A new university body is aiming to drive standards in student well-being as unis seek to combat suicide and ‘epidemic’ levels of sexual harassment on campus. ProtectED, a not-for-profit university membership body and national accreditation scheme to improve student safety, security and well-being, will hold an event at the House of Lords on Monday, March 19, hosted at the House of Lords by ProtectED patron, Baroness Ruth Henig.
The event will welcome ProtectED founder members and bring together university representatives from across the higher education sector with an interest in addressing safety, security and well-being issues that may damage students’ lives – and might cut short students’ education or prompt them to leave an institution altogether, meaning also a financial loss to the student, uni and UK plc.
Baroness Henig, a Labour working peer and a former University of Lancaster academic historian, is speaking at the event as are: Helen Clews from the British Council; Dave Humphries from the Security Industry Authority (the security sector regulator the SIA, which Baroness Henig is a past chair of); Hannah Price, founder of the Revolt Sexual Assault campaign; and Andrew Wootton, ProtectED Director. Representatives of new ProtectED founder member institutions will also be invited to speak.
Ruth Henig (pictured centre at last year’s launch) said: “The ProtectED Code of Practice offers, for the first time, a student safety, security and wellbeing standard for universities to aspire to, and a practical, robust method of assessing and raising standards across the sector.”
And Helen Clews said: “For many international students coming to the UK, this will be their first time living away from home in an unfamiliar country and they may feel especially vulnerable. The British Council leads on work to ensure that international students take care of themselves and settle happily into their local community. As a member of the ProtectED Advisory Board, I have informed the development of important measures to help prevent international students from becoming victims of crime. Universities take their duty of care to students seriously, therefore I would encourage UK universities to get involved with the ProtectED initiative.”
About ProtectED
ProtectED is seeking to recruit 12 universities to become founder members. Universities must meet the minimum requirements for all measures outlined in the ProtectED Code of Practice, to be awarded accreditation. A confidential accreditation process involves initial assessment by a Peer Review Panel of sector experts, followed by a Verification Visit by independent assessors. ProtectED Accredited Institution status is an indicator to prospective and current students, their parents and loved ones that the institution takes student welfare seriously. Visit: www.protect-ed.org. Download the ProtectED Code of Practice at: www.protect-ed.org/resources.
