Developing our approach to harassment and sexual misconduct

This page summarises our previous work on harassment and sexual misconduct and how we developed our current position and new requirements.

Statement of expectations

In April 2021, we published a ‘Statement of expectations for preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct affecting students in higher education’.

It provided a set of consistent recommendations to support higher education providers in England to develop and implement effective systems, policies and processes to prevent and respond to incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct.

We appointed SUMS Consulting to evaluate the impact of the statement of expectations.

This included understanding if, and how, the statement had driven changes in provider behaviour, the underlying issue of harassment and sexual misconduct, and student experiences and outcomes related to the prevention of and response to harassment and sexual misconduct.

• Evaluation of statement of expectations: Final report (November 2022)
  This page also includes key findings from an analysis of an online survey of higher education providers, and a copy of the questions asked.
• Evaluation of statement of expectations: June 2022 update (June 2022)

Consultation on a new approach

Following the evaluation, in 2023, we consulted on a new approach to regulating harassment and sexual misconduct in English higher education.

The consultation proposed a new condition of registration to ensure that students are protected from harassment and sexual misconduct.

This included proposing that a new condition would require universities and colleges to publish a single document explaining:

• the steps it will take to protect students from harassment and sexual misconduct
• arrangements for handling investigations
• details of how it will support anyone involved in incidents
• details of training for students and staff.

After analysing responses to the consultation we have published our response.

The document explains how we have reached our new requirements for harassment and sexual misconduct.