Harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct
Bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct is not tolerated at Kingston University. Get the support you need and find out how to make a report.
Preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct
Kingston University is a diverse and vibrant learning community. Everyone has a shared responsibility for creating and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive environment. We want everyone working and studying at Kingston University to have a positive experience, where they are accepted as their authentic selves and treated with respect.
Our work to prevent and address harassment and sexual misconduct includes having the right support in place for those who have witnessed or experienced discrimination, bullying or other unwanted behaviours. It also includes clear formal and informal reporting options for staff and students.
Our commitment
Kingston University is committed to building an inclusive and supportive environment with a culture of acceptance without exception. We stand against all forms of sexual violence and fully endorse the anti-racism pledge.
We do not tolerate any form of harassment, bullying or sexual misconduct. All allegations will be taken extremely seriously. Every member of our community has the right to be treated with respect at all times. We expect everyone to behave respectfully and with consideration for others, both on and off campus.
We will never use, enforce, or rely on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in matters relating to harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct.
Kingston University recognises the potential for there to be an abuse of power between staff and students. We do not allow close personal and/or intimate relationships where a staff member has a direct responsibility for, or involvement in, a student’s academic studies and/or personal welfare. For example, we would not allow a member of staff who was directly teaching a student or marking their work to engage in an intimate relationship with that student. Further information about our policy can be found in our Personal Relationships Policy.
How to report harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct
Bullying, harassment, or sexual misconduct can have a significant negative impact upon your life. Speaking up may not feel easy, but we will always aim to support you in an open and non-judgemental way. If you experience or witness any behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable, support is available for you, so please do report it.
If you are unsure about the correct procedure to follow or want to speak to someone about your concerns, Kingston Students' Union offers impartial and expert advice. The Union is a separate organisation to the University. You can be assured that its advice is independent and confidential.
Report and Support
Report and Support is an online reporting platform for staff, students and visitors, to report incidents of harassment, sexual misconduct and other safeguarding concerns. You can use Report and Support to access helpful information, report anonymously or with contact information, and find the support you need.
Students
If you are a student and wish to inform the University of suspected bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct by a member of staff and expect action to be taken, use the Student Complaints Procedure.
If the allegations concern another student, please use the Student Conduct and Behaviour Procedure.
You may also wish to refer to the University's Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedure.
Staff
If you are a staff member wanting to inform the University of suspected bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct by another staff member, please visit the Harassment and Bullying Policy page on Staffspace (internal link).
Policies for staff and students
Our personal relationship policy (PDF) is aimed at both staff and students.
Support
We offer support proactively to any student who is involved an incident of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct when this is reported to us. Any student can access support directly themselves via the wide range of support available via the University’s Student Wellbeing Hub. This includes bookable counselling, listening and time and stress management session amongst a range of other services.
Support can also be accessed through the Kingston Students Union.
Students can also access external support, including:
- Nightline: Peer support from students from 6pm to 8am during term time – 020 7631 0101
- Samaritans: 116 123
- Get Connected – The Mix: (support for under 25s) – 0808 808 4994
- Papyrus: (support for under 35s) – 0800 068 41 41
- SupportLine: 01708 765200
- Victim Support: free 24/7 National Support line and Live chat options – 08 08 16 89 11
- The Havens: specialist London centres for people who have been raped or sexually assaulted – 0203 299 6900.
Urgent support
If there is an immediate risk to life, violence or another emergency, call 999.
You can contact campus security on +44 (0)20 8417 6666 where appropriate.
What is bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct?
Bullying is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour. It’s an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient (adapted from ACAS).
Harassment is conduct that has the effect of violating a person's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment towards that person (Office for Students).
Sexual misconduct refers to any unwanted or attempted unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. It includes, but is not limited to, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape (Office for Students).
How Kingston fosters a collective understanding of appropriate behaviour
Kingston University is developing a programme of educational content related to appropriate conduct which will be made available to all students from September 2025.
