Complaints, Concerns & Suggestions

This is your college and we desire to create an environment in which students flourish and learn to the best of their potential. This means that we are open and committed to receiving and acting upon suggestions, complaints and reports of concerns. We have mechanisms available for each of these.

Reporting a Concern
Sometimes a student may have a serious concern about part of the College or church experience that they wish to be independently and confidentially investigated. We appreciate the need for safety, privacy and effective processes in these matters. Hillsong has several key policies and reporting mechanisms that can be found here.

Complaints and Appeals
For appeals relating to specific assessment results, see the ‘Assessment Appeals’ policy. For all other matters, including discipline, finances, and interpersonal issues, the following steps apply:

The student should first discuss the issue with his/her tutorial leader. (Students need to feel free to discuss any issues about any College related matter with their tutorial leaders.)
If the issue cannot be resolved informally in these initial discussions, the student should lodge a formal complaint or appeal. This is done by downloading, completing and submitting a Complaints or Appeals form, available on the Student Portal. These forms must be submitted within 20 days of the initial complaint/appeal.
Once the student completes the Complaints or Appeals form, they must submit the form to the Campus Manager. The College Executive Team will review the complaint/appeal within 10 working days of receipt of the form and will take all reasonable measures to finalise the process as soon as practicable.
As the College Executive Team processes the complaint, the student has the opportunity to formally present their case to the team at no cost to themself.
If a student chooses to access the complaints and appeals process, HILC will maintain the student’s enrolment while the complaint/appeal process is ongoing. To “maintain the student’s enrolment” means that the College does not notify DIBP of any change to the student’s enrolment status through PRISMS.
Students are also permitted to bring to any meetings, a person of their choice as moral support.
If the College cannot resolve the issues to the satisfaction of all parties, an independent arbitrator will be asked to oversee the case. The College has arrangements in place for independent arbitration. However please note that students have the right to have their complaint/appeal heard by an independent arbitrator at any time.
A student can request for an independent arbitrator to be involved. These services are provided by the Overseas Students Ombudsman for international students or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for domestic students.
The cost of having an independent arbitrator involved will be borne mostly by the College. An amount from $0 up to $50 may be passed on to the student. The student will be advised of this prior to any cost being incurred.
If the internal or any external complaint/appeal handling process results in a decision that supports the student, HILC must immediately implement any decision and/or corrective and preventative action required and advises the student of the outcome.
The outcome will be communicated in writing to the student.
If the student is not happy with the outcome they can contact the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) 1300 701 801 or email on complaintsteam@asqa.gov.au or the Educations Services for Overseas Students Helpline (02) 6240 5069. Alternatively, the Ombudsman’s office in each state can be accessed.

The availability of complaints and appeals processes does not remove the right of the student to take action under Australia’s consumer protection laws.

Suggestions

The College welcomes any practical suggestions or ideas from students that will assist the improvement of the college. If you do have any constructive feedback, please speak with the Head Students, email college@hillsong.com (Hills), cityadmin.hilc@hillsong.com (City), CollegeUSA@hillsong.com (USA), or make an appointment with a staff member. Appointments can be arranged via email or through the College Office.

Contact Points
All appointments with college staff are usually made via email. Staff members are available to assist students in a variety of areas. Individual email addresses are available in the staff directory at the beginning of this document. Make an appointment with the following:

Pastoral, academic, financial and enrolment issues – Tutorial leaders
Academic issues – Trainers, Tutorial Leaders
Housing issues – Accommodation Co-ordinator
Student Visa/International Student issues – International Student Contact Officer