Campus lighting

One of the main concerns highlighted by students in the survey was a lack of adequate lighting or broken lighting in areas on campus, particularly around accommodation blocks. Enaya Nihal, SU President, with the University’s Estates and Community Safety teams, have worked to fix and improve lighting around residential areas on campus, starting with the path between Claycroft and Tesco. We are now focusing on paths towards Westwood and Gibbet Hill.

• There are currently around 2,100 lighting columns or bollards across campus, illuminating the wayfinding routes.
• We have upgraded around 300 existing external lights to new LED lights around key pedestrian routes and building entrances.
• Our Gardening teams have been checking all trees, hedges and large shrubs across the whole campus to identify areas where the lights are obstructed.
• We are installing new lights in areas previously identified for improvement, moving towards LED lighting to improve reliability and ensure everyone feels safe when moving around campus.

Transport

Lighting was also a concern for students around some bus stops on campus, alongside overcrowding around the bus interchange. Students told us about their journeys to and from campus, for example, travelling home after a night out or after a late night studying.

To improve transport safety on campus, we have:

• Run additional lighting surveys to ensure that dark spots on roads or pathways identified as part of the survey have been investigated and fixed.

• We will carry out further inspections as we are into the darker nights.

• Had discussions with both National Express and Stagecoach to discuss the findings of the survey, and are working with them on how to better highlight what people can do on a bus if they are feeling unsafe.
• We are independently monitoring the bus interchange following concerns around queuing management at peak hours to better understand the issues, and improvements that can be made.

Your Students’ Union

Hear from Enaya Nihal, President of Warwick Students’ Union, on how the SU has acted on your feedback:

At the SU, 85% of students felt safe in the Copper Rooms and 90% felt safe in our Terrace Bar. Having read through each concern, a few themes emerged, such as the loud environment and drinking culture, security, and fears of sexual harassment and spiking.

What did we do about them?

• Certified the Copper Rooms and Terrace Bar as Safe Places by the EgalitarianLink opens in a new window, ensuring that we have the latest safeguarding training in place.

• Received L.I.S.T.E.N. disclosure training from EmilyTest with the Report + Support team.
• Reviewed the training given to our door staff and venue managers.
• Empowered our First Aiders to provide welfare to students in need.
• Delivered welfare training to all social secretaries and presidents who circle in our venues.
• Continued our free Women's Self Defence Classes with combat sports clubs and Warwick Sport.
• Introduced sober events like ‘That Friday Feeling!’ so all students feel welcome in our spaces.
• Delivered signposting and disclosure training to many society and sports exec members.
• Provided hundreds of free personal safety alarms to students during outreach events, including SHaGFest.
• Relaunched the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign
• Created a Safer Warwick webpage and visual assets to keep on display in our venues, detailing current initiatives, the training undertaken by our staff and signposting to support services.

“Thank you to every single student who took part in this survey. This has been a really collaborative project, bringing together the Students' Union and the University - with colleagues from Community Safety, Wellbeing and Student Support, Transport, Maintenance, Lighting and Gardening teams. This survey has had a real impact on safety at Warwick and demonstrates the value of using your voice."

Jess O’Brien
Market Research Manager
The University of Warwick

"Only by engaging with our community will we be able to make our campus at night safer for all, and that’s why it’s so important for us to understand the practical steps we can take for those who are travelling home from work, studying, exercise, and all the other reasons in between. We've had positive discussions with our partners based on the findings from last year’s survey. Your feedback and experiences will be extremely valuable as we work together and plan the way forward."

George Saxon
Head of Transport Operations & Systems
The University of Warwick