UK’s ‘uneven’ sexual harassment policies ‘put students at risk’

“Uneven” protections against sexual harassment across UK universities could put students at risk, campaigners have warned.

Guidance released by the English sector regulator this summer warned higher education institutions that they could be putting their registration at risk if they failed to train staff and students on preventing sexual misconduct, or did not take steps to prevent an abuse of power in a relationship between staff and students.

However, the reforms do not apply to the rest of the UK, and campaigners have highlighted that the new Welsh regulator, Medr, omitted any mention of sexual harassment from its draft strategic plan.

Anna Bull, director of research at the 1752 Group, which campaigns to end sexual misconduct in higher education, told Times Higher Education that differing approaches across the UK created “a real disjuncture” and “uneven” guaranteed safeguards and provisions.

How to address sexual misconduct in higher education, part one: prevention

“It’s baffling to me that Medr hasn’t mentioned sexual harassment in its strategic plan, and it’s even more alarming when in England universities from next August are going to have regulatory requirements to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct,” Dr Bull said.

While the Scottish government has a framework for addressing sexual harassment in universities and commitments to “following good practice”, it does not go as far as the provisions announced by the OfS.

“The problem is that if you choose one university, you might get good prevention and response, but at another university you might get nothing,” added Dr Bull, senior lecturer in education and social justice at the University of York.

Medr has subsequently published a consultation on sexual harassment in higher education, with a spokesperson stating that the body would be updating its strategic plan in response to a separate consultation on that document. The final version is expected to be published early in 2025.

Johanna Robinson, the Welsh government’s national adviser for violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, described sexual harassment at universities as “a national emergency”.

While the OfS has introduced strict requirements for universities, she said, Medr was looking to enhance existing provisions, “which I’m not sure creates the level of conditions for what we need here”.

“Without knowledge, without understanding, without consistency, people generally don’t speak out. Students might speak to a friend at a different university, and if they can say, ‘This is what happens here, I know of this,’ we know that confidence breeds across, so it would help in those circumstances as well,” Ms Robinson said.

“The thought that somebody because of the nature of where they live has lesser rights seems really unfair.”

Bridget Steele, a lecturer in evidence-based intervention and policy evaluation at the University of Oxford, stressed that while she regarded the omission of sexual harassment from the Welsh draft strategic plan as just an “oversight”, it seemed “out of the norm” compared with action taken in England, the US and Canada.

The Medr spokesperson said: “We are grateful for the consultation responses we received on our draft strategic plan, including those that noted the omission of specific references to gender-based violence and harassment within the tertiary education sector.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com