Sexual violence in UK higher education
If you only have one minute
In 2025, the state of sexual misconduct in UK universities was described as a “national scandal”: 14% of final-year students had experienced sexual assaults during their studies, with women and marginalised groups disproportionately affected.
While sexual violence in UK universities is shaped by specific institutional and environmental failures, including a sexist lad culture and a legacy of institutional neglect, its persistence ultimately reflects deeper societal norms rooted in rape culture. University-level reforms, like those introduced by the Office for Students in August 2025, are therefore necessary and welcomed but are not sufficient. Without wider cultural change that challenges sexism and victim-blaming, sexual violence will continue to shape student life.
A ‘national scandal’. This is how the state of sexual misconduct in UK universities was described. In September 2025, the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator for higher education in England, published the findings of a large-scale survey on 50,000 final-year undergraduate students, highlighting the scale of sexual violence shaping student life.
The data is striking: one in four students has experienced sexual harassment during their time at university, and 14% have experienced sexual assault. Unsurprisingly, women are disproportionately impacted, with one in three women reporting sexual harassment and one in five sexual assault. Students from marginalised communities were also more likely to be victims of sexual violence, with 47% of students from the LGBTQ+ community and 35% of disabled students reporting sexual harassment while at university. This violence, which can profoundly impact students’ mental and physical wellbeing, does not stop at the campus gates either. According to the survey, 40% of harassment cases reported by students occur off campus, yet 58% of those still involve someone connected to the university. The same is true for 44% of off-campus sexual assaults, underlining how deeply embedded this problem is in student life.
Universities as a distinctive risk environment
Universities are failing to protect their students, and for many, campuses are no longer places of safety, but environments where harm is normalised. The scale of sexual violence exposed by the OfS is not the result of isolated incidents of individual behaviour alone, but of structural conditions that allow abuse to flourish.
First, universities are not merely places of learning, but environments where students live, socialise and form relationships. This close and constant proximity means that sexual harassment can permeate every aspect of a victim’s daily life. Beyond this structural closeness, UK universities are also shaped by a deeply sexist and misogynistic “lad culture” that sexualises and objectifies women. While lad culture is often associated with nightlife, sport and excessive alcohol consumption, its influence is far more pervasive. Gender-based violence has been documented well beyond social spaces, with female lecturers identified as particularly vulnerable to harassment, intimidation and humiliation. This “boys will be boys” mentality contributes to the normalisation of sexual violence and invisibilises victims as they are discouraged from reporting - often due to victim-blaming - while staff frequently fail to recognise harmful behaviour. As a result, institutions only see the most extreme cases and fail to take the systemic action necessary to address the full scale of the issue.
Second, while lad culture has contributed to the invisibilisation of sexual violence within universities, its persistence and scale are also the result of an institutional failure. Sexual misconduct in higher education has been able to flourish because universities have at best turned a blind eye and at worst actively concealed abuse. Lawyers and campaigners have repeatedly accused institutions of breaching their duty of care, prioritising the protection of institutional reputation over student safety. Historically, universities made use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and, in some cases, discouraged students from seeking independent legal advice. Moreover, the lack of adequate training for staff and opaque disciplinary processes that leave victims in the dark about outcomes have further eroded trust in institutional responses: in 2025, only 13% of students who had experienced sexual harassment at university reported it to their institution.
Beyond policy: the need for deeper cultural change
Following the publication of the OfS report, the government reaffirmed its commitment to tackling the issue, with Skills Minister Jacqui Smith stating that ministers were ‘delivering lasting improvements’ to protect students. In the months leading up to the survey’s release, the OfS had already moved to strengthen regulation across the sector. As part of a broader regulatory framework - which also included the ban of NDAs introduced in 2024 - the OfS tightened universities’ conditions of registration, setting clearer expectations around transparent reporting pathways, mandatory training for staff and students and improved support for those affected. These measures formally came into force on 1st August 2025. They are not a silver bullet and concerns remain about patchy and inconsistent implementation across the sector, but they do mark a shift in how universities are required to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.
The specific social and institutional context of universities helps explain both the scale of sexual violence on campus and why recent regulatory changes are necessary and welcome. Targeted, sector-specific reforms are essential to address the conditions that have allowed abuse to persist within higher education. However, universities do not exist outside society. The cultures of sexism, misogyny and victim-blaming that underpin sexual violence on campus are rooted in a broader rape culture that extends far beyond higher education. Ending sexual violence in universities therefore requires a dual approach: sustained, institutional action within the sector, alongside wider societal change that challenges gendered power relations and harmful norms. Without this broader transformation, sectoral reforms, however robust, are unlikely to deliver lasting change.
