Gender-based violence and HE partnerships with sexual assault services

Gender-based violence (GBV) includes a range of behaviours which are recognised in society as being both a cause and consequence of gender inequality. GBV mostly affects women. Men are in the main offenders, but GBV can also affect anybody of any age, gender, sexual orientation, faith, or ethnicity. GBV is recognised as a society-wide issue, which means that university students and staff both will be victims and offenders. We begin this chapter by briefly outlining the current GBV policy developments by UK universities and then focusing upon which students are affected. We then move onto discussing how university leaders should create partnerships with the external organisations that work with survivors and perpetrators such as the NHS Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). The SARC model is reviewed in detail and recommendations are provided for optimising access to such sexual assault services for university students. We conclude this chapter with the inclusion of some initiatives of how post-sexual assault support and partnership working between universities, SARCs, and other relevant local agencies can be delivered.