University jurisdiction over off-campus misconduct

Short answer

Yes, in principle a university in England and Wales can investigate harassment or sexual misconduct even when the conduct happened off campus, online, or outside term time. Whether it will and can do so depends on its own regulations and on whether the conduct has a sufficient connection to the university, its students or its community. The location of the incident is not, by itself, a bar to investigation.

The regulatory background

Universities and colleges registered with the Office for Students (OfS) are now subject to condition of registration E6 on harassment and sexual misconduct, which came into force on 1 August 2025. The OfS approach expressly treats harassment and sexual misconduct as capable of occurring “through any medium, including, for example, online.” The regulator anticipates providers investigating, as a disciplinary matter, complaints made in relation to their registered students, and it has made clear that conduct online should be covered by a provider’s policies. The OfS has also indicated that addressing misconduct against students committed by people who are neither staff nor students can be consistent with the condition.

The practical effect is that most universities have updated their student conduct and misconduct policies so that they are not narrowly limited to things that happen physically on campus during teaching weeks. Many policies now expressly cover online conduct, conduct in private accommodation, conduct on placements or field trips, conduct at university-related social events, and conduct during vacations, provided there is a link to the institution or its members.

How jurisdiction is actually decided

A university’s power to investigate and discipline a student comes from the contract between the student and the institution, made up of the student regulations, the code of conduct or disciplinary procedure, and related policies. The key question is not simply “where did it happen” but “does the conduct fall within the scope of these regulations.”

Typical triggers that bring off-campus, online or out-of-term conduct within scope include:

1. The complainant is another student or a member of staff, so the conduct affects a member of the university community.

2. The conduct took place in a university context, such as a hall of residence, a placement, a field trip, a society or sports club activity, or a university-organised or endorsed social event.

3. The conduct, wherever it physically occurred, has a real and adverse effect on another student’s ability to study, their safety, or the university environment, for example online harassment through social media or messaging during the holidays.

4. The conduct is serious enough that it engages the university’s legitimate interest in the safety and wellbeing of its community, even if it happened in a purely private setting.

Some university regulations draw a distinction between “general” misconduct, which they may only act on where there is a clear connection to the institution, and conduct that is inherently within scope because it involves other students or university activities. You need to read the specific wording of your university’s disciplinary or student conduct regulations, because the precise boundaries differ between institutions.

Off campus and private settings

There is no rule that a university can only deal with things that happen on its premises. Conduct in private student housing, at a house party, or in a relationship between two students can be investigated where the regulations extend to conduct affecting other members of the community. The more private and unconnected the setting, the more the university must be able to point to a genuine link, such as the fact that both parties are students, before it acts.

Online conduct

Online harassment and sexual misconduct is squarely within scope under the OfS approach and under most modern university policies, regardless of where either person physically was at the time. Messages, images, social media posts and group chats can all found a complaint. This is one of the clearest areas where the “off campus” objection does not assist the person complained about.

Outside term time

Conduct during vacations is not automatically outside the university’s reach. If the people involved are students and the conduct is connected to the university or affects a member of its community, the timing in the academic calendar does not remove jurisdiction. Again, the test is connection and effect, not the date.

Limits and complications

Universities are not police forces and their disciplinary process is not a criminal trial. Several important limits and issues arise.

The standard of proof in university disciplinary proceedings is the civil standard, the balance of probabilities, not the criminal standard.

Where the same facts are the subject of a live police investigation or criminal proceedings, the university may pause its own process to avoid prejudicing the criminal case, though it is not always required to do so and the OfS discourages automatic or indefinite delay.

The process must be procedurally fair to both the reporting and responding student, including proper notice of the allegations, a fair opportunity to respond, an unbiased decision maker, and a right of appeal. Failures of fairness are the most common basis for later challenge.

The university’s factual findings do not amount to a criminal conviction and should not be described as one. A finding of misconduct is an internal disciplinary outcome, not a criminal record.

What matters for you

To assess a specific situation, the following would materially affect the answer: whether both people involved are students or staff of the same provider; whether the incident is connected to a university activity, event, placement or accommodation; whether it took place online; whether there is a live police matter; and, above all, the exact wording of the scope or jurisdiction clause in your university’s student conduct or disciplinary regulations.

Practical next steps

1. Obtain and read the current student disciplinary or conduct regulations and any separate sexual misconduct policy, focusing on the section defining scope, jurisdiction or “to whom this policy applies.”

2. Identify the specific link the university is relying on to claim jurisdiction, such as both parties being students or the incident occurring online, and check that link against the wording of the policy.

3. Keep all relevant evidence, including messages, dates, times and the names of any witnesses.

4. If you are the responding student, engage with the process and put your account in writing rather than ignoring it, since fairness arguments are far stronger if you have participated.

5. Check whether the university has followed its own procedure and timescales, because a serious procedural breach can be raised internally and, once the internal process is exhausted, with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

6. Consider seeking support from the students’ union advice service, which is independent of the university and experienced in these procedures.

If you tell me whether both people involved are students, where and how the alleged conduct occurred, and what your university’s regulations say about scope, I can give you a more precise assessment.