by adverse to them

In addition, academy³ is committed to:

• Ensuring a complainant or respondent is not victimised or discriminated against;
• Considering complaints in a consistent, transparent, objective and unbiased manner;
• Making all details of the procedures publicly available;
• Communicating the procedures in writing to all staff and ensure comprehensive training regarding comprehension and implementation of the policy’s procedures, and that amendments and their implications are understood;
• Specifying reasonable timelines for responses to each stage of the process and monitoring of these timelines;
• Allowing the complainant and / or respondent to be accompanied and / or assisted by a third party if desired;
• Keeping appropriate records of complaints for at least five years, and allow parties to the complaint appropriate access to these records;
• Ensuring that such records are treated as confidential, and;
• Reviewing the complaints-handling process regularly.

Appeals

Complaints that relate to academic process (such as assessment) and remain unresolved may be appealed. They must be reviewed externally by an independent and impartial senior officer of an unrelated RTO that is nominated by academy³ and agreed to by the appellant. The client will be informed who the independent person or body is, and the principles that apply to original complaints (listed above) will continue here.

In the event that the complainant is still aggrieved, they will be referred without delay to the legislative authority that has registered academy³, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, or the National Training Complaints Hotline on 1800 000 674.

Costs

There is no fee for the service of a complaint. The external party reviewing an appeal may, however, charge a fee for service. In the event that a complaint is upheld (in other words, resolved in the students favour), then academy³ will bear the cost of the appeal. In the event that an appeal is denied (in other words, resolved in the favour of academy³), then the student will bear the cost of the appeal. Note that the liability for costs only applies to third party charges – academy³ will not levy an administrative or other charge for this service. The student will also be fully advised of this risk and the entire cost of process prior to the commencement of the review.