Seventy percent of university staff and students have experienced indirect racism on university campuses, a study from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has revealed.
Surveying over 76,000 students from 42 institutions, including 8759 South Asians, the landmark Racism@Uni Study has found universities are failing their duty of care to create a safe environment for students, and that trust in university systems is extremely low.
Giridharan Sivaraman, Race Discrimination Commissioner at the AHRC, says the findings from the Government-commissioned report are shocking and point to a systemic fault.
“The insights and data from this Study highlight that racism at university is not confined to isolated incidents or individual behaviour – it is systemic. Racism is pervasive across the sector, affecting many groups in serious ways,” he said.
International students, First Nations, Palestinian and Jewish students were found to have experienced significant rates of racism, with 77% of South Asian respondents experiencing either direct or indirect racism.
Communal staff spaces, meetings and tutorials were found to be the main arenas of racism, including experiences of being singled out, inappropriate jokes or names, and the inability to openly express views.
“I had a professor in the first year who thought I bought my assignment or made AI do it because she could not believe an Indian could write that good in the first year of nursing,” one participant shared.
Over two-thirds of respondents reported negative mental health impacts, with only six percent of Asian (including South Asian) students reporting they ‘feel safe’ or are ‘treated with respect’.
Worryingly, 33 out of 42 universities were shown to have ‘limited’ (not culturally or trauma informed) procedures in place to deal with complaints of racism, with two having ‘no evidence’ of any anti-racism complaint procedures. Most institutions also had ‘no evidence’ of anti-racism reporting or evaluation. Racism@Uni Study
Federal Minister for Education, Jason Clare, has acknowledged universities are ‘not perfect’ and have an ‘enormous piece of work’ ahead of them to eradicate on-campus racism.
“This report tells us we’re not doing enough at the moment to stamp [racism] out where we find it or to prevent it in the first place,” Minister Clare said at a press conference in Canberra.
Commissioner Sivaraman says universities have ‘viscerally broken’ their promise to students and must do better to facilitate a positive university culture.
“We have an obligation to university staff and domestic and international students to ensure the promises we make about the benefits of university experiences are upheld. Those promises are shattered when they are targeted by racism,” he said.
The report has made 47 recommendations, including a national framework for anti‑racism in universities, diversifying the workforce, and implementing trusted, accessible complaint systems.
“You actually have to talk about racism if you want to confront it. You can’t use euphemisms like social cohesion. Social cohesion papers over the cracks. Anti-racism work tackles the problems in our structure,” Commissioner Sivaraman said at a press conference in Canberra. Racism@Uni Study
Universities Australia, the peak body for higher education, has described the findings as ‘deeply troubling’, and stands ready to make a coordinated, sector wide approach.
“We will continue listening, learning and acting – together – to ensure our universities live up to the standards our communities rightly expect,” they said in a statement.
Read more: What to do if you face racial abuse
