Participating in NSS Survey

Last week, I received an email to complete the 2021 National Student Safety Survey. Initially I was perplexed by this notification but soon realised the importance of completing it.

Completing surveys brings me back to undertaking the SACE Research Project in high school (how good was SurveyMonkey?). I remember sharing my survey all over my socials to gain participants so I could have a decent pool of people responding to my questions (to inform my research better).

Let’s be honest – even though surveys usually take less than 10 minutes of your day, it can be really hard to find the motivation to endure lists of questions (if I can’t find the motivation to watch lectures – then completing surveys isn’t exactly a high priority)!

However, I found the time to complete the National Student Safety Survey – after all, it’s targeted towards students' perceptions of safety at Australian Universities including experiences relating to sexual harassment and sexual assault.

You might be thinking – is this even relevant to me? Should I be completing this survey? My response would be yes! The survey is detailed and is being conducted to....

"...understand the context in which these behaviours occur, understand help seeking and reporting behaviours, and inform universities’ services and responses for student safety and wellbeing.” National Student Safety Survey

Therefore, participating in the survey is important to accurately represent views of all students at universities.

It’s important to note that the survey responses about any sexual harassment or assault do not constitute a formal report to your university (as the answers are completely confidential). Therefore it's encouraged that those who have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment or assault make a formal report or contact the police.

Improving the safety of our campus is a high priority and the input of university students is integral in providing meaningful feedback so that there can be improvements on reporting, services and overall student safety and wellbeing.

It took me no more than 10 minutes to complete the survey – so why not flick through your old emails to see if you’ve received the survey link? If you didn’t receive an invite – you can still have your say here!