Mrs Usha Rao1
1La Trobe Melbourne, La Trobe University, Australia
In August, 2017, the Australian Human Rights Commission published the report “Change the Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian universities”. On March, 2018, the CEO of TEQSA wrote to all tertiary institutions concerning the AHRC report and Senator, the Honourable Simon Birmingham, requested a response from every institution, outlining the actions taken to ensure that all Australian higher education providers are study and work places of safety and respect, and that they did all that they could to prevent abuse from occurring. Institutions were advised to work with relevant agencies to support survivors of abuse, and hold perpetrators to account.
In this presentation,the response letter to TEQSA, from La Trobe Melbourne (LTM), will be shown, and an action plan will be seen, outlining ways to improve its policies and processes, to ensure the safety and welfare of LTM students and staff members.
The letter to TEQSA presents a threefold attempt by LTM, to achieve the outcomes expected from the recommendations of the AHRC report, by drawing upon resources and working in collaboration with:
- LTM’s university partner, La Trobe University
- LTM’s owner company, Navitas Ltd
- External agencies.
The presentation will provide details of how LTM works with each of the three above to try and foster an environment free of discrimination and harassment.
The action plan will be presented as a table showing planned action, by LTM, mostly related to risk management of sexual assault and sexual harassment of young people across the LTM community. The planned actions, as outlined in the table, are related to six recommendations made by the AHRC in its report.
The audience may wish to actively share responses from their institutions, to TEQSA, and compare it to LTM’s safety and welfare plans for its students and staff.
Biography:
Usha Rao (MA, Monash; MEd, University of Melbourne; IDLTM, University of Queensland) is the Director, Student Services at La Trobe Melbourne, Navitas Bundoora Ltd. She is the 2012 holder of English Australia’s John Gallagher award for her contribution to international education in Australia. Usha is a Fellow of Australian Institute of Management. She has been an ISANA member since 1993. Usha was the winner of Member Bursary for ISANA National Conference Attendance in 2016.