ALMOST one-third of university students in Edinburgh have been subjected to "unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature" a new study has revealed.
The preliminary study findings indicate almost one in every three male and female students have found themselves at the centre of the unwanted sexual attention.
Now the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) have pledged to carry out a more in-depth examination into the issue next year, after 781 students took part in a EUSA survey which found 30% had been harassed.
It is understood that EUSA leaders will work with owners of city nightspots to reduce this number.
Hollaback Edinburgh, a campaign group who want to end street harassment, have said the findings are a "further reminder" of the "incredible amount of work" still to do.
EUSA implemented an "End Rape Culture and Lad Banter on Campus" policy earlier this year in a bid to make their students feel safer.
Nadia Mehdi, EUSA vice-president for societies and activities, said: "Following high-profile studies by organisations such as the NUS, we wanted to find out more about students' experiences of sexual harassment.
"We'll launch a campaign in the new year once the data has been analysed.
"We're keen to ensure students know their rights and how to report incidents of sexual harassment.
Jacq Kelly, chair of Hollaback Edinburgh said: ""Sexual harassment is often dismissed as banter. However many young people who have spoken to us about their experiences have told us just how intimidating and frightening it is."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article