Consent
Consent matters
Consent matters. It’s essential to human relationships and daily life. It’s the foundation for the principles of autonomy, respect, and dignity. In personal relationships, consent ensures that all parties feel safe and valued, promoting healthy and equitable relationships. In professional and academic settings, it fosters an environment of mutual respect and ethical conduct, where the boundaries and rights of individuals are supported.
Consent is crucial in sexual relationships because it ensures that all parties involved are willingly and enthusiastically participating, ensuring their dignity and emotional wellbeing.
What is consent?
Find out more about consent by watching this short video.
Online training
Consent and active bystander education have a proven positive impact on preventing sexual misconduct and giving people the skills and confidence to positively intervene and support each other.
We therefore expect all students to complete our Consent Matters programme which provides current, inclusive training on sexual consent, communication and relationships, and bystander intervention.
Instructions for accessing the course
The course is intended to be informative and educational, but we understand that some may find the content of this course difficult or upsetting.
If you feel upset by any of the course content you can stop, and you can choose to access support if you wish using the details below.
Receiving support
The Mental Health & Wellbeing Team in Student Services have staff trained in supporting you. We recommend that if you feel upset by the course content, or find it difficult to complete, to speak to this team should you need further support. Their services are confidential, unless in exceptional circumstances, where it is deemed there is a danger to yourself or others, or if there is a legal duty to report.
The team can be contacted on:
Let us know
If you want to let us know about concerns that you have for yourself or another student, or you want to make a report of sexual misconduct to the University, you can complete an online Let us know form. There are many different actions that may be taken, but the preference is to always proceed with the wishes of the student who has filled in the form, unless we believe not taking a particular action could result in someone coming to harm. You can read more about what the University will do with the information once you have filled in the form.
Further support and guidance
Further information is available on our webpages about: