Code of conduct/service guidelines for response to e-mails from students

Preamble

Note that SS, the CSE Help Desk, and certain courses already have e-mail tracking/response systems in place.

There have been instances where students have repeatedly attempted to contact a staff member by e-mail, phone, and personal visits, and have not succeeded after several weeks. There have also been isolated instances of alleged rudeness to students by academic staff.

The School should adopt a code of practice for response times to student enquiries to academic staff (among other aspects).

Categories of Students to Consider

1. Student messages relating to a course that the staff member is teaching, [including messages about enrolments in previous sessions in which the staff member taught the course.]

2. Students in a COMP/SENG/BINF course that the staff member is not teaching (i.e. not as in 1.) This category includes enquiries about supervision, e.g. of 4th year project.

3. UNSW students not connected with CSE - e.g. Final year project students and PhD students in other disciplines, seeking assistance with their projects.

4. Non-UNSW students applying for admission to our programs.

5. Non-UNSW students seeking admission to a practicum. [Some such students spam a wide range of academics, others might target carefully selected academic whose interests match their own.]

6. Non-UNSW students seeking help e.g. with an assignment.

7. Messages from UNSW students (or apparently from UNSW students) containing viruses, ads, etc.

Other Parameters

• Publicising the guidelines.

• Dealing with breaches of the guidelines.

• Unforeseen circumstances. It is recognised that academic staff will occasionally be unable to respond promptly to messages, e.g. because of illness or similar problems. If possible the staff member should contact someone in the School (e.g. the Associate Head of School). The person contacted, whether AssocHoS or not, should then agree with the affected staff member on arrangements for rapidly passing on the information to appropriate parts of the School, e.g. persons with whom the staff member shares a teaching assignment, the School Office, and possibly e-mailing the staff member's class. Depending on the severity of the problem, either the affected staff member, or the contacted staff member, might take the lead in contacting these third parties.

UNSW's CRICOS Provider No. is 00098G
Last updated: