Background: Today’s children are more than just the university students of the future. Although university promotional activities often target children as future students, children should be welcome on campus in their own right. Many university staff and students are also caring for children and sometimes need to bring them onto campus. Little is known about the presence of children on campus and how universities consider and accommodate them.

Aims: To conduct a rapid review to identify and understand Australian public university policies and procedures related to children on campus.

Method: A systematic Google search and searches of policy libraries from the 37 Australian universities was undertaken to identify policies and procedures that included “children”. Documents were analysed in NVivo using deductive thematic analysis.

Results: Systematic web-based searches identified 79 policies and procedures related to child welfare, safety and well-being; risk mitigation and management; family friendly workplaces; children on university campuses/premises and using facilities; support for underage students; and children undertaking work experience on campus. Across these documents, definitions of a “child” were inconsistent. Forbidden places featured prominently but varied across campuses (e.g., laboratories, commercial kitchens and plant rooms). Policies and procedures tended to apply to the university community in a broad sense rather than target specific audiences such as parents or caregivers. While acknowledging children’s presence, few universities recognised children in their own right or empowered their voices.

Conclusions: Across most Australian university policies and procedures, children are primarily considered prospective university students or accompanying adults. Few Australian universities overtly consider children as valuable and active citizens of their community within their policies and procedures. Instead, children’s presence on campus is to be tolerated and a risk to be managed in exceptional circumstances when staff or students bring them on campus. In contrast, at events promoting the campus to future students and their families, children are encouraged to engage and participate, albeit in a restricted way.

Implications for children and families: If you go to a university campus outside of organised events and activities, you and your children may not feel very welcome. Often the needs of children as children are not considered. We are interested in changing this perception.

Implications for practitioners: University campuses could be made more child-friendly. A review of policies and procedures is a good starting point.

Key words: children’s voices, university, policy, review

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals