Postgraduate Advocacy Service

SUPRA employs a professional team of caseworkers who can assist you with academic and welfare issues while you are a postgraduate student at the University of Sydney.

Caseworkers can help with: 

  • academic appeals
  • academic integrity breaches
  • bullying
  • complaints
  • contact with faculty or the University
  • discrimination
  • harassment
  • Higher Degree by Research issues
  • housing and renting issues
  • misconduct
  • research integrity
  • research supervision
  • Show Good Cause and exclusion
  • sexual assault
  • special consideration
  • supervision.

If you have a problem that is not on this list, contact us and we may be able to assist, or refer you to the appropriate service. 

If you have a legal issue – such as needing advice on visas, intellectual property, or fines – our Legal Service can help you.

How to get help from the Postgraduate Advocacy Service

1. Join SUPRA. If you’re not already a member, sign up.

2. Fill in our contact form. Choose what type of issue you need help with and upload documents about your enquiry.

For some types of issues, you can choose to get help through our Phone Advice Line.

If you don’t want to use the form, you can email us your question. Please remember to attach any relevant documents to your email.

SUPRA administration will contact you if we need any further details.

3. Depending on what service you choose:

  • Your enquiry will be assigned to a caseworker who will respond to you during working hours (9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday). Depending on how busy we are, you will get a response from a caseworker within 1 to 5 business days. We know that you’re anxious to get help and we will respond to you as quickly as we can.

OR

  • If you choose our Phone Advice Line a caseworker will call you during the following times (excluding public holidays):

Monday, 1–3pm

Wednesday, 1–3pm

You will receive a reminder email on the day of your call-back.

Phone Advice Line

Coursework students using an Australian phone number can choose to get help through our Phone Advice Line for the following types of issues:

  • academic appeals
  • academic integrity breaches
  • rental bond or security deposit disputes
  • special consideration
  • late discontinuation under special circumstances.

Just fill in our contact form, choose ‘Phone Advice Line’ and a professional caseworker will call you during the following times (excluding public holidays):

Monday, 1–3pm

Wednesday, 1–3pm.

You will receive a reminder email on the day of your call-back. If you require ongoing assistance, your matter will be referred to our regular casework service for advice and assistance.

SUPRA Postgraduate Advocacy Service policy and procedures

At SUPRA we treat your communication with us as confidential. We are independent from the University so your information will not be shared without your consent, except in specific situations where release of information will protect people from harm, or a legal requirement exists. We work with postgrad students to foster your own strengths and abilities, and to learn from shared experiences.

Policy:

Download the SUPRA Postgraduate Advocate and Policy Officer Policy as a Word document.
Download the SUPRA Postgraduate Advocate and Policy Officer Policy as a PDF.

Ratified by SUPRA Council 28 October 2021.

SUPRA Legal Service

Our Legal Service employs experienced solicitors to provide advice, advocacy and representation for postgraduate students at the University of Sydney