A survivor of sexual violence has stated that she may not have been raped if university staff had been trained to deal with such cases. Campaigners and experts argue that universities are not keeping adequate records of sexual violence cases, which are crucial for providing support and services for survivors. A three-month BBC investigation found that less than half of UK universities could provide up-to-date sexual misconduct data. Freedom of Information requests to all 142 UK public universities revealed that different universities categorize these reports in different ways, with some using sexual misconduct as an umbrella term, while others using more specific labels like rape, sexual assault, and harassment.
Although more than 1,000 reports of sexual misconduct were recorded in the past six years in Wales’ eight universities, many people choose not to report and so are not reflected in this FOI data. The story of Ffion, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is one of those cases. When Ffion began studying at Swansea in 2017, she felt isolated and began dating another student who physically and emotionally abused her and then raped her. She said that if security staff had been trained in bystander intervention, they would have been able to recognize the signs and act appropriately earlier.
Hannah, who studies at Aberystwyth University and was sexually assaulted twice by another student, was “dismissed” by her academic tutor when she reported this incident. She suggested that teachers, and especially personal tutors, should have training in how to respond to such cases, emphasizing that this could “make a huge difference.” However, according to data collected by the BBC Wales investigation, several universities delete sexual misconduct data after a certain period of time, preventing them from providing an adequate record of the issue.
Rhian Bowen Davies, the Welsh government’s former national adviser for violence against women, has said there should be a requirement on universities to regularly and consistently collate data. She questioned how willing universities are to understand the extent of the issue because the results may affect their business. Several institutions claimed that low reported numbers could identify individuals, and others provided partial data, but for years where there were fewer than five reports, they refused to give exact numbers.
Jo Grady, University and College Union (UCU) general secretary, said for bystander training to work, it must be properly resourced and part of a wider systemic change. She added that this shows a shocking level of institutional failure, with one in 10 staff experiencing sexual violence in addition to students. The Welsh government stated that specific incidents were a matter for each university as they were independent of the government. If you have been affected by the issues raised in this report, you can find support from BBC Action Line
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