Australian National University students say they are cautiously optimistic about a plan to combat sexual violence on campus, but want it known that they were the driving force pushing the university to act.

Key points: The ANU's sexual violence prevention strategy includes an online reporting tool for victims, a first responders network trial and plans to better engage male students

The ANU's sexual violence prevention strategy includes an online reporting tool for victims, a first responders network trial and plans to better engage male students Its release comes two years after a damning Human Rights Commission report found nearly 40 per cent of ANU students had been sexually harassed in a 12-month period

Its release comes two years after a damning Human Rights Commission report found nearly 40 per cent of ANU students had been sexually harassed in a 12-month period Vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt apologised for the delay in releasing the strategy, saying the university would do "everything it can" to support victims

The ANU's plan to combat sexual assaults and harassment — which took two years to put together — was released today, as the university aims to rebuild trust with its students.

The long-awaited strategy features an online sexual assault reporting tool for victims, a trial of a first responders network of university staff, and introducing a sexual misconduct policy.

It also includes plans to better engage male students, focus on drug and alcohol abuse, and address the high prevalence of sexual violence perpetrated against LGBTQI, Indigenous, disabled, and culturally and linguistically diverse students.

However, students had mixed reactions to the strategy, with many feeling disappointed that it was scant on any details which could explain how the university planned to turn the promises into a reality.

Some students also said they were frustrated the university chose to release their response after many students had left for the year following exams.

Long-awaited strategy highly anticipated

Students at ANU protesting the university's attitude towards sexual assault in the wake of damning results in a national survey. ( ABC News: Jordan Hayne )

The ANU's plan is in response to a damning Australian Human Rights Commission report released in 2017.

It revealed that nearly 40 per cent of ANU students had been sexually harassed and more than three per cent experienced sexual assault over a 12-month period.

The reported rates of sexual assaults on campus at the ANU were more than double the national average.

"I couldn't count on two hands the number of people I know who have been assaulted at college, it's incredibly sad," Madelaine Renshaw, deputy campaign manager for the student-led ANU advocacy group The Stop Campaign, said.

"And of those who I know, only a tiny minority end up making formal complaints, and the reason for that is that policy of reporting retraumatises survivors."

Australian National University student Madelaine Renshaw. ( ABC News: David Sciasci )

In the wake of the strategy's release, Ms Renshaw was optimistic about change at the university, but said student groups had had to fight for action from the ANU at almost every turn.

She said she was hopeful that the university's proposed online reporting tool would help reduce the barriers to reporting sexual assault.

"Having the option to report an instance of sexual assault without having to talk to someone face-to-face about it, will probably make it a lot easier for some people to report their experiences," she said.

"There's a lot of optimism about the new policy and the new reporting tool, but it's just unclear what those things are actually going to look like.

"The community is hopeful, but still sceptical about the way these tools are going to make reporting easier."

Students were originally told that the reporting tool would be available from this year's orientation week, but today ANU vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt would not confirm whether it would be ready for new students in 2020.

Ms Renshaw said she also held concerns about how some of the other strategies would be implemented.

"There are commitments within the report to creating a first-responders unit with regards to sexual violence on campus, and there have been additions to pastoral staff care at certain residential halls which are all really important steps," Ms Renshaw said.

"But in terms of what we can expect into the future I think the report was quite vague in whether first responders will still be expected to be students as they are under the status quo, or whether or not that will change.

"I also thought that it was quite unclear how the university actually expected to get perpetrators to engage with the kind of measures they were putting in place.

"The perpetrators of sexual violence have already demonstrated that they don't care about the law and about the people they're harming, so it's unclear to me why they're likely to care more about these university policies."

Chancellor apologises for strategy delay

Brian Schmidt says the ANU will "do everything it can" to support victims. ( ABC News: David Sciasci )

In addressing the amount of time the strategy took to be formulated, which saw students protest for action on the Human Rights Commission report's two-year anniversary, the vice-chancellor apologised.

"I acknowledge that we have taken more than two years to get to this point today," Professor Schmidt said.

"That has not been because we didn't think it was important. It is because it is hard, we haven't gotten everything right, and for those who have been let down by the university in the process, I apologise."

Professor Schmidt said that "the university is going to do everything it can to … support people who report, people who witness, but also the people who are reported to".

"We need to bring in a professionalism to our staff, but students often like to report to other students, so we need to bring that professionalism to our students," he said.

"I thank those of you who are prepared to help us and I respect those of you who feel that it's best to leave it to someone else as well."

He also thanked sexual violence survivors for their "bravery in helping us", and said that sexual violence was "one of the worst scourges that we have in Australia and on our campus".

He said that the strategy was "a new beginning" for ANU, and a way for "us as a community to continually improve, to tackle within the community, the harm done by sexual violence.

"It's about trying ideas, enabling things that are known to work, but also reflecting and refining," he said.