Research recently published as part of the 2025 Office for Students (OFS) sexual misconduct survey has found that sexual harassment is nearly twice as common at more selective universities. The survey found that sexual harassment was reported by 35% of students at ‘high tariff’ universities, in comparison to 17% at ‘low tariff’ universities.‘Tariffs’ are measures of how selective a university’s admissions process is, with Russell Group universities making up most of the ‘high tariff’ institutions – including Oxford and Cambridge.
The study found that, across all universities, nearly a quarter of students have experienced sexual harassment, with sexually suggestive staring and unwanted sexual comments being the most commonly reported. Female students also reported substantially higher levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence than male students across all universities. LGBTQIA+ students also reported a higher prevalence of sexual harassment and violence, along with less confidence in the reporting and support systems available.
Over 42% of students with a mental health condition also reported having experienced harassment. Students studying certain subjects were also found to have experienced harassment at a level disproportionate to the average, with 42.4% of language and area students reporting some form of sexual harassment, along with 41.3% of veterinary studies and 40.3% of medicine and dentistry students.
The survey also found that 14.1% of the overall student body had experienced sexual assault. Patterns within different sub-sections of the student population found in sexual harassment data generally replicated into sexual assault data, with the most affected group being students with a mental health condition.
The University of Oxford has been accused of systemically mishandling sexual misconduct cases, and has previously faced controversy for using anonymity orders to stop the media reporting on cases of sexual harassment – specifically in the case of Professor Soumittra Dutta, the former Dean of the Saïd Business School. Dutta was found by an inquiry to have sexually harassed a female academic and stepped down from his position. The University of Oxford used and later withdrew a request for anonymity in the employment tribunal.
A recent Bloomberg investigation also examined the mishandling of sexual harassment complaints at the University of Oxford. The investigation alleged that the University continually mishandled sexual harassment complaints about senior male academics, taking place over 9 months of research and interviewing over 50 people. The report described the University of Oxford as an environment in which sexual harassment allegations were dealt with slowly and ineffectively, with University staff stating that the public status of academics appeared to be prioritised over student welfare. The report also touched on individual colleges, where people from New College told reporters that several academics had a reputation for predatory behaviour towards more junior women.
In 2023, the ongoing project ‘OUR SPACE’ (Oxford Understanding Relationships, Sex, Power, Abuse, and Consent Experiences) found that 50% of students have experienced sexual harassment during their time at Oxford, of which 18% who had experienced sexual violence.
A spokesperson for the University told Cherwell: “The University is developing a bespoke, in-house online training programme to strengthen how Oxford prevents and responds to harassment and sexual misconduct. This will replace the existing Consent for Students course and complement the in-person healthy relationships and consent training delivered by student facilitators.
“There has been a significant expansion of prevention and training activity across the collegiate university, including an almost 80% increase in the number of college staff trained in 2024/25, which has supported greater awareness, including of the routes through which students can seek support, as well as proactive referrals. The Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service continues to expand the in-person Healthy Relationships and Consent Workshop programme, delivering the programme across 18 colleges this academic year (up from 15 colleges in 2024/25), with 118 student facilitators, and trained around 2,000 students.”
The OFS sexual misconduct survey strongly emphasised that finding the causes of these variations in the data was beyond the scope of the present analysis”, calling for “additional qualitative or longitudinal evidence”. The OFS also published condition E6 of the regulations for institutions of higher education on 1st August 2025, which “‘sets out requirements for universities and colleges to have a comprehensive source of information setting out its policies and procedures on incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct”’.
The OFS told Cherwell that they “would encourage all institutions to learn from their own data”, and that they would “publish institutional level data from the 2025 and 2027 surveys together, to support transparency and strengthen the evidence base across the sector”.
The OFS used a direct survey system to generate prevalence estimates independent of institutional reporting systems”. They also separately researched students’ experiences of their respective universities’ reporting and support systems, publishing the analysis. It was found that out of those affected by sexual harassment and violence, only 12% had made a formal report to their university.
 sexual misconduct survey has found that sexual harassment is nearly twice as common at more selective universities.){kind=link}