Isabel Fox says understanding and cultural change for institutions looking to tackle sexual harassment and assaults

The University of Melbourne has released its data from the National Student Safety Survey last week; 43,819 students from 39 Australian universities, including Charles Sturt University (CSU), responded.

While there are no figures relating specifically to CSU, Vice-Chancellor Professor Renée Leon said the results will help instigate positive change and recognise short fallings when they occur.

In light of the findings, Ms Leon said the university renews its pledge to those survivors, its present and future students, to take every available measure to eliminate sexual assault or sexual harassment.

In addition to extensive reporting and counselling options for survivors, including around-the-clock hotlines, Ms Leon said the university has in place a wide range of measures aimed at preventing sexual assault and sexual harassment.

"Unfortunately, these measures are not yet 100 per cent effective, just as they are not 100 per cent effective in Australian society, and regional Australia in particular, where the prevalence of sexual crime is higher still. But we promise to continue working with the goal of eliminating sexual assault and sexual harassment entirely," she said.

Isabel Fox, founder of Fearless Fox, which runs consent programs, wasn't surprised by the latest stats.

"In news stories we see so often there is a problem, society-wide with sexual consent and misconduct," she said.

"In terms of the university sector, this is the second national report and really details the problems that we have in the 18-25 year age group in particular," she said.

She said universities, due to their large bureaucratic nature, are often slow moving when it comes to cultural change, but said it was not a reason to feel overwhelmed.

"When the first Change the Course report was released in 2017, I was working in the university sector and we saw that many institutions didn't know where to start in terms of their response to dealing with this issue," Ms Fox added.

She is adamant there is hope in the future to turn things around.

"The more that we understand this issue and the more we work to create real cultural change in our institutions, this is a problem we can get the better of," she said.

"This is an issue we can change for young people in universities."

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