About us

The establishment of the NSO is a recommendation of the Australian Universities Accord Final Report.

The NSO also forms part of the Action Plan to address gender-based violence in higher education.

We handle complaints on a range of issues, including:

• student safety and welfare
• racism
• gender-based violence
• course administration
• teaching provisions and facilities
• disciplinary processes
• reasonable adjustments

We provide accessible, safe and confidential services for all students, offering multiple channels for submitting a complaint, including an anonymous report option.

Students can also contact us for information and advice, especially if you are unsure whether you want to make a complaint.

The NSO can help:

• if you are dissatisfied with how your complaint was handled by your higher education provider
• if you believe a decision was made in error or that your higher education provider has acted unfairly
• if you can’t directly make a complaint to your higher education provider

We will provide advice and guidance on the complaint process.

If we aren’t the right area for your issue, we will arrange a referral for you.

Ombudsman is a Nordic term and essentially means ‘representative’.

The advantage of an ombudsman is that they examine complaints from outside the institution.

The National Student Ombudsman cannot make a new decision for your matter.

What we will do is consider the way a decision was made and can make recommendations to your higher education provider on how the decision or process could be improved.