Australia’s top universities are undertaking a national survey of sexual harassment and sexual assault on campuses.

Universities Australia says the Human Rights Commission will be involved in the survey, which is aimed at helping improve university policies, procedures and support services.

“We've all seen – and not just in the last 12 months, unfortunately all too frequently over many years – from time to time serious concerns expressed regarding safety on campuses,” Universities Australia chair Professor Barney Glover told reporters this week.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual assault and sexual harassment on our campuses.

“As part of that, we recognise that practice is not uniformly good across the sector and we're all looking at our processes, our policies to see how we can improve.”

The large-sale survey was prompted in part by a 2015 National Union of Students survey in which 72.75 per cent of respondents reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment on campus, while 27 per cent said they had been sexually assaulted.

Prof Glover said the original study only created more questions.

“It was a relatively small survey and had question marks over its methodology so it wasn't a prevalence survey as such,” he said.

“The only way to really get to the bottom of the extent to which sexual assault and sexual harassment is occurring in Australia's universities is to undertake a comprehensive prevalence survey.”

The Human Rights Commission has agreed to analyse the responses from a representative sample of the survey covering Australia's 39 universities.

Anyone wishing to participate can access an anonymous online form here.