Student support hotline FAQs

1800 QSTUDY (1800 778 839) is a service that ensures students, families, legal guardians, agents, chaperones and homestay hosts have consistent 24/7 support, including urgent after-hours service and a process for managing incidents.

To call the service from overseas, you must dial +61 1800 778 839.

1800 QSTUDY is used by students, families, legal guardians, agents, chaperones and homestay providers. To protect students' privacy, only those listed as authorised contacts can discuss a student issue with the school, EQI or the 1800 QSTUDY service.

During school hours, contact the school directly for assistance and support. If you call 1800 QSTUDY for urgent assistance during school hours your call will be transferred to your school.

1800 QSTUDY after school hours assistance is available before 9 am and after 3 pm on school days, and 24 hours during weekends, public holidays and school holidays to:

• support and respond to enquiries from international students, their authorised contacts and homestay providers
• respond to incidents involving international students outside school hours.

Emergencies include situations that pose an immediate risk to health and life, severe conditions, accidents and major injuries.

In emergencies, callers should always dial 'triple zero' or 000 for immediate assistance. Triple zero is the emergency phone number in Australia for police, fire fighters or ambulance. This number should only be used in an emergency.

When it is safe to do so, you should also call the school during school hours or 1800 QSTUDY outside school hours to notify us. When calling, please tell the customer service officer that you need assistance immediately.

Yes. 1800 QSTUDY offers after-hours support for both students and homestay providers.

If a student's welfare or safety is at risk, a support officer will provide face-to-face support and a change of homestay placement can be arranged, if required.

1800 QSTUDY offers accredited interpreter services for most languages free of charge.

Examples include Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian and Korean.

Yes. 1800 QSTUDY can be called from any country. To call the service from overseas you must dial +61 1800 778 839.

Calls are free when calling from an Australian landline or if using a local mobile phone operator.

Charges may apply if you are calling from overseas or using a roaming service in Australia.

A customer support officer will assist you with your call and assess the most appropriate response.

If your call is urgent, the customer support officer will transfer your call to EQI staff immediately. EQI staff are available to assist you after school hours and can provide face-to-face support at your location, if required.

If your call isn’t urgent, the customer support officer can email a message from you to your school. Your international student coordinator or homestay coordinator will respond to your message during school hours.

The customer support officer can also offer general assistance on topics such as curfews, travel permissions or help you access Queensland Government services, such as 13 HEALTH (for non-urgent health advice).

You will be asked for your name and the reason for your call. If you require urgent after school hours assistance you will be transferred to an EQI staff member who can help you.

For study tours, you will also be required to clearly state the host school name and tour group name.

We understand and appreciate the importance of information security and protecting individual privacy. We collect personal information about students when they apply to enrol and throughout their enrolment, including information we obtain in the performance of our agreement with them. We need some of this information to comply with our obligations under Australian laws, such as the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 and National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018.

We may record, use and disclose the personal information provided to us in connection with this agreement and our international student programs so that we can administer our agreement and the student's enrolment, provide the course to them, discharge our duty of care and comply with Australian laws.

If students are living with a homestay provider, we will record, use and disclose their personal information for the purpose of approving and monitoring their accommodation, support and general welfare for the duration of the homestay arrangement. There will be an ongoing exchange of the student's personal information between the homestay provider and us, including through secure online services such as Q Parents.

If students have nominated an education agent on their application for enrolment, we may disclose their personal information to their agent, throughout enrolment, unless they notify us in writing not to do so.

We may disclose a student's personal information to Commonwealth Government agencies including agencies responsible for administering migration or education services, outside school hours care (OSHC) providers (if we are arranging OSHC for them), Queensland state schools and homestay providers. We may also disclose a student's personal information where authorised or required by law.

Calls are recorded for quality assurance. You can ask for this feature to be disabled at any point during your call.

You can read the 1800 QSTUDY brochure for international students (PDF, 2.1MB).

Or find out more about 1800 QSTUDY by phone or email:

Email: EQInternational@qed.qld.gov.au
Phone: 1800 316 540

If you are a study tour agent, email EQIstudytours@qed.qld.gov.au or phone +61 7 3513 5708.

Yes. Student’s should always contact your school directly during school hours (normally between 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday).

Schools must make it clear that the 1800 QSTUDY service should always be called if urgent assistance is required outside of school hours (before 9am and after 3pm on school days, and 24 hours during weekends, public holidays and school holidays).

Schools must have an after-hours message on their landline or mobile number to remind callers to contact 1800 QSTUDY about urgent matters concerning international students.

School staff may be asked to check the names of people listed as authorised contacts for international students on One School. Student information cannot be released without authorisation. It may be necessary to update the student's authorised contacts if the appropriate permissions are obtained.

Agents may only use the service if they are on a student's contact list.

Contact the student's school to check if you are listed as an emergency contact who can discuss matters concerning them. The details of authorised contacts are collected at the time of enrolment and recorded on One School, the school's student database.

