In October 2014, postgraduate students from the RMIT Schools of Applied Science, Health Sciences and Medical Sciences were informed that they were being vacated from their offices, and moved to Building 214. This building is set to provide up to 180 postgraduate students with just 60 'hot desks', with only 18 desk top computers, which is insufficient to meet student requirements.

In the development of plans for this space, there has been no consultation with postgraduate students, and no effort made to understand the needs of this student group. As a result, the proposal falls well short of meeting the needs of postgraduate students from this school, and creates further problems:

The current proposal does not provide for adequate “office space” for students, and therefore does not meet the requirements for PhD students according to the RMIT Minimum Resources policy.

In addition, this will lead to inefficiencies and loss of time - students will lose significant amounts of time moving between their laboratories and Building 214. As there is no office space that students can use on a permanent basis, students will lose significant amounts of time setting up their computer and packing everything away, each time they leave the building to return to the lab or take a short break from study. In addition, when students return to resume study, there are no guarantees that they will have a space to work. This is far from an ideal situation.

This petition calls on RMIT University to:

1. Undertake genuine consultation with postgraduate students at Bundoora, and implement changes to the current proposal based on this consultation.

2. Commit to providing office space for postgraduate students which is located within their schools.

3. Provide sufficient lighting around the Building and on walkways that connect this location with other buildings.

4. Provide additional security guards for night patrol