Thousands of Adelaide Uni students in limbo amid comms chaos
“Sorry, I’m late. I didn’t know I was teaching this class ’til last night.” Claims over confusion and communications chaos at the new Adelaide University are emerging, with FOI data showing more than 3100 students were still waiting for answers to queries on orientation day.
More than 3100 unanswered student enquiries over enrolments, costs and credits were sitting in the new Adelaide University’s customer relationship inbox on February 9, 2026, according to data released under Freedom of Information.
On that day, new students were starting orientation week at the institution that merged the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia, with teaching beginning two weeks afterwards.
Greens leader Robert Simms was “flabbergasted” by the figure revealed after he lodged an FOI request, while a student union representative thought the number would be worse saying the new entity was riddled with “poor communication”.
Adelaide University Student Association Co-Chair Yeshaiah Varona said while the 3100 figure was “quite high”, he acknowledged the university appeared to be working hard to bring the number down among a sea of questions about enrolment, credit and international student scholarships.
“Communication has been a massive issue…I know it has reduced from what it was previously, but it’s still there,” Varona said.
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Varona was told multiple international students had received more than one invoice that incorrectly applied scholarships, causing confusion and concern about cost. He said the university had apologised to those students for the administrative error and the issue had been resolved.
“When you’re an international student already paying a lot of money, and then you’re getting one bill that’s lower than another bill that’s higher, it seems a bit unprofessional.”
One international student living in Adelaide, who did not want to be named, told InDaily she received different billing amounts and struggled to find the right person to help. She said the issue still had not been resolved.
Varona said it had felt like the university leadership had provided a “guarantee that things wouldn’t change…but things have changed in drastic ways” when the merger went ahead.
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“I personally walked up to a class and the teacher was like, ‘oh, sorry, I’m late. I didn’t know I was teaching this class ’til last night’.”
Concerns about students “falling through the cracks” were raised by Greens leader Robert Simms, who said that the disruptions to student life after the “shotgun wedding” between the two universities was a key symptom of a rushed process.
“It was pushed through the parliament at lightning speed and it’s placed a huge amount of pressure on the two institutions and their staff and I am worried about students falling through the cracks,” Simms said.
“It’s not acceptable to have thousands of students waiting for their queries to be responded to, it points to a lack of preparedness.”
One parent, who did not wish to be named, said her Adelaide University student son who was working overseas and wanted to take leave from his course for six months, was “so stressed” over his leave consent not being approved until two weeks after teaching started.
He had lodged a request for leave in November last year but then was told at the end of January that the request form was changed and he must lodge another application. Although staff were helpful and friendly, it seemed their “hands were tied” and there was still a weeks’ long wait for approval, the parent said.
National Tertiary Education Union SA secretary Andrew Miller said Adelaide University was faced with “ongoing, persistent workload problems” among staff since last year and that there was “more work than people”.
Adelaide University was contacted for comment.
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