Desperate parents are pleading for public help as a UNSW student remains missing, a week after vanishing from her Western Sydney home.

Aanisha Sathik, 18, left her home on Park Rd in Auburn about 1pm last Monday and never returned.

Her movements have been mapped using CCTV footage, Superintendent Robert Toynton said on Monday.

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She was seen walking south along Harrow Rd before spending about two hours in Norman Park from 3pm.

From there, she walked along Mount Auburn Rd and was later captured on CCTV on Woodburn Rd, near Stone St, about 5.50pm.

Sathik did not take her phone or any money with her.

Police said they hold serious concerns for her welfare.

“Seven days is a long time to be missing,” Toynton said.

“We’re asking the community to help us.

“This is a densely populated area. Someone must have seen something, someone must have seen Aanisha.

“And we need that information to help us crack this investigation open.”

Sathik’s father made a heart-wrenching public appeal on Monday, urging the community to help find his daughter.

“We don’t know what happened to our daughter. We just want her home safe,” he said through tears.

“Seven days, no money, no food. We are worrying a lot. Please help.”

He described Sathik as a “brilliant” and “brave” young woman who is studying a Bachelor of Computer Science at UNSW.

“She aims to become a doctor, to serve the community,” he said.

“But she became a little upset and left home. Our hearts are already broken.”

The father said Sathik had been struggling with anxiety and depression over the past six to seven months but had refused to take medication.

“She doesn’t have many friends, she always goes with us,” he said.

“Our child knows only school and house, nothing much. We’re a bit scared now.”

Sathik is described as being of Indian/Sub-Continental appearance, about 180cm tall, of slim build, with long black hair in a bun and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing a black hooded jumper, long black pants with cream pinstripes, white shoes and gold earrings.

She is known to use public transport.

Anyone in the Auburn or Berala area is urged to be on alert and to contact police immediately with any sightings or information that could assist the search.