Almost two-thirds of students and recent graduates (62%) have experienced sexual violence at UK universities, new research has found.
The survey of over 4,000 students, conducted by the national campaign Revolt Sexual Assault in partnership with The Student Room, also found that half of students have experienced sexual harassment – while 42% have experienced sexual assault.
In response to the findings, founder of Revolt Sexual Assault Hannah Price said: “During the campaign so far, I’ve heard countless stories of sexual violence from brave, incredible students – each of which has been too powerful to forget. Beneath the filters, the life-long effects of these assaults are shockingly apparent.
“The sad reality is the same themes emerge; students are suffering in silence and blaming themselves. They are having an extremely poor student experience and in too many cases being deprived of their education because of sexual violence and the lack of support available to them.
Hannah then went on to call for a ‘uniform national response’ to ‘what now must be recognised as a nation-wide issue’ with ‘student survivors at its heart’.
“For instance, universities need accessible reporting systems, that minimise the distress caused to students, carried out by specially trained and independent staff,” she said.
The research comes after the University of Lincoln’s Student Wellbeing Centre launched a new initiative last year to report sexual misconduct cases online.
Speaking to The Linc in September, Julie Spencer, Head of the Student Wellbeing Service at the University of Lincoln, said: “The issue of consent is one that has rightly become more frequently discussed in recent years, and at Lincoln we have always supported wider campaigns like #NoMore by the local authorities, and bystander intervention programmes.
“This new online resource is building on an already robust system of support that we have in place – we’re taking our advice and guidance and putting it into a digital format which we know our students will engage well with.
“We’re being proactive rather than responding to an issue – we know that topics like consent are really important for young people to discuss, and it’s this kind of open and transparent activity which empowers people to make smart choices, speak out if they need to, and most importantly, feel supported.”
Students who have experienced inappropriate behaviour are advised to contact the Student Wellbeing Centre in confidence on 01522 886400, by email at studentwellbeing@lincoln.ac.uk, or through the online reporting system.
The report by Revolt Sexual Assault can be found on their website.