EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report summarises the evidence considered by the Universities UK Taskforce to
examine violence against women, harassment and hate crime and makes
recommendations in response to that evidence.
The Taskforce was established in September 2015. Its terms of reference (Annexe A)
focused principally on violence against women, harassment and hate crime. This
report therefore pays particular attention to these issues but acknowledges that
further work is required in other areas.
The Taskforce assessed a range of evidence documenting the nature and scale of the
problem in higher education institutions. This revealed that incidents of harassment,
hate crime and violence do happen at UK universities. This is unacceptable. These
experiences can have a considerable impact on student wellbeing, academic
attainment, student retention, institutional reputation and future student
recruitment. The evidence also suggested that despite some positive activity,
university responses are not as comprehensive, systematic and joined-up as they
could be. A commitment to addressing these issues is required within every
university, from senior leadership down.
The evidence revealed that these issues are not just isolated to universities but are
relevant to wider society including schools, work places, sports organisations and
entertainment venues. Universities in other countries, including the United States of
America and Australia, are also seeking to address the same problems – there is
scope for the UK to learn from their experiences. UK universities have a significant
opportunity to lead the way in preventing and responding to violence against women,
harassment and hate crime. In doing so, this will have an impact that extends well
beyond university campuses.
There is already an extensive range of activity taking place in the sector in relation to
preventing incidents of violence against women, harassment and hate crime, and
responding effectively should they occur. A number of case studies feature in this
report.
This positive activity is often driven by a particular university function or the
students' union, and does not always take a coherent, systematic approach across the
whole institution. This can impact upon the effectiveness of prevention activities and
the quality of university responses. Universities need to be encouraged and supported
to take an institution-wide approach which draws together activities across the
university from promoting positive behaviours through to ensuring that appropriate
support is in place for students. In adopting such an approach, it is vital to ensure
that there is effective data collection, appropriate governance, robust risk
management and regular impact assessments. This will enable institutions to assess
the effectiveness of procedures and improve them where necessary.
Regular and ongoing engagement with students was identified as being of critical
importance. It is essential not only in relation to prevention activities, but also in
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