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...

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.…