The Minister announces new measures for both institutions and students
The UCLouvain study, published last week, which provides an overview of harassment and sexual assault situations among students, unfortunately seems to confirm a phenomenon already denounced elsewhere and which also reflects our society.Indeed, when analysing the latest BELSPO data (Federal Science Policy) available at Belgian level: 19.9% of women and 5.9% of men in the Belgian population aged 16 to 24 report having been victims of rape (Belspo UN-MENAMAIS project, 2021).
The higher education sector cannot alone resolve the harassment phenomenon of an entire society. Educational work must also imperatively take place upstream, namely in compulsory education, within families and in every other place where young people spend time (sports federations, youth movements, etc.).
Despite the delay in completing the BEHAVES study commissioned by the Government, Minister Bertieaux wants to quickly continue implementing her policy by taking new concrete measures to be put in place before the end of the legislature.
At this stage, based on information already available, certain problems clearly emerge:
- A lack of knowledge among young people and higher education institutions of existing legislation (discrimination decree, wellbeing law, criminal code, disciplinary role of institutions, etc.) and a lack of awareness of existing mechanisms, especially external ones, both at management level and among “harassment contact points”.
- While some institutions do not fully grasp the scale of the phenomenon, others are completely at a loss regarding the issue and do not know what they should or can do.
- Shortcomings in implementing the wellbeing law within institutions
- The need for specific attention to the PhD student-supervisor relationship
As a result, Minister Bertieaux wants to introduce:
- Training and networking for “harassment contact points”, through the organisation this semester, by the administration, of a networking day for contact points.
- The setting up of a working group to draft a common minimum framework to be included in the study regulations / internal rules of order of higher education institutions, covering the following points:
- The procedure: rights and duties, sanctions, protective measures
- Everyone's roles: management, contact points…
- The setting up of a working group tasked with assessing the merits of developing a code of ethics / a framework agreement governing relations between PhD students and their supervisors (including intellectual property), as well as between internship supervisors and interns.
- The organisation of an information and awareness day for students, notably in collaboration with legitimately elected student assemblies within institutions, to inform them about existing mechanisms within institutions, available external services, the concept of “consent”, etc.
- The sending to institutions of a circular, respecting their autonomy and specific characteristics, reminding them to inform students of existing mechanisms upon enrolment, as well as encouraging the exchange of good practices between institutions.