Swinburne University Safety Issues Background- Swinburne University,

Swinburne University Safety Issues

Background- Swinburne University, based in Melbourne, Victoria AU, is a public dual sector university founded in 1908 and achieving university status in 1992. The campus serves almost 32,000 students -- half enrolled in higher education courses, half in technical education. These totals include nearly 7000 students from over five different countries, attending five campuses (Swinburne University 2010). Swinburne has been nationally and internationally recognized as the best technical institute in Australia, the best university in Melbourne for teaching quality since 2007 and as one of Australia's top "student picked" universities. Internationally, it is one of the top 500 universities in the world across seven disciplines (Rating Major Disciplines in Australian Universities: Perceptions and Reality 2006). Swinburne receives many awards for teaching style based not only on innovative, top-notch faculty, but of relevance of coursework and alignment of degree programs to various industries. The university also believes that programs between the technical and university sides should be encourages; which breaks new ground in university education in Australia, which has traditional separated the two as being too divergent to find commonality (Swinburne Hosts Ministerial Council 2010). With so many campuses and large numbers of students and faculty, one can only imagine the tremendous number of safety and occupational health issues faced by the university.

Part of dealing with modern organizations is the ability to identify issues prior to them occurring. At Swinburne, equity and diversity are taken quite seriously. The governance of the university is committed to providing an including and equitable work environment, and is part of the overall focus towards learning and safety. The basic philosophy holds that communities celebrate diversity through understanding the rights and responsibilities of all Swinburne community members and realizes that the diversity within a university setting often mimics the needs of a larger community outside university life. It has implemented an equality opportunity policy (EEO) that protects and celebrates diversity, and has two specific initial contacts regarding these types of issues: one with HR for faculty and staff, and one with the Student Equity Team.

Interview and Questions- We will be interviewing Mrs. Marlene Jacobs, Senior Staff Liaison for Student Safety for Swinburne University. We interviewed Mrs. Jacobs on December 13, 2011.

1. What is the overriding goal for your department regarding student safety at Swinburne?

2. What types of programs are available to keep students physically safe both on and off campus?

3. How are these programs and/or services communicated to new students?

4. How would you characterize the level of safety one might expect in and around your campuses?

5. What types of counseling and student support services are available at Swinburne?

6. What is the formal security like on Swinburne campuses?

7. Are there programs specifically designed for international students?

8. What is the relationship between the various communities and Swinburne campus locations?

9. What after-hours services are available for students?

10. What basic safety tips might you recommend for a new Swinburne student?

Formalized Safety Policies and Procedures- Likely because of the nature of the university, there is a complete and robust OH&S Policy and Procedure Guideline that identifies everything from contractor management, bullying, first aid, to worksite and working in the sun guidelines. This can be found either in printed from the Human Resources Office, or online at: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/hr/ohs/policies.htm. Any student of staff/faculty member that can access the Internet, and if not at home, through the library or a university portal, has a vast amount of information on the University, its policies, and specific procedures that may be followed in order to mitigate most circumstances and/or allow users the needed contact information for almost any issue. Information may be found on all current policies, safety issues, management issues, workplace issues, protection issues, performance and development, equity and diversity, any HR forms, and various ways of contacting the right person or persons to help with any potential issue. With the amount of information available, and the clear commitment to providing the best possible service, there is almost no chance of anyone who wishes to find help or get questions answered not to have a robust and professional opportunity to do so. In addition, 24/7 contact numbers are provided both for university and community services.