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<p>There is no place in our society, including within higher education, for hatred
or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism.</p><p> </p><p>Higher education
providers have clear responsibilities, including under the Equality Act (2010). They
should have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law and to
protect against violence, bullying, discrimination and harassment.</p><p> </p><p>The
government has tasked the Office for Students (OfS) to tackle these important issues
at a sector level and to make campuses places of tolerance for all students. The OfS
was set up to champion students and it is right that they work closely with higher
education providers on these issues.</p><p>The OfS and its predecessor body allocated
£4.7 million for a safeguarding scheme to address harassment and hate crime in higher
education, including 63 projects with a specific focus on sexual violence and misconduct.</p><p>The
OfS has commissioned an external evaluation of this scheme and, in June this year,
published its ’Catalyst for change’ report, attached, which includes recommendations
for providers on how they can address the issue of hate crime, sexual violence and
online harassment alongside a range of resources on their website. The OfS has held
several conferences on harassment issues to support providers and share good practice.
It will hold a series of roundtables in 2019-20 to examine key issues relating to
student welfare and safeguarding, including reporting, monitoring and evaluation of
approaches.</p><p>Ministers and officials in the department regularly meet the OfS,
stakeholders and representative bodies about a range of student experience issues,
including student safeguarding. This includes specific quarterly meetings with the
OfS to discuss how to tackle harassment and hate crime within the sector.</p><p>The
government will continue to work closely with the OfS to prioritise the tackling of
all forms of harassment and hate crime in higher education.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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