All staff are required to complete mandatory annual training on Safeguarding and Diversity in the Workplace. These training modules cover appropriate expected behaviours and how to identify and report behaviour that may constitute harassment and/or sexual misconduct. Additional training is provided to staff who are involved in supporting students (including victims and alleged perpetrators) and/or those who are responsible for undertaking investigations into incidents of harassment or sexual misconduct.
How prevalent is harassment and sexual misconduct at Kingston University?
We actively encourage students to report incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct, no matter how significant these incidents seem to be, via campaigns which run throughout the year, so that we can get a real sense of the prevalence of these issues within our community. We monitor informal reports made through Report and Support and the formal reports we receive. These are included in annual reports, presented to academic and non-academic committees. The University understands that an increase in the number of cases being reported and investigated does not necessarily indicate a negative direction of travel, but can mean that students and other members of our community feel supported to report incidents to us and can be reassured that these will be taken seriously.
In September 2025, the Office for Students will be making available data that they have collected via their own prevalence surveys. These have been undertaken with final year students. We will be analysing the data we receive from the OfS and updating this section during the 2025/6 academic year. We will also add our own 2024/5 data below. This will start to build up a more robust picture of the prevalence of harassment and sexual misconduct at Kingston.
Our informal reports tell us that during the period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024, a total of 232 reports were received by or about students through our Report and Support platform out of a student population of around 20,000. All reports received were reviewed for an initial risk assessment within 24 hours (working week) and appropriate actions were taken including responding to the reporting party where their details were known.
Reporting parties can select multiple categories when reporting via Report and Support. The most common categories selected out of those 232 reports were safeguarding concerns (129), harassment (40), bullying (35) and assault (33). Less prevalent out of those cases reported informally to us were incidents involving stalking (13), micro-aggression (11), hate crime (7), victimisation (3), discrimination (2) and sexual assault (2). Within the reports which related to safeguarding concerns we saw a further 15 reports relating to potential sexual misconduct and 11 relating to physical abuse (which could have taken place both within and external to the university community).
Our formal reports tell us that during the period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024, a total of 47 formal cases relating to harassment and sexual misconduct were investigated by the University. All 47 cases related to allegations concerning students.
There were no formal student complaints relating to harassment or sexual misconduct against staff in 2023/24.
The most common type of case investigated formally in 2023/2024 related to allegations of abusive or threatening behaviour by a student towards a member of staff, student or another member of the University community (18) and ‘other’ types of Bullying/Harassment/Hate Crime (14).
Less prevalent were physical assault (9), sexual misconduct (4) and Bullying/Harassment on the basis of sexual preference or Gender identity (1). Misconduct was found in 49% of cases. No misconduct was found in 32% of cases. In 19% of cases, it was either not possible to determine whether misconduct had taken place, an informal settlement was reached, or there may have been a police investigation which paused the University’s formal proceedings and where the students graduated before the conclusion of the investigation.
Office for Students: Condition E6
We are committed to aligning with the principles and guidance set out in the Office for Students’ (OfS) Condition of Registration (E6). This resource is the Single Source of Information (SSI) referenced in E6.2.
Condition E6 covers subject matter relating to incidents of harassment and/or sexual misconduct which affects one or more students (including the conduct of staff towards students and/or the conduct of students towards students). It applies in relation to students on higher education courses provided in any manner or form by or on behalf of a provider.
Links to Report and Support and other relevant policies and procedures
Technical notes
The University’s policies and regulations are published on our website, along with an archive of previous versions.
The University’s policies and regulations are designed in collaboration and consultation with our student body. Students are represented in key decision-making bodies such as Education Committee, Regulatory Framework Committee, Student Life Committee, Academic Council and Board of Governors. Students have been involved in developing our institutional approach to preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct. Student Equality Collaborators have contributed to the development of this page and associated resources.
We are committed to seeking and acting on feedback to help us continuously review and improve our approach to addressing bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct. Feedback can be emailed to [email protected].
Contact us
Need more information?
Contact us to find the right person to reach out to, or call our switchboard on +44 (0)20 8417 9000.
