Nearly half of incoming first years are worried about sexual assault during Freshers’

Nearly half of incoming first years are worried about sexual assault during Freshers’ Week, The Tab's Freshers' sexual assault survey has found.

Other key results from the survey include only 10 per cent of students thinking consent classes should be compulsory at university, and 40 per cent being worried about sexual assault at university

Over 2,400 of you filled it in, and here's the details of what you said.

Sexual assault during Freshers' is a worry for female freshers

44 per cent of female freshers are worried about sexual assault during Freshers'. Of those, almost all – 95 per cent – are worried about being sexually assaulted by another student.

Last week, we published a map of violent and sexual assaults in university towns, documenting the rise in these crimes over the past 12 months. Our survey shows the extent to which this has translated into student concern.

At university in general, 41 per cent of students are worried about sexual assault. However, a gender divide emerges here. The 51 per cent of females who are worried stand in stark contrast to the four per cent of males worried.

However, among both sexes, those worried are overwhelmingly concerned about being sexually assaulted by another student.

Three quarters think consent classes should be compulsory before uni

The subject that launched a thousand think-pieces – branded "patronising, infantilising" and "more important than your ego" in equal measure – only two universities, Bristol and Oxford, are holding compulsory consent classes this year.

Yet, the opinions of actual students speak for themselves. We found that, although 74 per cent think consent classes are a good idea, only 10 per cent believe they should be compulsory at university.

A considerable majority believe classes should be compulsory before university, whilst only 14 per cent think they shouldn't be compulsory at all.

Here's where the gender divide re-emerges.

34 per cent of male students think they shouldn't be compulsory at all, a figure which is only nine per cent for female students.

The split is apparent in whether students think consent classes are a good idea at all. Male opinion is evenly split – 49 per cent think they're a good idea – whilst female opinion is fairly united, with the figure at 80 per cent.

That so many believe consent classes should be taken before university begins adds another angle to the debate over whether the classes are patronising or necessary. Considering less than a third of young people in the UK enter higher education, this seems a good idea.