National Student Safety Survey (NSSS)

• 2022 Action Plan
• 2019 - 2020 Action Plan

A snapshot of the key work undertaken by SARC at UOW in 2023 is available in the SARC 2023 annual report.

The following table outlines UOW's response to the 2016 National Student Safety Survey and the resulting Change the Course Report.

The NSSS is the second national, sector-wide survey under Universities Australia’s Respect. Now. Always. initiative, which aims to measure student perceptions of safety at Australian universities and experiences relating to sexual assault and sexual harassment. The NSSS builds on the foundational 2016 National Student Survey and Change the Course Report released in 2017. 

The NSSS was conducted in late 2021 by the independent Social Research Centre, which surveyed a representative sample of students at Australian Universities. It was completed by 43,819 students from 38 universities, including 1052 UOW students.   

We owe a debt of gratitude to the UOW students who responded to the NSSS and those who bravely shared their personal stories in the qualitative NSSS report. Your contributions will help us make positive changes, recognise where well-intentioned measures may have fallen short, and see where there are meaningful signs of progress and change that we can enhance.

We are sorry to every person who has experienced sexual harassment and sexual assault during their time at UOW. We are sorry for what you have endured and how it may have affected your relationships, mental health, studies, and your life.

The 2021 NSSS reflects the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault that is observed across Australian society is unfortunately present in our university. The persistently high levels of incidents indicate that many drivers of sexual harassment and sexual assault are ingrained in our culture and society, and need collective and collaborative action to dismantle. This is a problem for the whole of society, and our sector, but we take ownership of the challenges at UOW.

Every person who attends university has the right to be safe and feel safe and the right to believe they will be treated with respect, dignity, and fairness. Even one incidence of sexual harassment and sexual assault is one too many. 

At UOW, we’ve already put measures in place to improve safety and promote a culture of respect. But we know we need to do more. We note and endorse the key areas for continued action as outlined in the report. We will reflect on our results and engage with our community to build on UOW’s Action Plan, focusing the areas identified in the survey that require more attention.  

The 2021 National Student Safety Survey results were released at 1:30 pm AEDT on Wednesday, 23 March. UOW’s results can be found on the UOW NSSS webpage. The national quantitative and qualitative reports, as well as links to each university’s page hosting their individual report, can be accessible at nsss.edu.au.  

Attempting to compare results across institutions, or single out differences that could have affected results, risks minimising survivor's experiences, causing further distress and trauma. For this reason, survivor and advocacy groups strongly recommend that we do not engage in comparisons. Additionally, given the diversity within the university sector, comparisons are misleading and unhelpful.

What is important is to acknowledge the pain and suffering of these incidents and to apologise to the victim-survivors who shared their stories in the survey so that UOW can do better. Every single instance of sexual harassment or sexual assault is unacceptable.

We recognise that there is more work to be done at UOW and in our wider communities to improve the safety and wellbeing of our students. These results will enable us to better develop and understand objectives, actions, and outcomes in our university's context so that we can work across the institution and with students, staff, and our community partners to educate, prevent, and better respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault. 

The results of the 2021 NSSS reflect that the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault observed across Australian society is, unfortunately, as present in our university communities.

The survey instrument was designed and tested to align with best-practice measurement of sexual harassment and sexual assault prevalence. This allows for longitudinal measurement and deeper insight into comparable instruments (such as the ABS’ Personal Safety Survey) when developing institution- and sector-specific actions.

The purpose of this work is expressly for all universities, including UOW, to better develop and understand objectives, actions, and outcomes in the context of our university, so that we can work with our communities to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault. 

We recognise the unique and vital role we must play in continuing to reduce these experiences through effective prevention and response initiatives. 

The results do not make easy reading and we thank and pay tribute to the victim-survivors who have come forward with their experiences.

Any instance of sexual harassment or sexual assault is one instance too many. UOW is determined to bring down the prevalence of sexual assault and sexual harassment in our university.

This is a problem for the whole of society, and our sector, but we take ownership of the challenge at UOW.

The University is following advice from Universities Australia to publish only the infographic about UOW’s results, as publishing further information may inadvertently identify respondents and evoke further trauma.

However, the full results will be used by the University internally to strengthen our Action Plan, to help us focus our attention on critical areas and our response and support for victim-survivors.

Universities Australia’s guidance is informed by advice from lawyers Minter Ellison.

Confidentiality and privacy issues regarding data are crucial to the sector and UOW.

