Student Support Services

Academic Support 

PIA offers multiple academic-related support services, including academic skills workshops, group or individual consultation sessions, and online resources.

Workshops 

Study skills workshops are conducted throughout the teaching period either on campus or virtually. The study skills workshop is available to all PIA students to access free academic skills support. Study skills are express workshops that are scheduled for 30-60 minutes. There will be ample opportunity to ask and answer specific questions. The topics covered include:

• Reading, research and study skills
• Academic English
• Academic writing skills
• Referencing skills
• Presentation skills
• Examination preparation and writing techniques
• Time management and organisation.

There are a range of academic and professional skills workshops, either face-to-face or online, delivered each Semester. Attending the workshops also gives students the chance to ask any question relating to their assignment or issue.

Make sure you mark down in your diary the schedule of your interested workshops and how they are delivered, i.e. online or face-to-face, and at which campus. If it is a webinar, you can join by clicking on the provided Zoom links at the scheduled date and time.

You can also watch the recorded videos of the online workshops afterwards. 

If you are interested in any topics relating to academic and professional skills that have not been presented here, feel free to email us at acsupport@pia.ed.u.au. 

Consultations 

The Academic Support Officer is available for consultation to provide group or individual academic learning support to students that is not degree specific. 

The Academic Learning Support Officer is available Monday to Friday 9 am to 5pm. To contact the Academic Support Officer or to make a booking for a consultation, email acsupport@pia.edu.au 

At-risk intervention 

The at-risk intervention, which is conducted every semester, aims to assist students in progressing satisfactorily with their studies.  

During a teaching period, students who do not meet the progression rules, or are identified by teaching staff as having issues in undertaking their assessments, are identified as being at-risk. These students are then required to attend academic support meetings to assist with their learning and completing assessments. It is at this time that these students will enter a student learning agreement. They will also be provided specific support from their teaching staff and the Academic Support Officer to assist them to get back on track. The academic support continues until the staff providing the support is of the opinion the student should be able to continue without assistance; however, their performance (assessment results) continues to be monitored to ensure they are performing in a manner that will see them pass the unit(s).  At the end of the study period, if these students are still identified to be at risk, an Intervention Strategy plan will be put in place. 

This process is documented in the Student at Risk and Early Intervention Policy and Procedure and Course Progress Policy and Procedure.  

Academic Integrity Module 

Academic integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship. Assessments exist to help students learn; grades exist to show how fully this goal is attained. Therefore, all work, and all grades should result from a student’s own understanding and effort.  It is our responsibility at PIA to ensure that all students understand the academic requirements expected of them. PIA has an Academic Integrity Module (AIM), which is compulsory for all students. 

Students can set up individual appointments with Academic support officers if they need more help in understanding academic Integrity.  

Academic Integrity Module (AIM) is available on Moodle and must be completed by all students in order to attain healthy academic progression.  

Student Mentors 

We understand that for many commencing international students, living and studying in a new environment can be both exciting and challenging. 

PIA provides a Student Mentor program designed to make the transition into PIA and study life as enjoyable and rewarding as possible. This provides an informal and relaxed environment where the students can query matters at MIT and beyond. 

Enrich your leadership skills 

Volunteering to become a Mentor is an ideal way to get involved with the PIA Community and make connections while having fun and developing your leadership skills. Caring, hardworking, and mature students who are willing to take on a leadership role in our program are those students who we are looking for. Within a fun and supportive environment, we offer you the ability to increase your leadership skills. As a Student Mentor you will be required to meet, motivate and engage with commencing international students to create an environment which assists the transition of students to life in Australia. All these factors will advance your personal and professional goals and assist you to become a better leader. 

Online Library 

As a student at PIA, you have access to a range of online databases which will provide you with academic resources. As part of your study with us, you are expected to demonstrate research from credible sources and make use of these digital databases. You can access these databases here. The resources available from PIA include.

EBSCOhost: This database allows you to access research databases, journals, and academic texts. It is useful for broad searches when you are at the start of your research project and searching for a wide range of materials. 

Oxford Academic: This database is quite similar to EBSCOhost but through a different publisher, which allows you access to a different range of materials. We recommend that you use Oxford Academic when you are looking for materials such as full academic books and journals articles. 

