July 12, 2026 – 10:00 p.m. Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. TOTOTO Universities will be legally required to meet new standards to prevent racism and antisemitism and strengthen complaints processes from Monday, as vice-chancellors prepare to face the royal commission over
Universities will be legally required to meet new standards to prevent racism and antisemitism and strengthen complaints processes from Monday, as vice-chancellors prepare to face the royal commission over their handling of hostility towards Jewish students.
The new threshold standards, introduced by the Albanian government, require universities to take measures to prevent racism and anti-Semitism; respond appropriately when incidents occur; establish transparent complaint processes; and adopt recognized definitions of hate.
The new anti-racism standard requires higher education providers to maintain safe and inclusive environments for students and staff. Universities will be required to adopt recognized definitions of antisemitism; of racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and Islamophobia; they must implement transparent complaint processes; and must provide clear guidance to students and staff on safety on campus and online.
The reforms also introduce governance principles that require universities to report annually to the regulator on an “if not, why not” basis.
Public universities will also be required to publish decisions of governing bodies, consultancy expenses, external functions performed by vice-chancellors and senior executives, and annual remuneration reports, including the remuneration of vice-chancellors.
The reforms follow an initial sector-wide assessment by Professor Greg Craven, independent evaluator of the national University Report Card on Antisemitism, which found that no Australian university had adequately adopted and applied a definition of antisemitism.
The government will not impose any current working definitions, such as the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Universities will be able to design their own definitions or adopt credible ones.
The sector’s peak body, Universities Australia, drafted a new definition of antisemitism last year, which was backed by 39 of its members. The government said campuses would not have to comply with the rules until January 1 next year.
Craven said measures such as complaints handling and antisemitism training could not be effectively assessed without universities first adopting a recognized definition.
A report card regime on university antisemitism will be launched starting next year, grading institutions from A to D. However, human rights activists say some of the measures could be an affront to academic freedom, freedom of expression and the rule of law.
The changes were announced ahead of public hearings in Melbourne this week, where senior leaders from the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Australian National University will be questioned about their response to antisemitism on campus following the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the hearings would expose the extent of anti-Semitism experienced by Jewish students.
“I think you are going to hear some pretty horrific evidence… in the coming days, particularly from Jewish students, about the abuse they suffered, the bullying and harassment they experienced at universities,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
Clare said universities had been “caught off guard” by the rise in antisemitism.
“To be fair to universities, some of them have made significant improvements over the last few years, but not enough. There is much more to do,” he said.
He said the new standards, which came into effect on Monday, were aimed at ensuring universities had appropriate systems in place to prevent and respond to antisemitism.
Clare will announce on Monday that the government will go further by giving the Tertiary Education Standards and Quality Agency stronger enforcement powers, including the ability to fine universities directly when they fail to meet their obligations.
“What we also have to do is give the university regulator more strength, more powers, when universities do not act, to be able to fine them,” he said.
“The regulator, at the moment, if it wants to fine a university, it needs to go to court. I imagine that’s not the right approach, so we will be introducing legislation to give the regulator more powers in the coming months.”
An Australian Human Rights Commission report earlier this year found that of the 76,000 students and staff surveyed, 70 per cent had experienced indirect racism, including hearing or seeing racist behavior directed at their community. About 15 percent experienced direct racism in college.
Rates were highest among religious Jewish and Palestinian respondents (over 90 percent), followed by Indigenous Australian, Chinese, secular, Middle Eastern and Northeast Asian Jewish respondents (over 80 percent). International students experienced racism more frequently than domestic students or staff.
The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, headed by former High Court judge Virginia Bell, will also hear from Jewish students and academics this week about their experiences of antisemitism on campus.
Four of the five universities that appeared hosted pro-Palestinian camps in 2024 following the outbreak of the war between Israel and Gaza. Campuses became hotbeds for protests and counter-protests.
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Rob Harris is a national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former correspondent in Europe.Connect by email.From our partners
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