Oxford University lecturers and tutors no longer allowed to have ‘intimate relationships’ with students

7 March 2023, 13:58 | Updated: 7 March 2023, 14:35

Oxford University students and lecturers are no longer allowed to have "intimate relationships" with students.

Bosses at the prestigious institution told academics that they could get fired for any romantic entanglements with students, under new rules coming into force in April.

Staff will also be strongly discouraged from having any relationship with a student that "transgresses the boundaries of professional conduct".

Oxford chiefs said that the policy had been developed over many months and followed consultation.

It comes after calls to end “inappropriate relationships” made by student union group It Happens Here, which campaigns against sexual violence at Oxford.

It Happens Here said in 2021 that relationships between staff and students “raise issues relating to inequalities of power in a relationship, or perceived favouritism, or the undermining of trust in the academic process”.

Under current rules "intimate relationships" are strongly discouraged and have to be disclosed to the staff member's line manager, but are still within the rules.

When the new policy comes into force on April 17, any staff members who are in pre-existing relationships with a student, will not teach or work with that student.

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Oxford said it will work to avoid "conflicts of interest by ensuring the staff member ceases to have, or does not acquire, any responsibility for the student”.

It comes as regulator the Office for Students (OfS) works on its own regulations for staff-student relationships.

The body has not decided on whether to ban the relationships outright or force the staff in question to disclose them.

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Susan Lapworth, chief executive of the OfS, said: “The majority of those working in higher education behave appropriately towards their students.

"But we recognise that there can be a power imbalance in personal relationships that could be exploited by unscrupulous staff to subject students to harassment or sexual misconduct."

Meanwhile a Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph found that five student complaints of sexual misconduct at Oxford had been upheld - but only one staff member was dismissed.

A spokesperson for the university told the paper that Oxford "is working hard to build a culture where our students can feel safe and where sexual violence and harassment are not tolerated".

Several top US universities, including Harvard, Yale and Princeton have already banned intimate relationships between students and staff.