Oxford Reference: Provided by the same publisher as Oxford Academic, Oxford Reference allows you to access introductory information on a topic or concept. While you will not find very in-depth research, you will find broad and accurate reviews of topics. This is certainly helpful for reviewing ideas, checking your accuracy of certain understandings, and getting started on researching a concept you are not familiar with before you start doing more research. 

JSTOR: Another database available to all students. JSTOR has a wide range of academic articles and books, which are largely peer-reviewed materials, which are significantly more trustworthy. JSTOR is also a great resource when you are looking for primary resources and historical research and resources. 

Finally, you are also free to make use of Google Scholar. This is accessible to everyone just like a standard google search and is not specially provided by PIA. Google Scholar gives you free unpaid access to a wide range of academic publications. However, there are two issues to be careful of. Google Scholar will only search for published materials though these texts might be locked behind a paywall. Second, Google Scholar functions through algorithms to locate academic materials, but that does not necessarily mean that these materials are always of good quality. Make sure to always evaluate texts, especially from Google Scholar. 

Health & Wellbeing 

PIA provides a range of non-academic student support services in line with its Well-being and Safety. The students’ first point of contact is the Student Services and Administrative Officers who are available at the front desk or via email at info@pia.edu.au or support@pia.edu.au to assist with all their non-academic-related enquires. All Student Support Services staff is available Monday to Friday 9-5pm. 

 As explained within the Student Support Framework all the support services that are external to PIA are accessible through a referral service. Any referrals made by PIA are at no cost to the student, but fees and charges may apply where an external service is used by the student, and when referred students are reminded this should be clarified by the student prior to using such external services. Our Student Services and Administrative Officers can either provide assistance or direct the students to access support during times of stress or pressure during the course. Students may make an appointment for advice relating to the study, such as:  

• Time management issues 
• Setting and achieving learning goals 
• Motivation 
• Ways of learning 
• Managing assessment tasks 
• Self-care 

PIA is working with the ‘Harman Foundation’ as an additional external support service to PIA students as it is culturally relevant to the PIA student cohort. The vision of the Harman Foundation is to aid members of the community who are subject to emotional trauma, anxiety, stress, and suffering caused by unforeseen circumstances. PIA promotes Harman Foundation seminars to students and uses the Foundation as a referral service for the following services: 

• Support of persons with a disability 
• Crisis support 
• Bereavement services 
• Family support services 
• Food support services 
• 24-hour helpline 
• Direct peer support 
• Chaplaincy services  

Counselling and External Support services 

For students who are struggling with balancing work, family and study requirements, having difficulty adjusting to a new culture, working through grief, dealing with family, financial or medical issues or another area that may negatively impact on mental health or ability to study, PIA can provide a referral to Tonic Psychology. Students can request a referral to counselling using the student request form sent to the Registrar (support@pia.edu.au). This service is provided free of charge and is confidential. It will not be mentioned to PIA staff, family members or other students if you choose to make use of this service. Referral services are offered to international student to ensure that students can achieve expected learning outcomes regardless of the place of study or the mode of study of the course, this is done at no additional cost to the overseas student. 

Student Representative Council 

An important channel for your feedback is student representatives committee at PIA. Contact your student representatives to give your suggestions for improving your units, course or other aspects of student life. 

The Student Representative Council (SRC) has a responsibility, delegated by the Board of Directors (BoD) to Polytechnic Institute Australia (PIA) to ensure that students have opportunities to participate in the deliberative and decision-making processes of PIA’s corporate and academic governance. 

Overall, the SRC is to contribute to PIA’s boards and committees, especially on issues that impact students. 

The SRC is responsible for the organisation of social events representing the diversity of the student cohorts. 

IT Services 

As a PIA student, you will have access to the following Systems: 

1. PIA Student Portal - You will also need to update your details on your Student Portal. 

2. Microsoft Office 365 suite. This includes access to your student email and the licensed Microsoft Office software such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. 

3. Moodle. This is your Learning Management System, where you will find your learning resources, assessments, assignment submission, your unit content and activities, and so on. 

4.Help System (Freshdesk). This is where you can find answers to Frequently Asked Questions and see the status of enquiries you have emailed in.  

Extensive training Material is available on Moodle for each system. You can also get in touch with IT support team by email support@pia.edu.au. Alternatively, please see a student support officer on campus.