In short: at a per-university level, many metrics regarding sexual assault won’t have a large enough sample size to meet the minimum confidence threshold for public reporting.

At a national level, the overall sample size on sexual assault related metrics is large enough to obtain an relative standard error (RSE) of less than 25 per cent.

At a per-university level, however, the sample sizes of many metrics have an RSE of greater than 50 per cent. As best practice means these statistics should not be publicly reported, they are not represented on infographics. Similarly, for smaller institutions, there are risks of breaching the privacy of participants where metrics or their dimensions have small sample sizes.

These statistics still hold integrity and reveal important prevalence rates for internal use. The full data is available for universities’ analysis in their respective PDF tables and SPSS (.sav) files for internal uses, such as measurement and response planning.

The 2021 National Student Survey results indicate that gender, sex and sexuality diverse students, students with a disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have a greater likelihood of being subjected to sexual assault or sexual harassment. Intersectionality provides additional risk for students from multiple diversity cohorts.  

At UOW, we’ve been working with our student community and partners to implement various strategies that support for gender, sex and sexuality diverse students, including:

• The Safe and Respectful Communities (SARC) team works closely with the UOW Pride Network (formerly "Ally Network") and the student Allsorts Queer Collective to provide a safe and welcoming environment for gender, sex and sexuality diverse students.
• Our First Level Responder Training for staff and student leaders and our Consent Matters Training includes gender, sex, and sexuality diverse content.
• UOW also promotes ACON Pride in Diversity Training to all new Allies and all UOW Staff via the University’s Professional Development website.
• Specific ACON training dealing with sexual assault as it particularly affects gender, sex and sexuality diverse community members is promoted to staff through the SARC and staff Professional Development websites.
• All SARC staff and staff in the Complaints Management Centre are trained UOW Allies, and their spaces (online and on-campus) are ACON Welcome Here spaces.

SARC will continue to work with UOW Pride Network (formerly known as Ally Network), the Allsorts Queer Collective, and our community partners to develop new and enhanced initiatives incorporating the perspectives of and working to improve the safety of our gender, sex, and sexuality diverse students.  

The 2021 National Student Survey results indicate that students with a disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students also have a greater likelihood of being subjected to sexual assault or sexual harassment. Intersectionality provides additional risk for students from multiple diversity cohorts.  

At UOW, we’ve been working with our student community and partners to implement various strategies that support for students with a disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, including:

• The Safe and Respectful Communities team works closely with the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre (WIC) and the Indigenous Strategy team to ensure First Nations perspectives and advice contributes to our programs.
• All staff in WIC and the Indigenous Strategy team have undertaken first-level responder training.
• WIC representation is included in SARC governance structures.
• Our Senior Manager of the SARC team is a proud Wiradjuri woman connected with broader First Nations community governance and community and social justice developments about community safety.
• In 2022, WIC awarded an Indigenous Student Leader Accommodation Scholarship to a second-year student to provide Indigenous students in KBV & Bangalay with immediate, onsite access to the Indigenous Student Leader.
• The Indigenous Student Leader has received additional training and has 24/7 access to the Director Indigenous Strategy to ensure culturally specific student support.
• As part of our response to the 2021 NSSS, we will incorporate SASH content in our Student Strengths and Needs Assessment (1:1 conversations and assessments with students).
• WIC and SARC will collaborate to develop and disseminate additional prevention and education materials to our Firsts Nations students.
• Teams in the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students Portfolio) are actively engaged in the SARC Working Party and Advisory Group and work collaboratively with the SARC team to provide tailored services and assistance for all students, including for those with disability.
• SASH assistance includes specialised services to meet the needs of students in ways that embrace the concept of intersectionality, i.e., All of who I am. Services include 24/7 Student Mental Health support through the unique UOW partnered hybrid service model.
• Personalised safety and support plans are implemented to protect the privacy of individuals while granting any necessary adjustments to a student’s learning and University experience.
• The comprehensive re-frame of the UOW Student Disability Service occurring in 2022, has been informed by our students and by data, including the most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on violence to people with disability (20/10/2020). This data states that 43% of adults with disability (50% with severe or profound disability) have experienced sexual harassment, compared with 37% without disability, and that this is more prevalent for women with disability (57% compared to 51% of women without disability), and adults with psychological disability (62%).

Results from the NSSS make it clear that further work is needed. We will continue to strengthen our work in partnership with students to enhance their experience sense of agency and prototype new initiatives. 

