Third of Female Students Sexually Assaulted at UK Universities: Study

Results of social research showed that one of three female students was sexually assaulted at universities in the United Kingdom.

MOSCOW, January 14 (Sputnik) — One in three female students in the United Kingdom has been sexually assaulted at university, according to new research conducted for The Telegraph.

According to the poll carried out by YouthSight for the newspaper, 31 percent of female students had been targeted by “inappropriate touching or groping” and one in 20 had been pressured into unwanted sexual activities. Meanwhile, just one in eight male students were sexually assaulted, the poll shows.

The research also indicates that almost a half of the sexually assaulted female students did not report the incident.

“UK universities whose policies at present would lead them for example not to investigate a rape allegation and to regard it as purely a police matter, are failing to protect women students and are very likely to be in breach of the law,” the author of the research Louise Whitfield said.

Females studying at UK universities and living in campuses are far less protected than women in the workplace, according to the End Violence Against Women (EVAW).

According to similar research published by the National Union of Students (NUS) in September 2014, 37 percent of women and 12 percent of men studying in the United Kingdom have faced unwelcome and inappropriate groping and touching.