Students have slammed Australian National University (ANU) staff over on-campus accommodation support, which they say is structured in a way that the first port of call for a student to report sexual violence is to talk to another student.

Key points: ANU is accused of cutting back full-time support staff for residential students

ANU is accused of cutting back full-time support staff for residential students A recording shows an executive acknowledge the university is "falling short" of ratios to support students

A recording shows an executive acknowledge the university is "falling short" of ratios to support students Students are voicing concerns that residents are left reporting sexual misconduct to fellow residents

Earlier this month, students had the opportunity to level questions about pastoral care directly at ANU chief operating officer, Chris Grange, at a student forum.

The ABC obtained a recording and transcript of the forum in which Mr Grange conceded the current pastoral care model needed to change and he was "very disturbed by the feedback" he had received.

When speaking about on-site staff and their ratios to students, he told the forum of several hundred students, "obviously we fall short on that".

Mr Grange told the students he believed the university had "done a lot of work" on the issue of staff ratios, and moving forward he wanted student input to implement a better model.

Some ANU halls have about 400 student residents — but only one head of hall in charge of the residence, who is employed by the university.

That position is supported with community coordinator positions, and, further down the ranks, senior residents, who live on-site and are on-call for serious incidents.

But, while each hall was previously serviced by two staff members — the head and the deputy — students have told the ABC most deputy positions had been removed.

Many residents also raised concerns that the model was inadequate for reporting sexual violence, as all positions — except the head of hall — were held by fellow students.

Madelaine Renshaw said the ANU was cutting back, despite a report suggesting it do more. ( ABC News: Luke Stephenson )

Student Madelaine Renshaw said some students did not feel comfortable disclosing such traumatic incidents with peers.

"Students are feeling less and less safe as more and more pastoral care positions at their halls get cut", she said.

"Bruce, Wright and Fenner Hall have all had their deputy head cut with no additional pastoral care services added."

The loss of the deputy positions appears to be in conflict with the recommendations of a 2018 independent review into ANU residences' responses to sexual assault and harassment.

It recommended that "roles which oversee senior residents should ideally be full-time professional roles".

But students said the opposite had happened.

"So essentially what the ANU has done is directly contradicted the advice of professionals and failed to ensure student safety," Ms Renshaw said.

Senior resident Lachlan Day voiced concerns about handling of student welfare. ( ABC News: Luke Stephenson )

The 19-year-old student said it was difficult and uncomfortable for students to have to disclose sexual violence incidents to their peers, and that there was a lack of alternative options.

"Reporting is made everyday practically more difficult," she said.

"A lot of people don't want to report to senior residents or community coordinators when those people might be friends with the person they've been assaulted by.

"I don't know of anyone at the ANU, none of my friends, who don't at least know someone, or have another friend who's been sexually assaulted here."

Seniors 'uncomfortable' talking to fellow residents

At the student forum addressed by Mr Grange a fortnight ago, senior resident Lachlan Day bemoaned the lack of clear policy around sexual assault and harassment in residences.

He asked whether senior residents would be given an opportunity to "actually stop lying to their residents".

"When perpetrators asked to leave, say no, there's no recourse, or if there is, they're just shipped along Daley Road," he said.

Mr Day later said he had been put in a difficult position, as fellow students would come to him to report sexual assaults but he could not give them clarity about the process.

"When you're talking to a resident, you can't promise them anything, you can't promise them any sort of natural justice or anything, just because historically, the ANU has not done well in that space," he said.

Siang Jin Law (right) said the burden should not have to be shouldered by other students. ( ABC News: Tahlia Roy )

Mr Day said a number of frustrated students had asked him about the timeline for the university' sexual violence prevention strategy, which has remained a draft.

"I feel uncomfortable talking to residents about those kind of things because they keep asking the fair question of when's it going to happen and we aren't told," he said.

"This makes relationships with residents really difficult."

International student and Bruce Hall resident, Siang Jin Law, said international students were especially disadvantaged by gaps in pastoral care, as cultural considerations could make disclosures more complex — a responsibility she said should not fall to other students.

"They're all students. They're first here to study, not to be the university's back-up option because they don't want to provide more support to students," Ms Law said.

"It's just incredibly unfair that students have to take the burden on and not professional staff paid for by the university."

ANU vice chancellor Brian Schmidt was unavailable for interview, but Mr Grange defended the university's allocation of resources to student welfare.

"I don't think it's true that the resources are inadequate but I think it's an open question as to whether we're deploying resources in the right way," he told ABC Radio Canberra.

"We're looking at that right now and we will give a report to students."

He said the university had a range of non-peer supports for students to access, including the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre and ANU counsellors.

"That claim that students have to report to the students, that's incorrect. But obviously if that view is around, then we have got more work to do in terms of educating students," he said.

In a statement, the university said all students who were in peer support positions were also appropriately trained to deal with complaints of sexual violence.

"This includes compulsory training on responding to critical incidents, responding to disclosures of sexual assault and sexual harassment, training in effective helping, bystander training, youth mental health first aid and first-response first aid," the statement said.

"The university met with residential students a few weeks ago. We heard their concerns about their residential experiences and we're working to address those issues."