Indirect racism affects 70% of people on campus, study says

Racism is widespread, normalised and structurally embedded across Australia’s university sector, according to a landmark national study released by the Australian Human Rights Commission, intensifying scrutiny of how universities respond to discrimination and whether new accountability mechanisms proposed by the government can deliver meaningful change.

Based on responses from more than 76,000 students and staff across 42 universities, the commission’s Racism@Uni study paints a comprehensive and confronting picture of everyday racism in Australian higher education.

Around 70% of respondents reported experiencing indirect racism, such as witnessing or overhearing discriminatory behaviour directed at their racial, ethnic or religious group, while more than 15% reported direct interpersonal racism.

Rates were significantly higher among First Nations people and Jewish, Muslim, Arab, African, Asian and Pasifika respondents, with many groups reporting exposure levels above 80%.

The report, which makes a total of 47 recommendations, comes amid heightened national attention on antisemitism in particular, following months of campus tensions and pro-Palestine protest activity in response to the recent Israeli war in Gaza, and growing political pressure for stronger oversight.

It also comes in the wake of December’s terror attack targeting Jewish people at Bondi Beach.

Jewish and Palestinian respondents reported some of the highest levels of racism in the study, with more than nine in 10 saying they had experienced discrimination linked to their identity.

Many described withdrawing from campus spaces, censoring their views or avoiding visible markers of identity out of fear of harassment or reprisal.

Despite the scale of reported harm, trust in university complaints systems remains low. Only 6% of those who experienced direct racism lodged a formal complaint, with respondents citing fear of retaliation, lack of faith in outcomes and concern about academic or employment consequences.

Casual staff, international students and postgraduate researchers were among those least likely to report incidents, highlighting how power imbalances intersect with race in the university environment.

The commission argues that racism in universities is not limited to individual acts but is reinforced through institutional practices, including curriculum design, leadership representation, promotion pathways and complaints handling.

First Nations staff reported experiences of cultural tokenism and exclusion, while academics from migrant and refugee backgrounds described being overlooked for leadership roles or assessed more harshly than their peers.

Report cards

Against this backdrop, the federal government has moved to introduce stronger accountability measures, including a proposed antisemitism ‘report card’ system recommended by Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism (ASECA), Jillian Segal.

The initiative is intended to assess how universities prevent, respond to and report antisemitism, adding a layer of public scrutiny to institutional responses.

The proposal has received backing from university leaders. Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson told University World News that the report card initiative represented a critical opportunity for the sector.

“The Group of Eight is strongly supportive of the Report Card initiative, and we see it as a critical opportunity to ensure accountability, transparency, and meaningful improvement across Australia's higher education sector,” Thomson said.

“Go8 universities are actively engaged in the process and are committed to contributing constructively.”

She said universities had already taken steps to strengthen their responses to antisemitism but acknowledged that recent events had underscored the need for further action.

“Over the past two years universities have been challenged to do better in recognising, preventing and responding to antisemitism and hate on our campuses,” she said.

“Across our universities we have made substantial changes and improvements. We developed a working definition of antisemitism, rolled out antisemitism training for executives and frontline staff, and implemented enhanced security measures and protocols,” she noted.

“However, the horrific events of the 14 December 2025 Bondi terrorist attack leave no doubt that we must do more,” Thomson added. “The Go8 is absolutely committed to working with the government and ASECA to ensure that our campuses are safe, inclusive, and free from antisemitism.”

The sector’s peak body, Universities Australia, also expressed support for the government's response to the envoy's recommendations. Its chief executive, Luke Sheehy, said antisemitism must be confronted alongside all forms of hatred affecting campus communities.

“Antisemitism and all other forms of hatred are a scourge on our country, and they need to be stamped out,” Sheehy said in a statement provided to University World News.

“Australia’s universities are supportive of the government’s response to the special envoy’s report, including working cooperatively on the recommendation to develop report cards.

“Our sector is engaging constructively with the process to ensure appropriate outcomes from this important initiative as we work collectively to tackle antisemitism on campus,” he said.

Stronger federal oversight

The 47 recommendations made by the Human Rights Commission are organised around five key outcomes, the first of which is the development of a “sector-wide framework” for anti-racism that is driven by ongoing data collection.

In order to achieve such a framework, the report recommends that the government establish a working group to develop a national Racism@Uni Action Plan to address racism in universities and that it fund the Human Rights Commission to conduct independent annual reviews to assess progress in addressing racism at both sector and university level.

It is recommended under this outcome that the government commit to funding an independent survey into the prevalence of racism in universities – to be conducted every three years – and that the working group assess progress in universities four years after work on the Racism@Uni Action Plan begins.

It is also recommended that universities themselves develop whole-of-organisation anti-racism plans co-designed with First Peoples and other groups experiencing racism.

Under the second outcome, ‘Racism-free environments’, there is a recommendation, among several others, that universities provide comprehensive anti-racism and cultural competency training for staff and students.

Other recommendations relate to the core outcomes of ‘Accountability’ – which offers measures to achieve accountable universities with trusted, accessible, effective complaints systems supported by independent oversight – and ‘Inclusive teaching and curriculum’, which recommends curricula reforms in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and practitioners to embed First Peoples’ knowledges, scholarship and texts across all disciplines.

Lastly, the ‘Workforce diversity’ outcome outlines measures to create diverse leadership and a workforce that reflects the diversity of the student population and Australian society.

Broader reforms

Education Minister Jason Clare has acknowledged the seriousness of the Human Rights Commission's findings, indicating the government will consider its recommendations as part of broader reforms underway in higher education.

While no formal response timeline has been announced, the report adds momentum to calls for stronger federal oversight of university governance, safety and discrimination standards.

Australia’s National Tertiary Education Union said the report confirmed that racism intersects with insecure employment and power imbalances across the sector, particularly for casual academic staff and professional workers from migrant and Indigenous backgrounds.

The union said stronger oversight would be ineffective without reforms to complaints handling, whistleblower protections and employment precarity, warning that staff who experience racism often face professional risk if they speak out.

Jewish community organisations welcomed the proposed antisemitism report cards as a potential mechanism for transparency but cautioned that any framework must lead to real consequences rather than symbolic compliance.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said Jewish students and staff had reported feeling unsafe or marginalised on campus over the past year, and that independent monitoring could help rebuild confidence if paired with clear benchmarks and public reporting.

Muslim advocacy groups similarly stressed that accountability measures should address all forms of racism and religious discrimination, including Islamophobia.

The Islamic Council of Victoria said Muslim students had long reported being targeted during periods of heightened global conflict, often with limited institutional response, and warned against approaches that single out one form of racism while leaving others unaddressed.

First Nations advocates said the report reinforced concerns that universities continue to benefit from Indigenous knowledge and symbolism without embedding Indigenous leadership or addressing systemic exclusion.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium said the findings should prompt universities to reassess governance structures, promotion pathways and cultural safety frameworks, particularly for Indigenous staff and researchers.