University of Kent
The University of Kent is based in Kent, in south-east England, with campuses in Canterbury, Medway and Tonbridge.
We ranked all 29 universities in the south of England against the following best practice criteria to assess how well each institution raises awareness of help available to survivors and encourages them to report. Other marks are given for campaigns and extra measures which show the university’s engagement with preventing and responding to sexual assault. Each received a mark out of 5.
- Anonymous form: There is no way for a student to report an incident of sexual assault anonymously, however the university is looking into an online reporting tool.
- Campaigns: As part of the ‘Bystander Intervention Training’ the university has implemented, they run ‘U.N.I (You and I) Protect’ workshops to promote a culture of “dignity and respect”. These sessions help students to recognise harmful behaviour such as abuse and sexual harassment.
- Sexual assault advice page: The student support and wellbeing pages on the university website have a dedicated ‘Rape and sexual assault’ page that gives survivors information on what to do next.
- External contacts: On the aforementioned page are details for the local rape crisis helpline and the local sexual assault and referral centre.
- Other measures: 25 members of staff are being trained as ‘Sexual Assault Responders’ who will react to out of hours incidents. The university also recently appointed a wellbeing advisor specifically for sexual assault and harassment.
Mark: 4/5