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A university campus is a small city. Thousands of young adults live, study and move around it at all hours, many of them away from home for the first time. Most of what keeps them safe is ordinary: lights, guards, wardens, a medical centre. The hard part is the moment something goes wrong, at night, in a corner of the campus nobody is watching.
This guide is for the people who run campus security in Indian universities and colleges. It covers what the rules expect, where the real risks are, and how to build a response students will actually use.
What the rules expect
- UGC safety guidelines. In April 2015 the UGC issued Guidelines on Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Educational Institutions and asked universities to adopt them through their own ordinances. They cover security, infrastructure and student support.
- Anti-ragging regulations. UGC regulations require institutions to prevent and act on ragging, with committees and helplines.
- Protection from sexual harassment. UGC regulations from 2015 require an Internal Complaints Committee that covers students as well as staff.
Check the current text of each with the UGC. These set the floor. What students feel day to day comes from how the campus is run.
Where the real risks are
Ask your own students, but most campuses find the same places:
- The walk back to the hostel after the library, a lab or an event, especially through unlit stretches.
- The campus edge: gates, nearby roads, the walk to a bus stop, auto stand or metro.
- Off-campus housing and PG accommodation, where the university has little reach.
- Medical emergencies in a hostel room at night.
- Events and festivals, with crowds, outsiders and late finishes.
- Dead zones where mobile data drops: basements, labs, the far end of a large campus.
Six things that make a campus safer
1. A security desk that answers
One number, staffed at all hours, that every student knows. Put it on ID cards, hostel doors and the welcome kit. Test it at 2 am.
2. A way to raise an alert that works on a bad day
A phone number assumes a student can unlock a phone, dial and talk. When they are being followed, hurt or panicking, they may not be able to. An SOS that works without unlocking the phone, and by text message when data drops, covers those cases.
3. The desk sees where the alert came from
“Somewhere near the library” costs minutes. The desk should see the student’s location the moment they raise an alert, and only then.
4. Help from people who are close
Guards are not everywhere. Wardens and trained staff responders across the campus can reach a student in two minutes when the main gate is ten minutes away.
5. Privacy students believe
Students are adults. Tracking them all day is wrong and they will switch it off. The fair rule: location only during an SOS, shared only with the security desk, with every look recorded. Say it plainly in orientation.
6. Practise and record
Run one drill each term: a student raises a test alert at an agreed time, and you time how long the desk takes to respond and send help. Record every real incident with its outcome, and review them each month for patterns: which routes, which hours, which hostels.
Campus safety checklist
- One security number, staffed at all hours, known by every student.
- Lit and patrolled routes between academic blocks, hostels and gates.
- An SOS that works without unlocking the phone and without data.
- The desk sees an alert’s location at once.
- Wardens and trained staff are approved as responders.
- Location only during an SOS, explained in orientation.
- One drill per term, timed.
- Every incident recorded with its outcome and reviewed monthly.
How ORBII Teams works for universities
ORBII Teams has a campus setup built around these rules.
- Students use the ORBII app and raise an SOS by button, by saying “help”, “bachao” or “madad”, or with a silent shake. Without data, it goes out as a text message.
- The security desk gets the alert at once, on the phone and in the browser, with the student’s location.
- Location only during an SOS, and only to the security desk. On campus, there are no trips and no live map of students.
- Responders close by. Wardens and staff can volunteer as responders, and you approve them. When a student raises an SOS, approved responders who are nearby are alerted too. They are never asked to confront anyone: they reach the student and call 112 or 108.
- Every look is recorded, and every incident is kept with its outcome in the audit log.
- Never health data for the university.
ORBII is for adult students in colleges and universities. Read more on the campus safety page, or the late-night campus safety guide for students.
Frequently asked questions
What are the UGC guidelines on student safety?
In April 2015 the UGC issued Guidelines on Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Educational Institutions and communicated them to all universities, asking them to put the guidelines into effect through their own rules. They cover campus security, infrastructure and student support. Universities also follow UGC regulations against ragging and against sexual harassment. Check the current text with the UGC.
How can a university improve campus safety at night?
Light and staff the routes students actually use, run a security desk that answers at any hour, give students a way to raise an alert without unlocking their phone, and make sure the desk can see where an alert came from. Then practise: run a drill each term and time the response.
Should a university track students' location?
No. College students are adults, and all-day tracking breaks their trust and is hard to justify. The fair approach is location only when a student raises an SOS, shared only with the security desk, with every look recorded.
What should a campus emergency plan include?
Who staffs the security desk and when, how students raise an alert, how the desk reaches the student and sends help, the numbers for police (112), ambulance and the campus medical centre, how hostel wardens are involved, and how each incident is recorded and reviewed.