Sarah Bendall leads the newly established National Student Ombudsman (NSO) which started taking complaints from 1 February 2025. The Department of Education caught up with Sarah to discuss the role and her vision for the NSO.
Q: Congratulations Sarah on your appointment to lead the National Student Ombudsman. What is the purpose of the NSO?
Thank you! It’s an absolute privilege to be leading the National Student Ombudsman.
The NSO is a new, independent, and free service for students to help them resolve complaints about the actions of their higher education provider. We resolve complaints on the basis of what is fair, reasonable, and lawful, taking into consideration each student’s unique circumstances. Using the power of individual complaints, we can also make recommendations for broader systemic improvements within the higher education sector.
The NSO was established as a result of the Australian Universities Accord Final Report and forms part of the Action Plan to address gender-based violence in higher education.
Q: What interested you in the role?
I’ve worked in dispute resolution for almost 25 years and have seen first-hand how powerful it can be for people to participate in processes to resolve their conflict. I think sometimes we don’t realise the impact that unresolved conflict can have on our health and wellbeing. I’m also a firm believer in the power of complaints to identify systemic improvements to services, and I love seeing organisations embrace this attitude by respecting and prioritising the voice of their customers or clients.
I loved my time at university and want to ensure that all students can realise the transformative potential of higher education for themselves and for our community. Through my role with the NSO, I want to help make Australia’s higher education sector the best in the world for student experience.
Q: What experience do you bring to the NSO?
I’m a lawyer by trade, but alongside practicing as a lawyer, I’ve always worked in roles involving dispute resolution. I’ve led dispute resolution teams, large and small, in areas ranging from sexual harassment, discrimination, consumer law, telecommunications, domestic building, child protection, public housing, and health services and I’ve used a range of different resolution processes - from mediation and less formal dispute resolution, through to formal investigations and systemic investigations. I’ve also spent some time working in the courts system. So, my experience is very practical, but, also, almost entirely the result of the thousands of people who have courageously come forward across my career to lodge their complaint and to be heard as a voice for change.
Q: What are the challenges and opportunities for the NSO?
As the NSO is a brand-new service, one challenge we’re focussed on now is ensuring all 1.6 million higher education students know about the NSO and how to contact us. We’re inviting everyone to help us with this challenge by heading to our website (nso.gov.au) to learn more, following us on our socials or reaching out to us at NSOOutreach@ombudsman.gov.au for engagement opportunities.
A really exciting opportunity for us is to drive systemic improvements in the student experience across the country, in particular in areas related to student safety. Through NSO services, we can gather data from complaints to shine a light on what students believe are the main issues impacting their student experience. We can then work with the sector to find solutions to these issues.
Q: What do you hope the NSO will achieve?
First and foremost, I hope many students and higher education providers can resolve their individual disputes in a way that preserves their relationship and helps them to move forward. But, in addition, I hope the NSO can leverage the power of complaints handling to drive systemic change within universities and more broadly across the sector to ensure that the student experience is the best that it can be for all students, whether that’s in terms of safety and wellbeing, or in areas like communication with students and the administration of courses.
Q: What types of complaints and issues will the NSO handle?
We can handle a broad range of complaints about the actions of higher education providers. This includes:
- student safety and welfare
- racism and racial vilification
- gender-based violence
- course administration
- teaching provisions and facilities
- fairness and effectiveness of student complaint processes
- reasonable adjustments
Our service is for all higher education students, including domestic and international, first-year and postgraduate students. There is no time limit on raising an issue.
We can accept anonymous complaints, and students can ask a representative to lodge a complaint on their behalf. We are also interested in hearing about systemic issues where the outcome is not related to one individual experience.
Q: How can students contact the NSO?
It’s really easy to make a complaint to the NSO. Students can lodge an online complaint via our website: nso.gov.au, or call us on 1300 395 775, or visit us in-person at one of our offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, or Sydney.
We encourage students to contact us for information and advice, especially if they’re unsure whether they want to make a complaint.
We also have an Education and Outreach team who can provide resources and information sessions for student groups as well as higher education staff and complaint handlers. Our Education and Outreach team can be contacted via email: NSOoutreach@ombudsman.gov.au
Q: Will the NSO cover students taking a short course or micro-credentials?
If those students are enrolled with a registered higher education provider, then yes!
Q: Can the National Student Ombudsman consider complaints from VET students?
The NSO can only consider complaints from students who are undertaking higher education studies with a TEQSA registered higher education provider.
Students enrolled in VET courses with public providers can continue to escalate complaints to their state or territory ombudsmen offices.
Q: What can be done to ensure student safety on campus and what role can the NSO play?
We know from the research that not enough has been done to ensure student safety on campus, particularly in relation to gender-based violence, and our office will be looking closely at how providers are responding to reports about sexual assault and harassment – whether their policies are fair, and whether they’re taking appropriate steps to make sure that impacted students can continue their studies.
The NSO will be responding to individual student complaints about safety, but we can also investigate and report publicly on our findings and recommendations for the sector.
To find out more about the role of the National Student Ombudsman, head to www.nso.gov.au