Staff and Student Personal Relationships
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The Standing Together team would like to introduce you to the new Staff and Student Personal Relationships Policy, which is being implemented as part of our commitment to providing a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for all members of our community. The policy has been developed in response to the Office for Students’ Condition E6: Harassment and Sexual Misconduct, which requires higher education providers to take strong and credible steps to prevent and respond to harassment and sexual misconduct affecting students.
Intimate personal relationships
Following extensive consultation with staff, students, the Students’ Union and our recognised trade unions, and in line with sector guidance, the University has taken the decision to prohibit intimate personal relationships between staff and students. This step recognises the inherent power imbalance within staff–student relationships and the risks of actual or perceived abuse of power, conflicts of interest, and unfair advantage or disadvantage that may arise.
An intimate personal relationship is defined as a consensual relationship involving one or more of the following elements:
Sexual relationship including one off or recurring sexual activity (including commercial sexual relationships involving the buying or selling of sexual services);
Romantic or emotional intimacy (including, but not limited to, dating, cohabiting, life partner, marriage/civil partnerships).
This policy applies to students of all levels – undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research – even if such students also have a staff position, for the purposes of this policy, they are treated as a student.