NUS Report Shines a Spot Light on Staff-Student Sexual Misconduct in UK Universities

Over the last year, NUS Women’s Officer, Hareem Ghani, has been researching staff-student sexual misconduct in higher education.  She has now published her findings in the NUS's report, Power in the academy: staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education.

Talking about the report Hareem commented "I am thrilled to announce the publication of our ground-breaking report, for a long time, it’s been apparent to many of us who live and work in universities that sexual misconduct is a reality within academia. However, a lack of research in this area, combined with wide-scale institutional failings, meant that we had very little idea of students’ patterns of experience."

Hareem worked on the report with The 1752 Group and sees it as a first step towards understanding the issue of staff-student sexual misconduct.  Hareem continued "Staff-student sexual misconduct needs to be located as part of a continuum of sexual violence in universities and in society more widely.  However, the unique dynamics of the relationship between staff and students in higher education means that there are aspects of sexual misconduct that are specific to this setting."

Key Findings

• More than four in ten respondents experienced at least one instance of sexualised behaviour from staff, and that one in eight had been made to feel uncomfortable by a staff member touching them. 
• Women were much more likely than men to both have experienced misconduct, and to have suffered greater consequences because of it.  Digging further into the stats LGBT+ participants, and LGBT+ women, were even more likely to have experienced misconduct as were postgraduate respondents, and postgraduate women.
• Universities are not responding adequately to report of misconduct.  Of those respondents who reported misconduct to their institution, the vast majority had a negative experience, with 90 percent reporting being let down in some way by the response to their case. 
• The impact of these encounters on students can be significant and long-lasting.  Of those respondents who experienced sexual misconduct, a fifth of women reported losing confidence in themselves; just under fifth experienced mental health problems, 16 percent reported avoiding going to certain parts of campus, and 13 percent felt unable to fulfil work roles at their institution.

Hareem concluded "The significance of these findings cannot be underestimated, and we hope that this research will prompt swift action from higher education institutions. There is still a long way for us to go, but I am proud that the Women’s Campaign and The 1752 Group are taking a lead on this pertinent issue. For too long, these problems have been at best side-lined and at worst silenced by institutions."