Chazal N2, Halliday M1
1Acrath, 2University of South Australia
ACRATH, Flinders University and the University of South Australia have been awarded a federal government to create a micro-credential for university students raising awareness of modern slavery.
The aim is threefold:
1.To educate pre-service students in the professions of medicine, nursing, midwifery, health, education, social work, psychology, law, and criminal justice to recognize potential modern slavery victims when they enter frontline service roles.
2.To increase awareness of modern slavery, work rights, and support services within student cohorts, including international and domestic students vulnerable to exploitation and forced marriage.
3.To up-skill key university staff, including counsellors, student services, and international student bodies to better recognize and respond to modern slavery risks within the student population.
The two-year project has national scope, reaching a high volume of students across at least 21 universities, and will have amplified effect when pre-service students enter the workforce.
We know that international students are particularly vulnerable as this cohort faces additional financial and work precarity because of non-citizenship. In addition, ACRATH has come across numerous international students in situations of exploitation and understands the factors which make them particularly vulnerable to modern slavery.
Universities are increasingly acknowledging that they must play a role in combatting modern slavery, as they themselves are reporting institutions to the Modern Slavery Act, and temporary migrants (such as international students) are listed on the global slavery index as a cohort that is especially vulnerable to modern slavery (Walk Free 2018).