States and territories are pushing for a national approach to university regulation, including the process for offering early entry placements to prospective students and the response to sexual assault allegations.
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Education ministers have released a draft action plan aiming to keep students safe at tertiary institutions and streamline complaints processes, including through a national ombudsman to address sexual assaults.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said student safety needed to be universities' utmost priority.
This was why he wrote to every university after Hamas launched an attack against Israel on October 7 to ask what they were doing to keep students safe, amid concerns about civil unrest at home, he said.
A national student ombudsman that will be able to handle sexual assault complaints and launch investigations, after a damning Senate report chastised the sector for failing to tackle the issue, is being looked at.
"Wherever sexual violence and harassment is we have to confront it," Mr Clare said in a speech to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency's (TEQSA) annual conference on Thursday.
"Universities aren't just places where people work and study, they are places where people live."
TEQSA was also named in the report which excoriated the sector, with senators saying they didn't trust universities or the regulator to fix problems without independent oversight.
The team working towards a new universities' accord - whose report is due to be handed to the government in December - says urgent action is needed to address sexual assaults.
Mr Clare said a draft plan released on Wednesday started to address some of the issues, including by flagging powers for the ombudsman that would allow them to help resolve disputes.
The powers include simultaneously investigating a complaint if the university isn't proceeding with urgency, providing recommendations to institution heads and helping students receive compensation.
The ministers agree more consultation is needed as they work together to find a consensus model.
The university sector is broadly supportive of the ombudsman addressing sexual assault allegations but has raised concerns about proposed powers giving the independent body the ability to help students have their fees refunded.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said extending the ombudsman to include HECS would "create duplication and overlap with existing regulation and regulatory bodies which deal with these issues".
Streamlining the way universities hand out early entry placements to prospective students is also being examined.
The current system had received mixed reviews and ministers had asked for a national approach, Mr Clare said.
"Some people love them, some people hate them," Mr Clare said.
"Some teachers say it causes students to take their foot off the pedal, some universities tell me they are worried about other universities poaching their best and brightest."
Laws to ensure the approval of Australian Research Council grants by an independent board instead of the minister will be introduced to parliament next week.
Australian Associated Press
