On Monday the Office for Students (OfS) launched a pilot survey to understand the prevalence of sexual misconduct in higher education in England – the first time a survey like this has been run at scale in the UK. It will ask students at thirteen higher education providers about their experiences of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment, and how these experiences have affected their lives and studies. It will also explore students' experiences of using the reporting mechanisms at their university.
We have commissioned IFF ResearchExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) to run the survey, working with a group of volunteer providers, which range in size from large multi-facility universities with many thousands of students, to specialist higher education providers with smaller cohorts.
The survey draws on international best practice in prevalence surveys in higher education, including the ARC3 surveyExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window), which is widely used in the United States; the Republic of Ireland’s Student Experience of Sexual ViolenceExternal link (Opens in a new tab or window) and Harassment Survey; and the National Student Safety Survey in Australia (NSSS)External link (Opens in a new tab or window). The surveys from Ireland and Australia are national surveys, with strong participation from all publicly funded universities.
As we’ve developed the pilot survey, we’ve worked with an external advisory group consisting of academics and practitioners with expertise in research into sexual misconduct, many of whom have conducted smaller-scale prevalence surveys. We are grateful to these colleagues for their advice and support.
