In December 2024, the University Executive Education Committee approved a set of minimum due diligence standards to be completed by all Faculties and University Schools (1) before executing agreements with placement providers, or (2) before allowing a student to go on placement. This ensures all placements facilitated by the University of Sydney are designed and managed with a high level of consideration for students’ learning quality, wellbeing and safety.  

 Six areas constitute the minimum standards: 

1. Learning experience alignment with a unit of study or course learning outcomes 
2. Quality of supervision by partner organisation 
3. Appropriate work health and safety systems at the partner organisation 
4. Minimal modern slavery risk to the University 
5. Appropriate management of any conflict of interest 
6. Minimum insurance requirements of the partner organisation 

 Minimum standards

Compliance is monitored by the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education). 

Due diligence on placements and providers process maps 2025

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (xlsx, 23KB)
• Faculty of Engineering (xlsx, 25KB)
• Faculty of Medicine and Health (xlsx, 56KB)
• Faculty of Science (xlsx, 32KB)
• School of Architecture, Design and Planning (xlsx, 24KB)
• Sydney Business School (xlsx, 24KB)
• Sydney Conservatorium of Music (xlsx, 23KB)
• Sydney Law School (xlsx, 25KB)

To learn more about local due diligence processes for delivering student placements or request an amendment to a due diligence map, please email [email protected].

The Know Your Partner & Project Tool (KYPPT) is a streamlined due diligence check of prospective partners and activities for potential risks, including business misconduct, human rights violations, military links and reputational concerns.  

Before engaging with a new placement provider, or when renewing a Student Placement Agreement with an existing provider, we should confirm there are no red flags in the KYPPT.

A Hot Tip for using the Tool: The Tool can make partial matches on search terms. Try to few different terms to ensure are no matches. 

For more information, visit the Know Your Partner & Project Tool intranet page.

A Student Placement Agreement (SPA) is a legal contract that defines the relationship between the University of Sydney and the Placement Provider. SPAs outline the obligations, roles, and responsibilities of each party and must be signed by both parties to be valid. 

All placements whether domestic or international based must have an SPA in place before students are permitted to attend. The duration of the SPA must be valid for the entire placement period.

Exceptions may be considered for specific international self-sourced opportunities that satisfy the requirements of section 9(a) of the Student Placement and Projects Policy 2015.  In which case, an alternative pathway for the placement must be pursued. For details visit the International self-sourced student placements page.

Fast Track Contract(s) is an automated workflow designed to simplify and streamline low-risk and low-negotiation non-clinical Student Placement Agreements. It offers a user-friendly automisation and guides users through the process of preparing, reviewing and arranging of lower-risk agreements, with visibility and support at every stage. It’s available to all staff and affiliates and on your computer, mobile or tablet.  

The Student Placement and Projects Policy 2015 outlines a series of requirements to ensure the safety and quality of student placements. Under the recommendation of Internal Audit in 2024, the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) undertook work to clarify who should be accountable, responsible, consulted and informed for each requirement within the University. 

The RACI matrix:

• Responsible – performs the work to meet requirements. 
• Accountable – answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the work to meet requirements. 
• Consulted – provides input based on their expertise before a decision or action related to the work to meet requirements.
• Informed – meeds to be updated on specific points of the work to meet requirements. 

A spreadsheet of RACI matrices (xlsx, 931KB) was developed as a tool for faculties and University schools to assess compliance and consider best practices when reviewing their allocation of placement delivery roles and responsibilities. There are three versions of the matrices that complement each other:

• By policy – the placements delivery roles and responsibilities exactly as expressed in University policy.
• Best practice – an exemplar endorsed by the University Executive Education Committee on how placements delivery roles and responsibilities could be allocated.
• Current state – the allocation of placements delivery roles and responsibilities in each Faculty and University School as of November 2024. 

If you have a question about the implementation of any placement delivery requirement, please contact the Responsible staff member mapped in the relevant faculty or University school’s current state RACI matrix. If your question is about the requirement itself, please email [email protected].

The Placement Managers Network (PMN) consists of placement managers representing the different faculties and schools at a senior level. This is a collaborative group for placement managers to share information and pain points, troubleshoot and raise any concerns in coordinating, supporting and student placement delivery.  

Checking in with our students during placement is an essential component of ensuring a positive student experience and meeting TEQSA compliance obligations.

To promote institute-wide alignment, the digital Placement Check-In form is available to all faculties and schools managing their Work Integrated Learning (WIL) activities in Sonia.  

The form contains a set of UE-EC endorsed questions designed to help users assess placement progress, student satisfaction and wellbeing.  

Training videos and resources on the USYD Check-in form can be found via the Sonia Squad on Microsoft Teams.