Seyed Motahari, an Iranian student studying architecture, has about 50per cent vision because he suffers from Albinism, a condition where he has no pigment in his skin, hair or eyes.

Mr Motahari said the university gave him the runaround this semester after he asked for an aide to use woodwork machines during a design subject.

He said he needed an aide to cut out wood to build the major project, a chair, but could construct and glue the piece himself.

Mr Motahari said that since his request, he had been in numerous meetings and correspondence with the university over safety inductions, whether he submitted full design plans, if they were sufficient to pass and whether he should have been allowed to continue if they were not.

He has been given an extension until early next year because of the delays but will not be able to complete the subject because the required work venue, the university workshops, will be closed over Christmas.

Newcastle University Students Association welfare officer Veronica Meneses, who contacted the commission on Mr Motahari’s behalf, said she was outraged by suggestions from faculty staff during meetings that Mr Motahari should not have chosen the practical design elective.

‘‘The courses are there for everyone to take, no matter what,’’ Ms Meneses said.

The matter has become pressing because Mr Motahari wants to enrol in his Masters next year, and his parents are so concerned they have flown out from Iran.

A university spokeswoman said the institution had met with Mr Motahari and his parents several times to discuss and deal with their concerns.

‘‘We are assisting Mr Motahari and supporting him through his studies,’’ she said.

Mr Motahari needs to pass two more subjects to complete his degree and graduate next year.

The other subject is an English elective from semester one that it is still unresolved because Mr Motahari was asked to resubmit his final assignment, a book review, four times, to be told each time it was not his work.

Ms Meneses said he should have been referred to a plagiarism officer after the second attempt, not continually told to resubmit without sufficient explanation.

‘‘If it was a domestic student with a disability who was treated in this manner they would not stand for it,’’ she said.