Thousands of students report sexual violence at university

Thousands of students have reported being victims of sexual violence and harassment in the first sector-wide survey of sexual misconduct at universities in England.

The Office for Students (OfS) said 14% of students responding to its survey reported being victims of sexual violence - which included rape, attempted rape and unwanted touching.

One in four students who responded reported experiencing sexual harassment.

And 1.5% of respondents reported having been in an intimate relationship with a staff member.

Women and lesbian, gay and bisexual students were more likely to have experienced both sexual violence and harassment than their male and straight peers, the survey suggests.

All final year undergraduate students in England were asked to fill out the survey, with 52,000 responding.

It is the first nationwide study of its kind, one which campaigners say they have been calling for since 2010.

The survey by the OfS, England's higher education regulator, asked respondents for their experiences of:

Students were also asked about whether they reported incidents to the university, and whether the support they received was good or poor.

Women were nearly three times more likely to experience sexual harassment than men, and more than twice as likely to experience sexual assault, the OfS said.

Nearly half - 47% - of lesbian, gay and bisexual students reported sexual harassment, compared to 22% of heterosexual students.

A spokesperson for Universities UK, which represents over 140 institutions, said universities were "determined to tackle sexual harassment", adding that "this powerful data puts universities in a stronger position to prevent assault and harassment, support students and improve reporting".

Dr Anna Bull, senior lecturer at the University of York and director of the 1752 Group, which researches and campaigns against sexual misconduct at universities, said the data "confirms what we have known for a long time".

"For these students, university is not a safe or welcoming place," she said.

"I hope that the higher education sector's progress on this issue in the coming years will be as ambitious as this challenge requires."

The LGBT Foundation says it offers an independent sexual violence advisor (ISVA) service covering greater Manchester to support those affected by sexual abuse.

Following her experience, Molly set up Academics Against Assault, which is campaigning for education about consent to become mandatory at all UK universities.

She also runs training workshops about enthusiastic consent, and what bystanders can do if they witness incidents of sexual harassment or assault.

Dr Barratt said the university was grateful to Molly for her "extensive and impactful work", which has included co-developing the new consent education teaching module at Royal Holloway.

The OfS survey follows the regulator's publication of new guidance for universities on how to prevent and tackle harassment and sexual misconduct, which came into effect in August.

For the first time, universities are now required to:

A ban on non-disclosure agreements when dealing with cases of harassment or sexual misconduct also came into effect in September 2024.

Breaching these conditions could lead to universities being fined, the OfS said.