The beginning of first semesters at University have a particular magic to them – a sense of newness, re-invention, and of freedom. If you’re a first year, they’re the beginning of a course, shiny like glitter in the sun. If you’re in second or subsequent years, it’s either the opportunity to do better or to build on your previous academic successes; the glitter has hardened but it’s still shiny. If it’s the last year, it’s the beginning of the end (one that you’ll celebrate by never using glitter again because it gets everywhere).

So let’s take a moment to enjoy such a reverie of beginnings.

Done?

Ok, so there’s some information that might become useful to you. Something you should keep in the back of your mind; a-break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type deal.

UMSU, your dearest union, is independent from the University. One of its many offerings include an Advocacy Service.

The Advocacy Service consists of a small team of four fabulous senior advocates, a fabulous student services officer and fabulous manager (there’s a whole lotta fabulousness here).

We can help you with most things that relate to your enrolment or academic life here at University, like help you navigate the bureaucracy of special consideration, respond to allegations of misconduct (whether general or academic), or respond to academic progress show cause notices.

We’re here to guide you through what can be complicated procedural stuff, and to do that we also have heaps of info on our website which you can see here: https://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/support/advocacy/. It has guides on the hot topics, links to the policies that relate, and importantly, templates to help you with the important documents. We also have a drop-in service that we operate from 2 pm – 4 pm, Monday to Thursday (last drop in is at 3:45pm). During the drop-in time, we can have a quick chat to you to guide you on your next steps, or if it’s a bit more complicated than that we can allocate you an advocate to help you through the next stage, or give you some more detailed advice.

The best way to get in touch is through our contact form: https://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/support/advocacy/contact/. We monitor this daily and endeavour to respond to your query within 24 hours.

So, hopefully, you won’t need our services. But if you do, don’t hesitate to get in touch.