In Australia, the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) was enacted to protect students from unscrupulous education service providers and to enhance the reputation of the Australia's education export industry. The ESOS Act requires the establishment of the National Code of Practice for Registration Authorities and Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students (National Code) to provide a nationally consistent code of conduct for education providers including universities.

This article analyses the provision of the independent grievance handling/dispute resolution which the National Code obliges education providers to arrange where the grievance of an overseas student is not resolved to the student's satisfaction. The actual application of this provision has proved problematic, as the University of Melbourne recently demonstrated considerable confusion in terms of its understanding of its legal obligations under the Code. The article refers to a recent case at the University of Melbourne involving a complaint from an overseas PhD student who was studying at the Law School.