Cultural competency is an important capability for nutrition graduates preparing for professional practice (1). Undergraduate nutrition education provides an opportunity to cultivate these capabilities however students may enter with varying levels of prior knowledge and experience. Understanding students’ self-reported cultural competency prior to undertaking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition education may help identify educational needs and inform curriculum design. This study aimed to describe self-reported cultural competency among undergraduate nutrition students and identify demographic and educational factors associated with cultural competency prior to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition education. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among undergraduate students enrolled in a second-year nutrition subject at the University of Melbourne, prior to completion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition curriculum content. Students completed a 25-item questionnaire based on a previously published protocol (2), including the 15-item Cultural Safety Training Questionnaire (CSTQ) (3) comprising two constructs: critical thinking and transformative unlearning. Items were scored using a 5-point Likert scale, with negatively worded items reverse-coded. Item scores were summed to generate overall and construct-level scores and summarised using descriptive statistics. Scores were explored by enrolment status (domestic vs. international), course pathway (Bachelor of Biomedicine vs. Bachelor of Science), and prior exposure to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education (yes vs. no). Parametric data were analysed using t-tests and one-way ANOVA/post-hoc Tukey; non-parametric data were analysed using Wilcoxon Rank Sum and Kruskal-Wallis/post-hoc Dunn tests. Of 133 eligible students, 86 completed the questionnaire (65% response rate). Mean ± SD total cultural competency score was 96 ± 10 (possible range 25–125). Median (IQR) score for critical thinking was 20 (18–22) and 36 (33–38) for transformative unlearning (possible ranges 6–30 and 9–45, respectively). Domestic students, Bachelor of Biomedicine students, and students with prior exposure reported higher total cultural competency scores (all p < 0.02). Domestic and Bachelor of Biomedicine students reported higher critical thinking and transformative unlearning scores (both p < 0.03). Prior exposure was associated with higher critical thinking scores (p < 0.01), but not transformative unlearning scores (p = 0.18). In conclusion, students demonstrated varied levels of self-reported cultural competency prior to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition education, with higher self-reported competency levels associated with domestic status, biomedicine course pathway and prior educational exposure. This highlights the different starting points students may bring to their learning. Curriculum approaches should therefore provide opportunities to build foundational knowledge and critical thinking while also supporting students to critically reflect on and challenge existing assumptions. The absence of an association between prior exposure and transformative unlearning suggests this capability may require intentional development through structured opportunities to examine and challenge one’s assumptions within course materials and activities.