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172 cases of sexual harassment committed by students and staff have been reported in the past five years. A science professor left the university in September after sexual harassment allegations made by a female employee and NUS and the police launched investigations. However, in many cases, complaints might result in termination without disclosure, allowing the faculty member to secure a job elsewhere and continue his career.

Women and girl child rights activists are calling for tougher and broader sexual harassment guidelines at institutions of higher learning in Uganda to avert cases of lecturers and other university administrators taking advantage of the students they teach. After indecently assaulted a student in 2018, a former administrator at Makerere University has been sentenced to only two years in prison or he has the option to pay a fine of UGX4 million (US$1,080). The 2019 Annual Police Crime Report for Uganda tallied sexual violence-related cases, including assault and rape, at 1,528.

A Statistics Canada study shows that one-third of women and nearly a quarter of men who teach and conduct research in Canadian university and college campuses face harassment. Data collected in late 2019 from 27,000 respondents about their experiences over the past year revealed five types of harassment: verbal abuse, humiliating behaviour, threats such as blackmail, threats to career or reputation, physical threats, physical violence, and unwanted sexual attention or sexual harassment.

Five professors at Hassan I University in Settat, Morocco, are under investigation after conversations on social media were leaked in which they were allegedly discussing the ‘sextortion’ of female students for extra credits. The academic community called for a Business Ethics module in the university staff training programmes that would stop promoting such abuses.