University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is a multiple campus university with five campuses across Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings in Sussex.
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: The university does not have means for students to anonymously report sexual assaults. However, they say they are discussing its implementation, a spokesperson for the university said: “We have concerns about anonymous reporting as without knowing the student’s name, we’re not able to ensure that they are provided with adequate support.”
- Campaigns: The students’ union is due to relaunch their “consent awareness” campaign this year. Previously, the university highlighted sexual assault support services during ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’.
- Sexual assault advice page: The university has a ‘Dealing with difficult situations’ page, which has guidance for students who have been sexually assaulted or raped. This provides information on reporting the incident as well as sources of support available.
- External contacts: Included in the aforementioned webpage are contact details for charities, the local rape crisis centre and the local sexual assault referral centre.
- Other measures: The university took part in the ‘Universities supporting victims of sexual violence’ project where 40 members of support staff were trained on how to respond to disclosures of sexual violence.
Mark: 4/5