Regulator nudges campuses towards staff-student relationship ban

England’s higher education regulator has dropped plans to require universities to keep a register of “intimate personal relationships” between staff and students and has instead nudged institutions towards an outright ban on such liaisons, although it stopped short of mandating this.

The Office for Students said that it “expect[ed]” that more providers would introduce bans following the publication on 31 July of long-awaited guidance, which says that simply discouraging relationships is unlikely to go far enough to protect students. However, it says that managers might be able to meet a new condition of OfS registration if they can demonstrate that they have taken steps to limit the risk of conflicts of interest and abuses of power by taking a range of other steps.

The decisions, which follow a consultation first launched in February 2023, were published alongside a pilot survey of harassment on campuses that found one in five respondents described themselves as victims of unwanted sexual behaviour over the past year.

The OfS’ original proposal was for universities to keep a register of staff members’ relationships – involving physical or romantic intimacy, or financial dependency – with students they supervise or teach, with employees failing to disclose such ties likely to face dismissal.

In a consultation, 62 per cent of respondents backed the idea of a register, while only 22 per cent backed a ban.

However, a report on the consultation indicates that the OfS had concerns that such registers might conflict with rules on data protection and the protection given to private and family life in the Human Rights Act.

The regulator’s eventual solution leaves the final decision to universities, stating that “a ban on intimate personal relationships between relevant staff and students would generally be more appropriate and effective than a register”.

“We are not, however, mandating a ban for every provider: the condition is drafted to allow a provider to determine the most appropriate means to reduce the risk of abuse of power in its own context,” the OfS says.

Although a 2020 study found that only six English universities explicitly prohibited sex between teaching staff and students, a number had tightened their rules since then, including the University of Oxford.

But the OfS says universities could also meet its rules by, for example, having strong reporting mechanisms in place for harassment and misconduct, and by managing the academic and professional interactions of affected staff to ensure there are no perceived or actual advantages – in assessment, perhaps – for the students they are involved with.

It suggests that institutions might analyse evidence on the prevalence of such relationships, assess any complaints and consult students before deciding what steps they should introduce, whether a ban or an alternative approach.

The new guidance, which will come into force in August 2025, also indicates that students should undergo mandatory training in areas such as sexual consent and what to do if they witness misconduct – so-called “bystander training”. It also bans English universities from using non-disclosure agreements in cases of harassment or sexual misconduct from this September onwards.

Susan Lapworth, the OfS’ chief executive, said that students had said that they wanted “more active regulation to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct in higher education”.

“We’ve heard them, and our new regulation will help ensure they are better protected and better able to succeed on their courses,” Ms Lapworth said.

“Universities and colleges are increasingly alive to these issues and the serious impact they can have on students, particularly women. Some institutions already ban inappropriate relationships between staff and students – and we expect many more will now follow.”

Anna Bull, director of research at the 1752 Group, which campaigns to end sexual misconduct in higher education, said that the new rules would send a “clear signal”.

“If higher education institutions implement what is being asked of them, this will lead to a step change in how they handle harassment and sexual misconduct,” she told Times Higher Education.

Dr Bull, lecturer in education and social justice at the University of York, said that she was “fairly pleased” with the new guidance on staff-student relationships, describing the recommendations as a “strong steer” towards a ban while maintaining university autonomy.

“It’s not going to stop abuses of power happening, but it will be really helpful for students who are concerned about these behaviours from staff,” she said.

The scale of the challenge is underlined by the pilot survey of more than 5,000 students at 12 providers, which found that 27 per cent of women, and 12 per cent of men, had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in the last year. Thirteen per cent of women, and 4 per cent of men, said that they had been victims of sexual assault or violence in that time. The majority of these incidents involved someone connected with the university, occurred in a university setting, or both.

In the survey, 1 per cent of respondents said that they had had an intimate relationship with staff members, but an earlier survey of more than 3,000 students also published by the OfS on 31 July indicated that such affairs could be more widespread. One in 10 respondents said that they had had a relationship with a staff member in the past year, and in half of these cases the staff member was involved in their education or assessment.

Worryingly, 35 per cent of students in this survey who had had such a relationship said that they felt pressured to begin, continue or develop the relationship because they feared that refusing would negatively affect them. Thirty-one per cent of these said that the staff member had stated or implied that the relationship might help get them better grades, and that they would get worse grades if they ended it.

Commenting on the survey results, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said that the “levels of harassment uncovered, including the disproportionate impact on women on our campuses, are appalling”.

“We must clamp down on sexual harassment in every part of our society and everyone at our universities should feel protected and able to focus on their learning and broadening their horizons,” she said.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com