In 2021, the Office for Students set out recommendations for all HE institutions on how they should aim to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct. This was a timely document as it coincided with our review of the current provision, and planning for what we should prioritise at the University of Manchester over the coming year.

Simultaneously, one of our student groups, Resist Rape Culture was gathering evidence from the student population on prevalence and perceptions of rape culture and sexual violence in our community. This research was integral to giving both the group and the University a local, evidence-based set of data which we could use to outline our priorities. We are incredibly grateful to the gorup for their hard work on this, and to the students for completing it.

Over the Summer 2021, a taskforce was created made up of a broad group of individuals across different University areas and the Students' Union, to assess the OfS recommendations and RRC research, and decide on our priorities for the academic year 2021-22. It was agreed that we would take forward thirteen priorities at this time, but with the proviso that this did not mean our work would be done once these are completed, they are just the most important to put in place to continue building on our provision.

The thirteen priorities are:

1. Identify members of Senior Leadership to champion the changes implemented to improve our approach to tackling harassment and sexual misconduct.

2. Develop a communications plan to inform staff and students about harassment & sexual misconduct, and the University’s stance on this.

3. Clear protocols on how prevalence data is shared with the Board of Governors

4. Review data streams available on prevalence of incidents, including those which have gone to disciplinary

5. Recruitment of paid student members as partners on the improvement of current systems for tackling harassment and sexual misconduct

6. Inclusion of proactive modules within the Unitu training on the topics of Harassment and Sexual Misconduct

7. Delivery of Qualification-level training to investigators and panel members to ensure specialist handling of cases on the topics of harassment and sexual misconduct

8. Introduction of Consent and Active Bystander training to staff and students

9. Create and distribute easy-to-understand physical and digital guidance resources for staff and students on reporting and Conduct and Discipline processes

10. Use recent research to understand and minimize barriers to reporting and disclosing incidents that exist for particular groups of students, with regular further review.

11. Clearly demonstrate how we ensure panel hearings are free of reasonable perception of bias, including training and student representation.

12. Review our internal policies and processes in relation to tackling harassment and sexual misconduct, to ensure they are clear and consistent

13. Explore current processes on outcome sharing with complainants; what information can be shared with whom, including if an outcome changes

Important Documents to Read

You can read the Resist Rape Culture survey report and recommendations at this link: RRC Survey Report

You can read the Office for Students Statement of expectations at this link: [Click Here]

You can read the University Priorities report at this link: OfS Priorities Report