Australia Appoints First National Student Ombuds

Sarah Bendall has been named Australia's first independent National Student Ombudsman and will start taking new cases in February 2025. In this new role, she has a broad mandate to investigate student complaints and resolve disputes with universities, especially in cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Her office is within the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, which oversees many federal agencies and corporations.

As the National Student Ombuds, Bendall has legislated investigatory powers and a mandate to:

• consider whether decisions and actions taken by higher education providers are unreasonable, unjust, oppressive, discriminatory, or otherwise wrong
• recommend a provider takes specific steps to resolve the complaint
• share information with relevant regulators for further compliance action if needed
• offer a restorative engagement process between the student and the provider where appropriate, and
• bring parties together to resolve complaints through an alternative resolution process.

Bendall brings two decades of experience in complaints management, investigations and dispute resolution from a variety of state departments and agencies. Most recently, she was the Chief Dispute Resolution Officer for Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety. She graduated from Monash University and earned a Masters at the University of Melbourne. (AG Media Centre; LinkedIn.)

Related posts: Survey Finds Students Do Not Trust Australian University Ombuds; Report May End Australian Proposal for National Student Ombuds; Job Posting: University of Newcastle, Australia; JIOA: Proposing a Model for Ombuds Supervision; Office for the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to Consider Group Complaints from Students; Australia Set to Create National Student Ombuds Program.