Fresh OfS research highlights scale of sexual misconduct on UK campuses

Higher education regulator the Office for Students revealed the findings in updated analysis of its 2025 research into the problems of sexual harassment and violence experienced by undergraduates in the UK.

The research found that 24.5% of students surveyed had reported experiencing sexual harassment since entering higher education, and around one in seven - 14.1 per cent - reported being the victim of sexual assault or violence.

The highest instances came among veterinary science students, with 29% reporting instances of sexual assault, while around a quarter of students studying language and area studies, and 23% of medicine and dentistry recorded incidences.

The pilot study, involving more than 50,000 undergraduates, found that female students were most likely to suffer harassment or assault, with more than 31% of those on veterinary sciences courses reporting that they had experienced sexual assault/violence.

Stephanie Connelly, a higher education expert with Pinsent Masons, said the latest analysis from the OfS added further depth to its existing evidence base.

“The OfS has been clear that institutions are expected to reflect on emerging evidence of risk within their own context and to keep their approach under review,” she said.

“The latest analysis provides a useful regulatory nudge to revisit compliance holistically, rather than as a static and one‑off exercise.

The research follows similar polling in Australia, and comes after the OfS brought in its new condition of registration (Condition E6) on 1 August 2025 requiring universities and colleges to take action to prevent and address harassment and sexual misconduct – including providing training for staff and students on what constitutes harassment and sexual misconduct.

Institutions must also take steps to prevent an abuse of power in intimate personal relationships between staff and students.

Interim OfS chief executive John Flemming said the regulator would run follow-up research as part of the National Student Survey next year, and would publish institutional-level data from both the 2025 and 2027 research together to increase transparency.

“Every institution should consider these findings and reflect on their existing approaches to preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct, and on how to bring about improvement where it’s needed most,” he added.

Connelly said universities and higher education establishments need to make sure their policies are up to date and aligned with both the OfS’ new rules and other guidance published on the issue.

“While the obligations themselves are not new, the findings are a timely reminder of the regulator’s expectation that universities can demonstrate effective prevention, reporting,investigation and support, reflected clearly in a single, accessible source of information for students, backed up by meaningful staff and student training and appropriate controls around staff-student relationships,” she explained.

“For many institutions, this will also prompt a sense‑check of how current policies and practices align not only with Condition E6 itself, but with the established sector guidance on handling alleged student misconduct which may also constitute a criminal offence, including the 2016 Universities UK guidance and the supplementary guidance published in 2024, which reflects evolving practice in managing complex, sensitive cases fairly and lawfully.”