The Universities Australia guidelines follow the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) Change The Course report last year, which revealed one in five students at Australia's 39 universities was sexually harassed in 2016.
The non-binding guidelines suggests universities, among other things, create stand-alone policies to address sexual abuse, equip student-facing staff with skills to respond to disclosures of assault, develop online reporting tools and work closely with colleges and residential halls, where the AHRC found experiences higher rates of assault than anywhere else on campus.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson says the guidelines are a result of year-long consultations with people from across the university sector.
" This set of guidelines is a good reference point for good practice for all universities. These guidelines are the first of 10 actions that we as the peak body committed to undertake. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of things happening on university campuses."
Ms Jackson says the advice was developed with a single goal in mind.
"We're trying to remove all the barriers to reporting. We know that despite the best will in the world, some people don't come forward and report. It takes an awful lot of courage to do so. But (many) are frightened and confused. We've done everything we can in these guidelines, and many universities are already doing the things we've recommended in here."
Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins has welcomed the guidelines, saying they represent an important step toward keeping students safer.
But Nina Funnell ,director of End Rape on Campus, which has released its own damning report into sexual violence in Australian universities called The Red Zone, says she has a number of concerns about the guidelines.
She says her organisation wasn’t consulted.
"All in all, it’s a nice effort, they've tried, I guess, but they haven’t consulted (and) it's non-binding. It doesn't go anywhere near far enough. I think it's a bit of a wasted opportunity."
Ms Funnell explains one reason why she's disappointed.
"Universities give really strict time-frames on how long you have to report a rape. Up to 20 or 40 days, and that’s it. We know that the average sexual assault survivor take at least an average of 11 months to report their crime so having those really strict time-frames is problematic. This document doesn’t recommend changing those time-frames, it just recommends informing a rape victim of what the time-frames are."
Ms Funnell says international students experience some of the highest rates of sexual assault in the country and face several unique barriers to reporting.
She said the UA guidelines do not do enough to look after them.
“I’m appalled that there are only 10 lines in this document that address culturally and linguistically diverse students because we know they are a particularly vulnerable group and they require really culturally nuanced and culturally sensitive services. (At) End Rape on Campus, we’ve supported a number of international students who have reported to police only to be told, ‘Well look, you’re not going to be here in six months or a year, so there’s no point in us following this up'.”
Ms Funnell says international students are often scared to report they have been a victim of a crime because of fears it could adversely impact their visa, and because of the shame some cultures associate with sexual assault victims.
She says because of this, international students often suffer in silence.
The UA guidelines suggest universities consider a data collection mechanism that captures formal disclosures to gather a better understanding of the prevalence of assaults on campuses.
Ms Funnell says she would like to see a system in Australia which operates in a similar fashion to the The Clery Act in the United States.
Under that Act, all colleges and universities involved in federal funding programs must publish their sexual assault complaint data every year.
Ms Funnell says since she last saw the Australian data in 2016 when compiling The Red Zone report - which required the largest-ever freedom of information request – the data has remained inaccessible.
"What we found was out of 575 complains officially made to universities on sexual misconduct, only six expulsions had resulted. Since that time in 2016 we haven't been able to access that data again."
Sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling is available by phone 24-hours a day through 1800-RESPECT, which can be reached by dialling 1800 737 732.
