OSLO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A fresh survey showed that about half of Norwegian students do not feel informed enough about how they can report harassment at their university or college, the government said Tuesday.
The study, researching students' and employees' perceptions of quality of study, included answers from more than 30,000 students, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research said in a statement.
For the first time, questions about knowledge of universities and university colleges' warning systems in case of harassment were included in the survey, in which harassment is defined as sexual harassment, bullying or similar.
"No students should experience harassment, but when it still happens, there must be a low threshold for reporting it," Minister of Research and Higher Education Iselin Nybo was quoted as saying.
"When so many respond that they have not received information about systems for notification of harassment, this means that the universities and colleges have a job to do," she said.
According to Nybo, in recent years there have been several known cases of harassment of both genders among students and employees of universities and colleges.
She stressed that all universities and colleges are to work to prevent harassment, clear reporting channels and make sure that inquiries on harassment are properly followed up.
While less than 20 percent of the students in eight institutions responded that they had received information about reporting of harassment, in eight other institutions more than 60 percent said that they had received the same information.
The study showed that all institutions must do more to ensure that information on notification routines reaches the students, Nybo said, expressing expectation for "significant advance" in the next study.
