Your safety and wellbeing – whether you are a student, staff member, or visitor to UTS – is central to our community. We are committed to making sure that everyone on our campus, and in our online spaces, feel safe, respected and supported, and that when concerns are raised, they are taken seriously and acted upon.

Creating this environment is a shared responsibility, but UTS systems and processes have a key role to play in support our community. Following a review of our systems and alongside legislation around gender-based violence for the higher education sector that will soon be in effect, critical work is now underway to strengthen safety and wellbeing at UTS.

What’s changing?

We are introducing a new, university-wide approach to preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV), while also improving our complaints and misconduct processes.

Key changes include:

  • A single, integrated reporting platform is being developed to make it easier for students and staff to raise concerns and receive support
  • processes will be streamlined for consistency and transparency, reducing duplication and ensuring fair and timely responses
  • academic misconduct and behavioural misconduct will be disaggregated, with assessment and management handled by two separate teams. This will be implemented in a phased approach
  • a new Safe and Respectful Communities Team will provide dedicated coordination and oversight, bringing prevention, response, and recovery together in one place.

Why now?

Across Australia, universities are taking steps to make their campuses and online spaces safer and improve responses to GBV. In 2024, the Federal Government released the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education, which introduced the new National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to GBV. This Code will apply to all universities from January 2026 and requires a whole-of-university approach to prevention and response.

At UTS, we’ve also been reviewing our student rules, as well as our complaints and misconduct processes. The changes we’re making now reflect recommendations from these reviews and will help us prepare for the new Code.

Student perspectives matter

Your voice matters. Students will be involved in consultation as we develop the Safe and Respectful Communities initiative, and will continue to be involved in prevention and education campaigns. We will share updates and information on the UTS website, student news updates, and the student newsletter. And we’ll keep working alongside students to build a community grounded in safety, respect and care. 

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