University students will soon be able to check the potency and content of their party drugs, with pill-testing kits being distributed on campus.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, the University of Melbourne Student Union will hand out kits that include advice on safer drug use and reagent tests to help students understand what their pills contain.

It comes as debate rages about the legality of pill testing, which will soon be investigated by a Victorian parliamentary committee.

It will examine the laws for illicit and synthetic substances, drug treatment and harm-reduction programs, roadside testing and sniffer dogs at music festivals.