Student safety on campus is of paramount importance to the University, and each of our Australian campuses has specific security arrangements to support and protect our students, such as: 

• The University’s SafeZone app allows students to call for assistance if their safety is threatened or if they witness behaviour on campus that affects the safety of others. 
• UOW students, staff and visitors can use the UOW SafeZone app to request an escort by UOW Security across campuses, to their car, transport or to on-campus accommodation if they feel unsafe. Security officers patrol campuses to monitor safety and work with students concerned about their safety to develop safety plans and get the assistance they need. 
• We regularly audit lighting on campus to ensure our campuses are well-lit to help students feel safe after dark. 
• The SARC team also provides education about bystander awareness to staff and students to ensure that if someone witnesses behaviour that is intimidating or harassing in a campus area, they can feel confident to intervene safely, including by calling campus security. 

The results make clear that more work needs to be done at UOW to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault. The results help us to focus in on areas of greater prevalence, for example, to do more to tackle harassment and assault in specific locations and ensure our education, prevention and support strategies address the compounding factors of gender, sexuality, race, and accessibility.

The 2021 National Student Safety Survey details the shortcomings and areas of opportunity. UOW will be taking the time to understand the results, engage with students, community and university advocates and expert voices to identify the appropriate, meaningful actions to be taken next. We note and endorse the key areas for continued action as outlined in the report: 

• acknowledging the role of gender as well as intersecting discrimination and marginalisation in driving sexual harassment and sexual assault. 
• taking proactive measures to improve inclusivity and safe learning environments for gender and sexuality diverse students and those with a disability. 
• promoting safety and respect within residential student accommodation settings. 
• preventing sexual harassment and sexual assault from university staff including in the context of postgraduate supervision. 
• raising awareness among students and staff of the reporting processes within the university and the avenues of support available. 
• improving reporting and support pathways for students who have both university context and other experiences of sexual harassment and/or sexual assault. 
• addressing attitudes that minimise, excuse, or blame the victim/survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault, particularly in higher-risk settings; and 
• adequately resourcing sexual harassment and sexual assault response and prevention strategies. 

As well as actions recommended by students in the 2021 NSSS Qualitative Report:

• challenge cultures that normalise or excuse sexual violence,
• improve awareness of sexual harassment and sexual assault, as well as the mechanisms for reporting and support,
• provide a range of response and support options for victim/survivors to meet their varied needs and preferences,
• increase scrutiny and accountability of student and staff leadership to prevent perpetrators from protection in positions of power,
• share the responsibility for addressing and preventing sexual violence, so that it does not fall disproportionately upon victim/survivors themselves,
• reinforce policy and processes with a range of targeted and proactive strategies to address the drivers of sexual harassment and sexual assault,
• ensure policies, processes and prevention programs take a victim/survivor-centric and trauma-informed approach.

Working with our staff, students, and community partners, we will establish a new UOW Action Plan to respond to the survey results and the key action areas in the reports.   

UOW and every individual university will have their own response and strategies to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Information about what UOW has been doing to promote safety and respect on campus and prevent and respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault by visiting the Safe and Respectful communities' website.

However, if prevalence rates of sexual harassment and sexual assault are not zero, there will always be more work to do to improve the safety and wellbeing of university communities. We know that meaningful, systemic cultural and behavioural change does not happen overnight, but there are immediate ways we can affect sector change.

UOW will continue to work with the sector to develop evidence-based primary prevention initiatives that are crucial to changing the attitudes and behaviours that drive sexual harassment, sexual assault, and gender-based violence.

This includes the continued development of a prevention campaign for tertiary student audiences, supported by the Federal Department of Social Services, ahead of O-week 2023. This campaign is being built on significant preliminary research and consultation and will be followed by an important evaluation study.

Universities Australia has already extended its partnership with Our Watch and the Educating for Equality program. This is a framework which supports a whole-of-university approach to preventing gender-based violence on campus. 

UA has also partnered with the Office of the e-Safety Commissioner to develop the Safer Online: Awareness to Resilience program to support universities to prevent and respond to online safety risks.

UOW’s e-Safety campaign includes staff training from the e-Safety Commissioner’s Office online resources for students and will consist of a working group looking to strengthen e-safety policies, education, and practice.

With the Higher Education sector, we will continue to engage with and lean on expert voices to ensure new and existing initiatives align with best practices and are informed by sound research and measurement, including 2021 NSSS results.

