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Gender affirmation at Sydney

Personal details and student records

We're working towards sharing the updates you make to your personal information in Sydney Student with our other systems. We’re also looking at which systems and emails should display your preferred or chosen name with a view to updating these other systems. This won’t happen immediately, however we recognise and affirm your right to be known by a name that’s different to your legal name. There are some instances, such as official academic documents and government forms, where the University must display your legal name. There are also some systems owned by third parties where we might not be able to use your preferred or chosen name.

If you’d like to talk to someone if you come across an instance your where preferred or chosen names should be displayed, please reach out to diversity.inclusion@sydney.edu.au.

Find out how you can update our key systems, the name on your student card and your academic documents.

Record or system How to update More information
Sydney Student In Sydney Student, go to ‘My details’, then ‘Personal details’.
  • Preferred or chosen name, gender and pronouns
    Update these at any time; you don't need to provide supporting documents.
  • Legal name
    You'll need to make a request in Sydney Student and upload supporting documents.
Find out more about updating your personal details.
Canvas In Canvas, go to ‘Global Navigation’, ‘Account’, select ‘Settings’, then ‘Edit Settings’.
  • Pronouns
    Update these at any time; you don't need to provide supporting documents.
  • Other personal details
    To change your other details displayed in Canvas, you'll need to update them in Sydney Student.

Find out more about updating your personal details.

Class lists Update in Sydney Student; go to ‘My details’, then ‘Personal details’.
  • Update your details in Sydney Student
    To change your details on class lists, you'll need to update them in Sydney Student.
  • Letting your lecturers know
    If you're comfortable doing so, consider mentioning your updated details to your lecturers, as they may print a class list at the start of semester and not be aware of your updates. You can ask a Student Support Liaison Officer (SSLO) for help providing this information to staff.
Email

Contact ICT.

  • Legal name
    Once your legal name has been changed in Sydney Student, your email 'displayed name' should also change so that recipients will see your current legal name when you send them an email.
  • Preferred or chosen name
    You can contact ICT and request for your email 'displayed name' to be updated, so that recipients will see your preferred or chosen name rather than your legal name when you send them an email.
RECS Contact ICT.
  • Your name displayed in RECS is the same as for other ICT systems associated with your email, so you'll need to contact ICT to have this updated.
Sydney Timetable Update in Sydney Student; go to ‘My details’, then ‘Personal details’.
  • To change the details displayed in Sydney Timetable, you'll need to update them in Sydney Student.

Student card


Transcript and academic records

Due to government requirements, you'll first need to change your legal name (name provided on your birth certificate), and then ask us to update this in Sydney Student so that your academic records can be udpated.

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If you don't see your legal name changes

We're aware of a problem affecting some students where legal name changes made in Sydney Student are not appearing in all our systems. We acknowledge this is frustrating and we appreciate your patience while we're working on a solution. 

After we've updated your legal name in Sydney Student, it can take up to two weeks for the change to display in other systems. If your updated name isn't displaying after this time, contact ICT in the Shared Services Centre so that we can investigate for you. Please provide us with a list of each system that hasn't been updated, so that we can fully explore the issue.

Student Centre

Online

Phone

1800 SYD UNI (1800 793 864)
or +61 2 8627 1444 (outside Australia)

Find out more about how we can help

Last updated: 28 August 2024

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