Ms Tan said her supervisor - School of Psychology Associate Professor Mark Rubin - was one of three members of the school's academic staff who supervise honours and PhD students and had seen their roles "disestablished" as part of the restructure. UON's Schools Overarching Consultation Paper published on March 30 this year proposed a reduction of 4.5 full time equivalent academic staff within the school.

Ms Tan said Associate Professor Rubin had advised the four honours students he supervises that his role would finish in August, two months before the students' theses are due in October.

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She said the 10 honours students had hoped the three academics - Associate Professor Rubin, his wife Associate Professor Stefania Paolini and Associate Professor Sally McFadden - would be able to stay in their roles until the students had submitted their theses.

However she said UON kept the honours students "in the dark" about the impact of the restructure on their studies until a meeting on Wednesday, when Head of School Professor Kristen Pammer and honours coordinator Professor Frances Martin advised the students they were likely to take over the supervision of the students' research projects and theses.

"These are fields of psychology that they are not knowledgeable about, projects that they didn't design and are likely to not be invested in," Ms Tan said.

"This is in addition to their current workloads and existing research projects that they are supervising.

"There's still definitely no concrete plan.

"You can't dismiss the psychological toll of uncertainty, especially in a really pivotal year of our degree.

"It makes us feel very insecure and at the same time we've got a huge workload we're trying to manage."

She said honours students' performances in their research projects and theses influence whether they will be accepted into the highly competitive two year master of clinical psychology, as well as future job prospects.

Ms Tan said she met "standout academic" Associate Professor Rubin in 2018 when he was one of her lecturers and course coordinators and she had wanted to work with him because he is respected, responsive, organised and supportive.

He has been at UON for 20 years and has won several teaching awards.

She said he is "accommodating" and as well as a two-hour group meeting with his four honours students every week, would spend time one-on-one with students providing guidance for their projects.

She said one of her peers had been hoping to do her PhD with Associate Professor Rubin and felt "really knocked around".

She said another was planning to do a higher degree, but had decided "not to support UON with her enrolment".

Ms Tan said several students were concerned not only about the way staff had been treated but also about the lack of adequate consultation with students about the restructure. She wrote a submission, but never received a response.

"I'm just gobsmacked they never even consulted us, the specific students who are affected," she said.

"Collectively we have not had a voice.

"The university has just had a blanket statement for all of its students that this change process is going to benefit the students and blah blah blah, but for the students who are actually directly affected they should have had a meeting with us and at least kept us informed of this whole process.

"We just found out through our own supervisor. They have not been respectful.

"The fact we've paid over $20,000 for this, we're not in the position to leave, it's not like you just change your provider right at this moment.

"I've studied at different universities in France and Sydney and I've never had this experience before."

UON's Enabling Change project director Brian Jones said UON had been consulting with students regularly throughout the restructure process in "various channels and forums".

"Where staff changes mean changes to student supervisory arrangements, we are liaising with these students directly and individually to ensure their studies and research continues," he said.

"Our priority is to support our students and enable their ongoing success. We know this will continue to be prioritised under any new arrangements."

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