The head of Universities Australia has apologised to student victims of sexual assault and harassment while releasing a damning report into the prevalence of the offences across the sector.
In a statement, Universities Australia's Chair John Dewar called the results of the National Student Safety Survey (NSSS), released on Wednesday, "distressing, disappointing and confronting".
The independent survey was conducted by The Social Research Centre and investigated the scale and nature of student experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault across 39 Australian universities.
The survey revealed one in six students had been sexually harassed since beginning university and one in 12 had been sexually harassed in the past 12 months.
One in 20 students had been sexually assaulted since starting at university and one in 100 had been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months.
The findings also revealed most victim-survivors did not know how to report the sexual misconduct to their institution.
"On behalf of Universities Australia and its 39 members, I am deeply sorry," Professor Dewar said.
"To every single university student who has experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault, or has a friend, family member or loved one who has – I am sorry.
Students who are female, transgender, living with disability over-represented
Certain trends were made clear in the survey, including who was most likely to be a victim of sexual assault or sexual harassment, and where such offences had most commonly occurred.
Female students, transgender students and non-binary students were more likely to have experienced sexual misconduct at university in the past 12 months than male students.
Pansexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian students were also over-represented among victim-survivors, as well as younger students aged 18 to 21.
Students with a disability were also more likely to report suffering sexual harassment, at 13.7 per cent of respondents, and sexual assault, at 2.4 per cent.
According to the report, more than 85 per cent of perpetrators of sexual assault were male, and one in 20 were university staff members.
The survey also showed that these incidents were more likely to occur at clubs and societies events and spaces, university student accommodation or residences, and, to a lesser extent, at private homes and residences.
The rate of such incidences also varied across institutions, with the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra revealed to have the worst record.
The survey found 26.1 per cent of ANU respondents reported being sexually harassed at some point during their time at university.
This is twice the national average.
Of ANU respondents, 12.3 per cent reported that they had been sexually assaulted at some point during their time at university, which is three times the national average.
Earlier this month, the ANU cited awareness of an online reporting system as the reason for a jump in student disclosures of sexual misconduct.
In a statement, ANU vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt said while the survey showed a disproportionate number of ANU students were among the victims, it also revealed a higher percentage of students knew where to go to make a complaint or seek support for sexual assault than the national average.
Professor Schmidt said the institution was already working on solutions, including by investing in a Student Safety and Wellbeing Plan and making consent training mandatory for all students within the next two years.
"Today's results are difficult for our community and my thoughts are with victim-survivors, their loved ones and the dedicated professionals and advocates who work so hard to support them," he said.
"ANU is listening and acting, and we are making major new investments to stop and respond to these unacceptable behaviours."
Students share stories of harassment, assault
Universities Australia surveyed more than 43,000 individuals, including in the NSSS report the personal stories of 1,835.
Among those was Zara (not her real name) who said she felt let down by the way her university administration handled her complaint when she went to them for support and protection.
The international student said she was repeatedly harassed by a member of staff at the university, who sent her unwanted texts commenting on her appearance and referencing stereotypes about her country of origin. She brought the issue to the head of the department.
"Two weeks later, I was told by the head of department to block the phone number of the accused and asked to no longer attend school seminars or social events as no one could guarantee my safety from this person," Zara said in her submission.
Other survey respondents told stories of experiencing unwanted sexual advances on campus, of dealing with stalkers, being touched inappropriately or hearing sexual comments made about them during classes.
"Going to university, I dealt with men stalking me online and following my class timetable at uni to know where I was when I [tried to] avoid them," one respondent said.
A number of those who contributed said they felt let down by their university when they did report what had occurred.
"Some of my group [assignment] members also made me feel uncomfortable (making sexist comments about women, asking inappropriate personal questions, unwanted physical contact) but when I told the lecturer, nothing was done about it, so I dropped the course," one respondent said.
Report highlights need for 'cultural change'
Professor Dewar thanked those who made submissions and said widespread cultural change needed to occur.
"Your contribution helps us make change and see where measures may have fallen short, and where there are green shoots of cultural change," he said.
"As a nation, this cannot be tolerated, and as a sector, we will continue to be part of the solution."
He said changes had already been implemented by institutions following previous reports and studies.
"These include better reporting and evidence collection processes, consent training, respectful relationship education for students, stronger guidelines for relationships between supervisors and students, and overhauling the way reports of sexual harassment or sexual assault are handled by a university," he said.
"We are working hard to make our campuses physically safer and more secure. We know we need to do more, and we will do it. These findings will guide our continuing work."
