University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Høj sent an email to all staff on Friday afternoon saying the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) would hold another integrity review of South Australia’s higher education sector.

It will be ICAC’s second integrity review of the state’s three public universities, after a 2020 review revealed widespread concerns from university staff about bullying and harassment, nepotism, grade inflation and inadequate protections for employees who report misconduct.

Høj said the latest ICAC review would be “an opportunity for the University to reflect on the nature of our operations and highlight any areas for improving how we conduct our activities”.

“The integrity and accountability of our operations must always be front of mind, both with our own independently audited processes and through external government regulation,” he wrote, adding that the 2020 ICAC review was “part of that regulation”.

“Many significant social and economic events and changes have occurred since 2020, not the least of which includes the proposed merger of the University with the University of South Australia, and the role of ICAC itself,” the vice-chancellor wrote.

“With that in mind, ICAC has proposed to conduct its next integrity survey in late September 2023.”

ICAC said the timing of the latest review “has not been influenced by the proposed merger” and the survey would not contain questions about it.

“The survey will cover perceptions and experiences of corruption and other integrity risks in the three South Australian public universities,” a spokesperson said.

“It will examine respondents’ willingness to report suspicions of corruption, barriers to reporting, and experiences of having made a report.”

The spokesperson said the new integrity survey would focus on corruption risks “associated with the conduct of research, records management and outside professional activities” and that staff would also be asked to describe their perceptions and experiences with ICAC.

More than 3200 staff across the University of Adelaide, University of South Australia and Flinders University contributed to ICAC’s 2020 university integrity review

That review collected 1364 responses from University of Adelaide staff, of which 31.6 per cent reported experiencing bullying and harassment at work and a further 62.7 per cent claimed to have encountered those behaviours in the previous three years.

The university has since established an independent “Integrity Unit” to oversee reports and complaints about inappropriate behaviour and misconduct.

Similar survey responses came from staff at UniSA (1173 respondents) and Flinders University (695). Nearly a third of respondents from Flinders and more than 25 per cent from UniSA said they had encountered bullying and harassment at their university.

Høj said the 2023 integrity review was “intended to play an educative role in helping us all better understand the role of ICAC and our personal obligations as Public Officers under the… ICAC Act”.

“I encourage you to take the opportunity to participate in this survey, but please note that the survey is not mandatory,” he wrote.

“ICAC has advised the University that all responses will be anonymised, however it is recommended that you carefully read the terms and conditions provided by the Commissioner before responding to the survey.”

ICAC is due to complete its report in early 2024.

The latest ICAC review comes as the reporting date for a parliamentary committee inquiry into the merger of the University of Adelaide and UniSA draws closer.

The Malinauskas Government aims to pass legislation by the end of the year to enable the creation of the newly merged university, after announcing in July it would commit $444.5 million in support.

The parliamentary committee has been holding public hearings about the merger since August.

The vice-chancellors of the two merger universities are scheduled to appear before the committee for a second time on October 4.

The committee, which does not have a government majority of MPs, is due to report back with recommendations on October 17.

The Liberal Party and crossbenchers SA-Best and One Nation, which could block the legislation in the Upper House, are yet to announce their position on the merger.