Where to Find Help with Your Studies

When it comes to starting university or other tertiary courses, understanding the course curriculum won’t always come easy, particularly if you are an international student or you’ve never studied at university before. 

Juggling lectures, assignments, and social life – student life in Sydney is exciting but can also get overwhelming.  Whether you’re facing a tricky concept, struggling to manage your time, or simply feeling burnt out, there’s a wealth of support available to help you succeed.  

Let’s take a look at the support options that each university offers.

The University of Sydney

The University of Sydney offers a range of support options including: 

• Indigenous student support
• Career services
• Health, wellbeing and support services
• Learning support
• Mentoring

Within the learning support area, the university offers a learning hub for academic language and learning, a learning hub for mathematics, and peer-facilitated programs.

The peer-facilitated programs have been designed to support social interaction and community building through a safe space for students to connect and meet friends, and learn valuable professional and study skills. Programs are targeted to all students, with specific programs to international students, and these free sessions can be accessed online via Zoom. 

When it comes to mentoring services, the University of Sydney offers quite a range of services for students, but the peer mentoring services are best when looking to settle into university life. There are also several libraries and study spaces available when you need new scenery or need to work collaboratively.

Macquarie University

Macquarie University provides a range of student support options including: 

• Study support
• Personal support
• International student
• Student care
• Accessibility and disability 

There is quite an extensive study support program at Macquarie University including the  Academic Progression Self-Assessment Tool to help you reflect on your study habits. The Writing Centre will help develop your academic, communication, English Language and study skills, while the Peer Support programs offer mentors, faculty mentoring, peer assisted study sessions and a buddy program. 

If you need help with a particular unit, the peer assisted study sessions are “weekly student-led revision sessions that aim to deepen your understanding of unit content and facilitate your learning.” 

Australian Catholic University

The Australian Catholic University provides an extensive range of student support options including:

• Academic skills development
• Peer assisted study sessions

The Academic Skills Unit is a great option when you want to build the underlying math and literacy skills necessary for university study. This unit is a good support both when starting uni, and throughout your degree. 

The Peer Assisted Study Sessions are targeted towards first year students, and is a free, voluntary, academic support program that provides weekly small-group peer-led study sessions for specific first-year units that are known to be difficult.

These sessions start in week two of each semester and it is recommended to attend these sessions each week.

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame has  a range of support services that are accessible to bolster your academic journey. Learning advisors are on hand to aid you in enhancing your study skills, academic writing, and mathematical abilities.

You can book a face to face meeting with a Learning Advisor to discuss study skills, academic writing and mathematics while every semester there are several lunchtime workshops to assist students develop key academic skills. The university also runs Peer Assisted Study Sessions which are optional student-led study groups to help deepen your understanding of the content and skills in your course, in a collaborative learning environment.

In addition, the University of Notre Dame offers Studiosity, 24/7 study support and writing feedback service, that is available for free to all Notre Dame students. Studiosity allows you to gain feedback on your writing before you submit an assignment, or connect live with a specialist to get instant feedback and advice. 

University of New South Wales

Like all universities, the University of New South Wales provides a range of student support options, including: 

• Peer support
• International student support
• Academic skills
• IT and ELearning
• Financial help 

The peer support program gives you the opportunity to connect to a student mentor across both community and faculty areas, with each faculty providing their own peer support programs. 

Within the community programs, the international student programs provide a lot of opportunities to have questions answered about studying at the uni, English conversation workshops and a language exchange program where you can be matched with up to three students that speak their language of choice for reciprocal learning. 

Western Sydney University

Western Sydney University offers two main streams of support for students:

• Online study support
• International student support

Within the online and general study support, there are several Student Advisors available seven days a week with extended hours to help you when you have a question. The Student Advisors can assist with essay writing, technology support or research advice. You will also have access to Online Learning Advisors, assessment support and an online community of students. 

As an international student there are bridging programs, workshops on public speaking and time management, and Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) to make your transition to University as smooth as possible. These programs are all designed to help you succeed at uni. 

University of Technology, Sydney 

The University of Technology in Sydney have quite an extensive student support system, including: 

• Academic support
• One-on-one study advice
• Health and wellbeing
• IT and learning tools 
• Community
• Accessibility 
• Financial 
• Administration, exam and enrolment 

The one-on-one study advice sessions are a great opportunity to get personalised study advice and assistance with assignments from librarians. There is also drop-in writing assistance and online writing reviews available. 

Within the academic support area you can get assistance with research and referencing, as well as math and science one-on-one assistance. The IT and learning tools support can help you get started or get help with essential learning and collaboration tools.

There are also several council-run libraries across the city with free wi-fi and plenty of librarians who can point you in the right direction. 

Looking for Student Accommodation Near your Sydney University Campus? 

Living High Co-Living offers affordable student accommodation close to several university campuses. If you’re studying in Sydney and looking for shared accommodation, we’d love to help you find your new home. 

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