Our process is designed to make sure you are not academically disadvantaged as a result of making a complaint, while also protecting our staff from frivolous or malicious complaints.
Our Complaints Policy differentiates between informal and formal complaints, and focuses on resolving concerns and complaints. The policy defines an informal complaint as a matter that is impacting on a student’s learning, which has been raised with a member of the Land Based Training team, but which the student does not wish to be escalated to a formal complaint. A formal complaint is a signed, written statement or email about a matter that requires formal consideration and resolution, and which is submitted to the Academic and Compliance Manager. The complaint must contain sufficient detail to enable investigation.
We recommend that before you raise a formal complaint that you contact the Academic and Compliance Manager by email to see whether the problem can be resolved informally. Often disputes are a result of a misunderstanding, and most times these can be resolved quickly.
Other avenues for resolving complaints you might find helpful are NZQA, the Disputes Tribunal, the Human Rights Commission, or the Office of the Ombudsman. If the complaint relates to financial or contractual matters NZQA may refer you to a Disputes Resolution Scheme.
Please note, all of these will have expected that you would have exhausted the Land Based Training complaints processes in the first instance before they will investigate.