Religion and belief-related hate incidents in higher education: a research and evaluation report

Abstract

The research report is informed by the findings of two surveys, both of which were available both online and on paper. The surveys aimed to recruit as many Coventry University students as were interested in participating, including distance learning students, across all of its campuses. The baseline survey - which secured 612 useable responses - aimed at understanding Coventry University students’ attitudes to, direct experiences of, and experiences of witnessing hate incidents related to religion or belief, irrespective of whether or not they are themselves religious or subscribe to a particular belief system. The follow-up survey (which secured 286 responses) aimed to assess the impact of the project, including of the religion and other harassment case manager’s work, in raising the visibility of religion or belief hate crime and hate crime reporting. While the numbers involved in the surveys are too small for statistically reliable conclusions to be drawn, the results taken across the two surveys have indicative value.