We welcome the opportunity to respond to the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee regarding petition PE 2022: introduce national safeguarding guidance on how higher education institutions should handle cases of sexual misconduct.
Universities are deeply committed to the prevention of gender-based violence, hate crimes and other acts of violence within a university environment. The safety of the university community is a priority for every institution. The petition relates to a few different aspects of policy and procedure in the higher education sector and a very active area of current work.
Our submission focuses on three key areas:
- Cases where students are convicted of sexual offences or awaiting trial for serious sexual offences.
- Next steps.
- Sexual misconduct which is not reported to the police and does not become a criminal matter.
You can read our full submission here.