Nearly one in four final-year students sexually harassed since starting course

Nearly one in four (24.5%) undergraduate final-year students have experienced sexual harassment since starting university, a survey has found.

Around one in seven (14.1%) students responding to the survey by higher education regulator the Office for Students (OfS) said they had experienced sexual assault or violence since beginning higher education.

Women were nearly three times more likely to report having experienced sexual harassment than men (33% compared with 12.2%) and were more than twice as likely to have experienced sexual assault or violence (19% compared with 7%).

Of those who had experienced sexual harassment in a previous year, 13.2% said they had made a formal report to their university or college. More than a third (39.3%) of those students said their experience of reporting the incident was poor.

OfS chief executive Susan Lapworth said: “All students should expect their time at university or college to be free from sexual harassment or assault.

“Over the last year, universities and colleges have rightly renewed their efforts to tackle these issues – because when incidents do occur, it can have a profound, even devastating, impact on students’ ability to thrive and succeed.

“The data we’ve published today extends the evidence available on the prevalence of sexual misconduct. It will support institutions as they target their work to make improvements where that’s needed.”

Nearly half (46.6%) of lesbian, gay or bisexual students said they had experienced sexual harassment, compared with 21.7% of heterosexual students. Lesbian, gay or bisexual students were also more than twice as likely to say they had experienced sexual assault or violence (29.8% compared with 12%).

The survey, which received 51,920 final-year student respondents, also found more than half of students (59.1%) who had experienced sexual harassment at least once in the past year said some or all incidents took place in a university or college setting.

A small percentage (1.5%) of students said they had been in an intimate personal relationship with a member of staff in the past year. Of these, 68.8% said the staff member was involved with their education or assessment.

More than two in three (67.5%) students said they were confident about where to seek support from their institution after experiencing sexual misconduct.

However, nearly three in 10 (29.3%) said they were not confident about this, with women and lesbian, gay or bisexual people more likely to report they were not confident.

The survey comes after the OfS introduced a new condition from August 1 2025 requiring higher education institutions in England to take action to prevent and address sexual harassment and misconduct.

Universities and colleges are also required to take steps to protect students from “conflicts of interest and abuse of power that can arise from personal relationships between staff and students”.

In addition, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which came into force last month, bans universities from using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct, following the OfS banning this in September 2024.

A fifth of students who responded to a previous OfS survey said they had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in the 2022/23 academic year.

“We encourage students to continue reporting issues and concerns, using the support services offered by their institution or students’ union. Students can also find information on our website about national organisations and charities that can help,” Ms Lapworth said.