One in 6 Australia students raped: survey

About one in six Australian female students have been raped and a further 12 percent have experienced attempted rape, according to the results of a new study.

The survey by the National Union of Students released Friday revealed that sexual violence against university students in Australia was more common than previously realized.

The findings, based on a poll of more than 1,500 female university students, found that 17 percent had experienced rape, AFP reports. The assaults occurred at some time in the respondents' lifetime, not necessarily while in school.

Two in three students had an "unwanted sexual experience," it found.

The union's women's officer Courtney Sloane told the Sydney Morning Herald the results show rape does not only occur among the lower class.

'Women at university tend to come from middle-class and upper middle-class social groups, and the survey shows they have experienced sexual assault, harassment, and obsessive behaviors at a high level,'' she said

The survey respondents said the perpetrator was usually a friend or acquaintance, the Sydney Morning Herald states. In 22 percent of cases, it involved an intimate partner.

And yet, only 2 percent of victims reported the assault to the police.

The survey results show that sexual violence may be a bigger problem than previously thought. A 2005 Personal Safety Survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 19 percent of women had experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.