- Student Support / Advice and response / Supporting you with issues of Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
Supporting you with issues of Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
Being part of the University of Manchester means saying yes to respect, yes to challenging discrimination, yes to calling out harassment, and yes to Consent. The University of Manchester works to protect all of its students from harassment, sexual misconduct and all gender-based violence. This comprehensive, single-source contains all of the information and links that you need to know about how we do this.
There are lots of things that the University will do to protect you as a student. This includes working with students and the Students’ Union, working with specialist local and national partners, and publishing and analysing our data on safeguarding, including harassment and sexual misconduct, to react to local support need. Our published polices and procedures, shown below, also help us protect students.
Policies, Procedures and Annual Report
Safeguarding Concerns and Disclosures Procedure
Regulation XVII - Conduct and Discipline of Students
We want to make sure that our students are informed about harassment and sexual misconduct, and that you understand what the University is doing to protect you. All new undergraduates and foundation students will receive personalised links to training on consent, harassment and bystander intervention. All new PGT and PGR students will receive information on training as part of induction. For these groups training is mandatory and you may not be able to progress in your course or to graduate if you do not complete the training. There are details in the training of alternative guidance for those who may have specific needs to opt-out, however.
We train relevant staff groups on the topics of harassment and sexual misconduct and on receiving disclosures about incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct. Relevant staff groups include Residential Life Staff, central support staff and Campus Support and Security.
Advice and Response can also offer bespoke training for staff and student groups.
There is lots of support available to you. The University has a specialist team – Advice and Response - that supports with safeguarding issues, including harassment and sexual misconduct. Reports made to Report and Support will be received by the Advice and Response team. Support is available to you whether you have experienced harassment and/or sexual misconduct or a report has been made against you in this area.
Support for those affected
Safeguarding Concerns flowchart
How Advice and Response can support you
Support for responding students - Who have had a report made against them
Support for students in UoM accommodation
School or Doctoral Academy Student Support Hub - For local support within your school/PGR area
Counselling and Mental Health Service (The University of Manchester)
University of Manchester Students' Union Advice
You can find details of external organisations relevant to harassment and sexual misconduct at Report and Support on the tiles under the ‘Support’ title.
You can report safeguarding concerns, including harassment and sexual misconduct, at Report and Support. Information on reporting for students is available here.
The University will handle the information we receive sensitively and fairly. You can find details on handling information here. If you tell us something about an incident of harassment and/or sexual misconduct, we are led by you in what we do with that information. This means that in most cases you can decide if you want to make a formal report or whether you just want to access support or just tell us that something has happened. However, if there is a concern about someone’s safety or welfare, we might need to share information with other appropriate services or individuals, or take other precautionary and/or disciplinary actions. This will be done with your consent if possible. More detail on confidentiality is available here.
The University has a highly trained team of investigators. Where reports reach investigation stage, these are handled in a thorough and credible way, and in a way that reflects ‘natural justice’ – this means in a way that is not biased and enables a fair hearing. You can find details on reporting and investigating here. You can find a flow chart to describe what happens when you are the reporting party here (Reporting party flowchart). You can find a flow chart to describe what happens when you are the responding (or reported) party here (Responding/Reported party flowchart).