If you are an agent and wish to be listed as an emergency contact, you must get authorisation from the student's parents or legal guardian who will be asked to notify the school accordingly.

If you are listed as a student's authorised contact you will be notified by phone or email about reported incidents that concern them.

It is essential that you inform new international students about the 1800 QSTUDY service, it’s purpose, what to expect when they call the number and when the service should be used.

1800 QSTUDY is an after-hours support service and will only apply to those tours that:

• have program activities that occur outside of school hours, and
• are arranged by the host school.

This may include airport transfers, excursions and/or homestay arranged by the host school.

Tour chaperones and homestay families can call 1800 QSTUDY if the student's welfare is at risk outside of school hours.

This number also provides support to chaperones, should they require emergency assistance while participating in after-hour activities (including homestay) arranged by the school.

Study tour students will not call 1800 QSTUDY directly and are not given this number. Students should continue to seek assistance from homestay families and chaperones after-hours, or the school coordinator during school hours.

1800 QSTUDY is the first point of contact if the student's welfare or safety is at risk and the incident has occurred outside of school hours. Chaperones may also call 1800 QSTUDY if they have concerns for their own welfare and wish to seek assistance.

The school coordinator can assist with program delivery and operational issues during school hours.

We encourage tour chaperones to address and resolve operational issues during school hours, while the school coordinator is available to assist. 1800 QSTUDY should not be contacted to resolve operational issues relating to study tours.

1800 QSTUDY includes incident reporting mechanisms. To ensure you are notified of an incident involving a study tour student after-hours, we require emergency contact name and mobile number for:

• agency emergency contact
• tour chaperone/s accompanying the study tour.

This information is required by us prior to the group's arrival.

It is essential that you inform your tour chaperones about the 1800 QSTUDY service, prior to the commencement of the study tour. The 1800 QSTUDY after-hours emergency card will be distributed to your agency electronically, and we ask that you forward this card to the tour chaperone prior to arrival. This card includes the 1800 QSTUDY contact details and can be printed or used electronically as preferred.

Schools will also brief tour chaperones at the commencement of the study tour, as part of the initial orientation/meeting at the school.

1800 QSTUDY is an after-hours support service and will only apply to those tours that have program activities that occur outside of school hours AND are arranged by the school. This may include airport transfers, excursions and/or homestay arranged by the host school.

Tour chaperones and homestay families can call 1800 QSTUDY if the student's welfare is considered at risk outside of school hours.

This number also provides support to chaperones and homestay families should they require assistance after-hours.

Study tour students will not call 1800 QSTUDY directly and are not given this number. Students should continue to seek assistance from homestay families and chaperones after-hours, or the school coordinator during school hours.

1800 QSTUDY should not be contacted to resolve operational issues relating to study tours.

The school coordinator (Study Tours Accredited Officer) can assist with program delivery and operational issues during school hours.

To avoid operational queries arising outside of school hours, school coordinators should ensure that chaperones and homestay families are fully informed of logistical and itinerary related matters in advance.

We encourage chaperones to address and resolve operational issues during school hours. School coordinators should reinforce this with the chaperone at the start of the study tour.

1800 QSTUDY includes incident reporting mechanisms. To ensure you are notified of an incident involving a study tour student after-hours, we require the following information:

• School Coordinator/Accredited Officer name and email
• principal name, email and mobile number.
  

This information is required by us prior to the group's arrival.

School coordinators must familiarise themselves with 1800 QSTUDY service and how this applies to Study Tours, and communicate the necessary information to:

• Study Tour coordination team (accredited officers and their support team)
• homestay families as part of the orientation/briefing session
• tour chaperones on arrival.
  

Information tools and training packages will be made available to school coordinators to assist with informing relevant stakeholders.

It is essential that you inform your homestay families about the 1800 QSTUDY service, prior to the group's arrival. 1800 QSTUDY after-hours emergency cards will be distributed to your school, and we ask that you provide these cards to homestay families on orientation.

Emergency cards have been designed specifically for distribution to Study Tour chaperones and homestay families. Please note these cards differ from those provided for ISP students. Please ensure the Study Tour specific card is provided to chaperones in all cases.

Agents will also brief tour chaperones regarding 1800 QSTUDY prior to the study tour.

As per your usual procedure, a student should always contact their chaperone if they require assistance.

If the student is unable to contact you, in the case of a critical incident they may contact 1800 QSTUDY. You are listed as the group's emergency contact therefore you will be notified via phone or email by us and/or the host school about reported incidents that concern them as soon as possible.

It is essential that your normal procedure is followed when a student requires assistance. The chaperone is always the first person for the student to call if they require assistance. You will be using the 1800 QSTUDY number on behalf of your students/clients in case of an emergency.

All chaperones will be given an after-hours emergency card with the 1800 QSTUDY contact details.