The National Code for Higher Education – Why it Matters

From 1 January 2026, Australian higher education providers will be operating under a new regulatory reality. The National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence 2025 is not another set of aspirational guidelines. It is a condition of registration. And it materially changes what is expected of universities and the residential environments connected to them.

This matters because for too long, student safety, sexual harassment, and sexual assault have been addressed through fragmented policies, uneven practices, and a quiet hope that nothing serious happens on your watch. The Code removes that option.

Why this Code exists

The Code is a direct response to years of evidence, including the Change the Course report and subsequent reviews, showing that sexual harassment and sexual assault are persistent, underreported, and often poorly handled within higher education.

What regulators have said, clearly and repeatedly, is this:
having a policy is not the same as having a system that works.

The Code exists to close the gap between stated commitment and lived experience, particularly for students in high-risk environments such as residential colleges and student accommodation.

What has actually changed

The most significant shift is that prevention and response are now regulated as core means of student protection, not optional extras or reputational considerations.

Key changes include:

1. Clear, enforceable standards
Providers must meet defined standards across prevention, response, governance, training, reporting, and continuous improvement. The focus is on demonstrating how these requirements are implemented and maintained.  \.

2. Student accommodation is explicitly in scope
Student accommodation and affiliated colleges are directly addressed under the Code. Safe residential life is treated as central to student safety, not peripheral to it.

If accommodation providers are affiliated but operationally separate, universities are still responsible for ensuring compliance through legally binding arrangements. This responsibility cannot be discharged without enforceable controls.

3. Stronger expectations for response
The Code sets clear expectations around trauma-informed responses, timely risk assessment, safety planning, and access to supports following disclosures and reports.

This means fewer ad hoc decisions, less reliance on individual judgement under pressure, and more emphasis on systems that work every time.

4. Capability is now a compliance issue
Training is no longer about awareness sessions that everyone forgets by next week. Staff, student leaders, and residents must have capability that is relevant to their role and the risks they manage.

In short, if people are expected to respond well, organisations must set them up to do so.

5. Governance and accountability are visible
Data collection, reporting, review cycles, and leadership oversight are not optional. Regulators expect evidence that prevention and response efforts are monitored, tested, and improved over time.

Why this matters beyond compliance

It is tempting to treat the Code as a regulatory exercise. Update the policy. Refresh the training. Tick the box.

However, the Code is fundamentally about culture, particularly in environments where power, alcohol, tradition, and proximity collide. Residential colleges know this terrain well.

When done properly, the work required by the Code delivers more than compliance:

• safer students

• clearer expectations for behaviour

• more confident staff and student leaders

• fewer crises handled in panic mode

• reduced institutional risk, both human and legal

And yes, fewer moments where everyone is silently asking, how did we not see this coming?

What good implementation looks like

Strong implementation is not about copying another institution’s documents or outsourcing responsibility to a learning module.

It looks like:

• prevention and response plans designed for real student life, not idealised behaviour

• policies written so students can actually understand them

• training that prepares people for difficult conversations and decisions

• clear response pathways that reduce hesitation and harm

• leadership that treats student safety as core business, not a specialist issue

How Intersection can help

Intersection works with universities and university colleges to translate the Code into practical, trauma-informed, and person-centred systems.

We help institutions:

• understand what the Code actually requires in their context

• identify gaps and design prevention and response systems that fill those gaps

• build capability across leadership, staff, and student cohorts

• strengthen governance without killing the culture that makes colleges work

We focus on work that regulators can trust, staff can implement, and that increases students’ sense of safety,

Looking ahead

The Code sets a new baseline for student safety in Australia. Institutions that treat it as a minimum compliance exercise will struggle. Those that use it as a catalyst to strengthen culture, clarity, and care will be better placed for the long term.

Student safety is no longer about intention. It is about infrastructure.

And that is a good thing.