Community safety, first and always.

Every single student and staff member needs to complete mandatory Consent Matters, an online training module about appropriate behaviour and positive intervention. As of May 2021, more than 75,000 students and staff have successfully completed the module. It’s just one part of our program to reduce unwanted sexual behaviour and encourage healthy relationships within our community.

First responders play a critical role in a survivor’s healing process. That’s why we’ve invested in appropriate training for our students and staff, which include:

• Sex and Ethics training to our Housing Residential Networkers (since 2011)
• Good Night Out training to our bar and café staff
• Responding with Compassion training offered annually to all Security personnel
• Annual briefings on bystander training for Social Club Directors and ActivateUTS Club leaders.

We know students tend to report incidents to university staff they have a pre-existing relationship with, so we’ve made basic first responder and bystander resources available to every member of staff, starting with:

• information on how to safely respond to disclosures as part of the HR onboarding process for new recruits
• creating downloadable and printable resources on how to respond to disclosures, whether face-to-face, or online.

In June, we are upskilling up to 20 staff members to deliver Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia's Sex, Safety and Respect training, which will allow these staff members to deliver a tailored program to our students for the next two years.

In recent years, the UTS Counselling Service has expanded its staff to offer support and counselling outside of business hours. As of May 2021, there are 9.5 full-time equivalent counselling positions. The team has expertise in responding with compassion, and assisting with complex trauma and vicarious trauma. The team regularly refers to local organisations, including Camperdown and St Vincent’s Mental Health Services, and have worked in conjunction with staff at Camperdown Sexual Assault Service to provide support to UTS students.

Online reporting forms for students and staff allow the university to track and record incidences of sexual assault and harassment, and take necessary action.

Since 2017, a 24/7 sexual assault support phone line has been staffed by the Counselling team, with UTS Security responding to calls outside business hours and contacting on-call Counsellors as needed.

We have round-the-clock security presence around campus. Female security presence has increased in the last year and 23.5% of our guards are female, which is higher than the industry average of approximately 10%.

Our security staff are trained in sexual violence awareness and intervention, and regularly undertake first responder and responding with compassion training. Emergency help points are located all across campus, and anyone with a safety concern can request a security escort.

Recognising that students now get most of their information online, we’ve focussed on improving our website and digital media channels to raise awareness of where students can report an incident of sexual violence or seek support.

We’ve updated our information on Counselling, Security and Staff Connect (for UTS staff) webpages, that clearly outlines internal and external support services, and reporting options.

Our Respect.Now.Always. website is a comprehensive resource that includes education materials and support services, such as:

• ‘How to’ guides in responding to, and supporting, someone who has had an unwanted sexual experience, whether face-to-face, or online
• widening the narrative to social distancing etiquette and boundary setting during covid-19
• acknowledgement of our student community as major contributors of our Good Design Best in Class (Social Impact) award win.

On campus, we're continually updating posters, postcards and digital screens to reinforce our messages around consent, respect and reporting:

And of course, there’s our ongoing community building activities, that include our ice-cream activations, and collaborations with ActivateUTS, student clubs and societies, Student Learning Hub, Women in Engineering and IT, Athena Swan and UTS College. Respect.Now.Always. is also integrated into some curriculum-based undergraduate subjects for Design, Architecture and Building, Law, Transdisciplinary Innovation, Arts and Social Sciences, and Engineering and IT.

Designed by students, for students.

Many of our institutional responses to unacceptable behaviours like sexual harassment and crimes like sexual assault have been co-created with student input. To date, we have involved our student community in these initiatives:

• Development of our campaign materials, including our novel ‘Wanna spoon? Ask first!’ initiative
• Contribution to our Student Voice research piece and Strategic Framework
• Continued and ongoing representation by student leaders on UTS' prevention on sexual assault and sexual harassment working group
• Providing briefings and resources for student activities, such as O'camps and content for student publications
• Ongoing feedback and two-way dialogue with our ‘RNA Crew’ – our volunteer network of over 100 staff and students.

To support a safe and respectful environment at UTS, our student community are held accountable by rules and policies that guide behavioural standards and expectation, e.g. student misconduct rules explicitly prohibit acts of sexual harassment and assault, and outline relevant penalties within a system of procedural fairness.

The Student Rights and Responsibilities Policy, Equity Inclusion and Respect Policy and Code of Conduct (for staff) articulate the university’s positive behavioural expectations for all community members and support a positive university culture. Students are provided with a dedicated Student Policy webpage to access information relevant to their studies and their university experience.