Sex assault shock at Coast unis

TWO Gold Coast universities posted higher than the national average of students who were sexually assaulted or harassed on campus.

In a damning Australian Human Rights Commission survey, Bond University was 10 per cent higher than the national average for on-campus sexual harassment.

Australia’s No.1 ranked university for student experience also reported 2.7 per cent for sex assaults compared with 1.6 per cent of students nationally.

Bond Uni Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Brailsford said the local and national results were confronting and a “wakeup call”.

“We understand that the issue of sexual harassment and assault is real and attitudes need to change, both in society and within the university sector,” he said.

The study found just over half of university students nationally have been sexually harassed and seven per cent sexually assaulted.

One in five university students was sexually harassed on campus or on public transport in a “devastating breach of trust”, the report found.

Southern Cross University, which has a campus at Coolangatta, yesterday publicly apologised “without reservation” to students.

The survey found 2.6 per cent of Southern Cross University respondents were sexually assaulted on campus in 2015/16 compared with 1.6 per cent of students nationally.

“It is simply unacceptable that this has occurred,” vice chancellor Adam Shoemaker said. “We have the potential to shape change, in our own university communities and across society, and we will do so.”

The University of Queensland, QUT, CQUniversity and Griffith University all reported figures close to the average.