A freedom of information investigation has revealed 59 complaints about sexual assault, misconduct or harassment were reported by students at WA’s four public universities last year.

Nine allegations of sexual assault resulted in three students being expelled from their institutions and 13 cases involved complaints of university staff sexually harassing students.

Curtin University, WA’s biggest institution, had the most harassment complaints with 31, including six allegations of sexual assault.

A male student was referred to police, suspended and then expelled from Curtin after he allegedly sexually assaulted a female student in December. Another male student was expelled after an alleged assault on a female student in July last year, but the case has not yet been resolved because the man is overseas.

Edith Cowan University investigated two sexual assaults last year.

Camera Icon An FOI investigation has revealed 59 reports of sexual assault, misconduct of harassment at WA universities. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

In April, a visitor to the campus allegedly assaulted a female student at the university’s sport and fitness centre and a male student was expelled from ECU after he allegedly assaulted a female student inside campus accommodation in July last year.

The University of WA hired an investigator to examine a sexual assault allegation that took place in May last year, but was unable to substantiate the complaint. Also at UWA, a female student complained of sexual harassment and defamation through social media and email by a male former student and staff member.

Murdoch reported three allegations of sexual misconduct, including unwanted and inappropriate touching, and one complaint of verbal sexual harassment.

While the number of overall complaints was higher than figures revealed by previous FOI applications, they were still lower than figures indicated by a student survey released by the Australian Human Rights Commission last year which found one in five students had been sexually harassed in a university setting.

Murdoch University said it would introduce a new online tool this year to make it easier for anonymous reporting of incidents.