As an institution, UOW will continue to work with our staff, students, and community partners to establish a new UOW Action Plan that responds to the survey results and implements further actions and initiatives to promote safe and respectful environments and prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment and support victim-survivors. 

Since the survey results were released in 2017, universities have implemented many actions across the sector. 

Since the Change the Course report, there have been over 800 actions to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault in their institutions. These include; 

• Undertaking independent reviews of existing processes.  
• Creating specific roles and/or departments who are trauma-informed and trained to manage disclosures, reports, and response.  
• Introducing and, in many cases, updating policies in line with international best practices.  
• Improving the clarity and accessibility of policies, processes, and available supports.  
• Partnering with specialist organisations to guide improvements and support prevention activities; and  
• Expanding training on consent and respectful relationships with students and staff.  

UOW has undertaken all the actions in the list above and recently expanded its Safe and Respectful Communities team, which has a broader remit to work with community partners on joint campaigns and initiatives and support our students from its new accessible location in the University Library. Information about how we have responded to all the Change the Course Report recommendations and about our current programs and initiatives is on the SARC website.

Discussions of sexual harassment and sexual assault are a difficult and often distressing experience for many in our community, especially those who may see their individual experiences reflected in the results. We acknowledge this toll and the trust students have placed in us by contributing their voices to the survey.

All staff and students should feel supported by their university and expect fair, compassionate treatment if they choose to disclose or report an experience of sexual harassment or sexual assault. They should also feel that support is available to them at their university. 

nsss.edu.au details national support and referral services for anybody looking to speak to somebody regarding their own experiences and mental health. Prior to the release of results, UA engaged Full Stop Australia to provide additional first responder and vicarious trauma training to student leaders ahead of the release of the results. Up to five representatives from each university were invited to attend the training. 

At UOW, our internal support and counselling services are prominent on our Safe and Respectful Communities website and our counselling webpages. Information about emergency assistance from the police, UOW’s Security service, the Safe and Respectful Communities Team and 24-hour counselling service are also provided across sites and media channels. Students can also visit the SARC Team at our offices in the University Library. 

Other key UOW and community support services include: 

• 24/7 Student Wellbeing Support Line: Call 1300 036 149 or text 0488 884 164 
• 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732, or https://1800respect.org.au  
• Lifeline: 13 11 14, or lifeline.org.au  
• QLife: 1800 184 527, or qlife.org.au  
• MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978 
• Report at UOW 

Yes, the University continues to develop strong links with our external communities. Representatives from the local health service, the police and the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre are active members of our SARC Advisory Group.

The SARC team also has strong one-on-one relationships with the local police, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Service, Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, Community Legal Centre, Victims Services and Court Support Services to share information (respecting confidentiality and privacy) about trends and issues and to support initiatives.

We have instituted community roundtables to gather community representatives to talk about education and training initiatives, trends and best practices and build a strong network of relationships. Information about how we connect with our community is available on the SARC website.  

A 1800 helpdesk and inbox were established for students to seek clarification or ask for assistance regarding any survey matters.

Contact details for counselling and referral services were also provided to all survey participants while they completed the survey.

Students were able to stop and re-start the survey at any time if they needed to take a break.

All universities have on campus counselling services available for students – as well as phone and online services.

UA engaged Full Stop Australia to deliver first responder and vicarious trauma training to university women’s officers and other student leaders in the lead up to the survey being conducted. Up to three people per university were invited to participate. 

UA also published “Where to seek support at your university” – a list of support, security, and report contacts for each university. You can find this here.

The University promoted our 24-hour wellbeing phone line and support services to our students in the lead up to and during the National Student Survey. The University also provided briefings to the Student Advisory Council and key frontline staff, UOW leaders, and additional First-level Responder training sessions to staff and student leaders.

UOW has continued to highlight campus safety and respectful relationships in the lead up to the launch of the results, including promoting consent training and disseminating contact details for the Safe and Respectful Communities Team and counselling services.

The SARC team has worked with the UOW Ally Network (now known as UOW Pride Network) to ensure its education and training resources take an intersectional perspective and run face-to-face information stalls during 2022 Orientation activities. In partnership with the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, one of our student interns has worked to peer-produce social media content providing consent information for young adults and advising how to seek support at UOW and, via the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, in the community.

In the lead up to the NSS results, the Vice-Chancellor has released a video message to all students advising them about the impending release of results, reminding students about consent training and respectful relationships and providing details about seeking support.