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University Campus Security: Protecting Staff, Students and Events | CloseProtectionHire

Q: "Does Martyn's Law apply to university events?"

"Yes. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2024 applies to venues used for qualifying activities with a public-facing function, which includes university events. The distinction is between the premises capacity and the specific event capacity. A lecture theatre with capacity of 200-799 falls under Standard duty during qualifying events. A campus sports hall or outdoor graduation ceremony with 800+ capacity falls under Enhanced duty. Universities hosting large conferences, external speakers, graduation ceremonies, or public events must assess each event's capacity against the Act's thresholds and apply the corresponding duty requirements. The SIA is the regulator for Enhanced duty events. The University of London, Russell Group institutions, and large campus universities with regularly occurring events above 800 capacity are among those with the highest compliance obligations."

Q: "What are UK universities' obligations under the Prevent duty?"

"Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Section 26 places a statutory Prevent duty on universities as 'specified authorities'. The duty requires universities to: have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism; demonstrate that safeguarding measures include counter-extremism procedures; train academic and professional services staff in Prevent awareness; and refer individuals who raise concerns through the Channel programme. The Home Office Prevent Duty Guidance for Higher Education (2024) specifies that universities must have a named Prevent lead, an annual Prevent return, staff training records, and a policy framework for external speaker events that manages the risk of extremist content. The duty applies to all students and staff, including international students. Universities also have obligations under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 which creates a parallel duty to protect free speech -- the tension between Prevent duty and free speech obligations requires specific governance arrangements."

Q: "What is the scale of sexual violence on UK university campuses?"

"The ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales (Focus on Violent Crime, 2024 edition) found that approximately 1 in 20 female students in England and Wales reported rape or sexual assault during their studies. The 2020 University and College Union (UCU) and National Union of Students (NUS) joint survey found that over 60% of students who experienced sexual harassment did not report it to their institution, primarily due to a lack of confidence in the institutional response. This low reporting rate means that incident data significantly under-represents the actual prevalence. Universities have obligations under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (positive duty to prevent sexual harassment) and institutional liability under the Equality Act 2010 for harassment by staff and students if a complaint is mishandled."

Q: "How should universities manage security for controversial speaker events?"

"The framework for controversial speaker events at universities sits at the intersection of the Prevent duty (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015), the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, and the university's general duty of care to attendees. The practical approach: all external speaker events with 200+ capacity should have a security assessment. Events with speakers whose content or audience profile creates a specific risk of protest or counter-protest require a security plan covering access management, steward briefing, protest management protocol, and police liaison. The NPCC (National Police Chiefs' Council) and university security leads have developed joint guidance for high-risk speaker events. Cancelling an event on security grounds without a substantive threat assessment and police advice may breach the institution's obligations under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023."

Q: "What is the risk of state-directed targeting of international students?"

"The targeting of international students from certain countries by their home-country intelligence services is a documented and growing security concern at UK universities. The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) 2023 report on China highlighted state-sponsored surveillance and intimidation of Chinese students and academics in the UK, including Uyghur students targeted for their diaspora political activities and students monitored for reporting on academic research. The same pattern has been documented for some Iranian, Russian, and Saudi students. Universities are aware of this risk through CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure) academic engagement and through Home Office Prevent guidance on transnational repression. Students from affected diaspora communities who experience surveillance, intimidation, or family-based coercion should be referred to the university's Prevent lead and, where there is evidence of criminal conduct, to the police."

Security frameworks for university campuses: Martyn's Law obligations for events, counter-terrorism Prevent duty, student safety, campus access control, sexual violence prevention, and international student targeting risks.

4 May 2026

Written by James Whitfield

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University campuses present a security challenge that is distinct from almost any other institutional setting. Unlike a corporate office, a campus combines: a large adult population with significant variation in age, experience, and risk awareness; open-access pedestrian and research environments by institutional design; residential accommodation (often with 18-21 year olds living independently for the first time); a late-night social economy; high-capacity event venues; and, increasingly, high-value research assets that attract both criminal and state-directed intelligence interest.

The security framework for a major UK university must address all of these dimensions simultaneously, within a governance structure that also balances Prevent duty obligations with statutory free speech duties – a combination that has no straightforward resolution.

Legal Framework

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2024 (Martyn’s Law): The Act creates legal obligations for venues used for qualifying activities with the public-facing function that university events represent. The implementation thresholds for universities:

Standard duty: any qualifying event with capacity 200-799 persons – common for lectures with external audience, departmental seminars, student union events
Enhanced duty: any qualifying event with capacity 800+ persons – graduation ceremonies, large conferences, external concerts in campus venues, outdoor festivals

The SIA (Security Industry Authority) is the regulator for Enhanced duty. Implementation guidance specific to universities is available through the ProtectUK portal. Institutions are advised to complete a comprehensive audit of their qualifying events calendar against the thresholds before the end of the 24-month implementation period (April 2027).

Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Section 26 (Prevent Duty): Universities are specified authorities under the Act, with statutory obligations to demonstrate due regard to preventing radicalisation. The Home Office Prevent Duty Guidance for Higher Education (2024) requires: a named Prevent lead, annual Prevent return to the Home Office, staff training programme, and an external speaker event policy.

Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023: Creates a positive duty on universities, student unions, and constituent institutions to take reasonably practicable steps to secure free speech. The Office for Students (OfS) is the regulator. The Act creates a direct tension with Prevent duty in cases where a speaker’s content could be characterised as extremist or as creating a risk of radicalisation – this tension requires specific governance arrangements and legal review.

Student Personal Safety

Sexual violence on campus: The ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales (Focus on Violent Crime, 2024) data indicates approximately 1 in 20 female students report rape or sexual assault during their studies. UCU and NUS joint research (Lad Culture and Sexism in Higher Education, 2020) found that over 60% of students who experienced sexual harassment did not report it to the institution, primarily due to lack of confidence in the institutional response. The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 creates a positive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. For universities as employers, this duty applies to staff. For student-on-student conduct, the Equality Act 2010 and institutional policies under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (students as consumers of education) create the framework.

The practical security measures for sexual violence prevention include: CCTV coverage of high-risk areas (car parks, isolated walkways, late-night social venue approaches), lighting of all late-night routes between campus and student accommodation, Safe Walk services operated by trained student volunteers or security staff (the UCCB Safe Walk standard provides the operational framework), and mandatory bystander intervention training in freshers’ induction.

Knife crime: UK universities saw increases in knife-related incidents in and around campus in 2022-2024, reflecting the broader national pattern (NPCC data shows knife offences in England and Wales reached a recorded high in 2023). Campus security’s response includes: prohibition of bladed items on campus with clear enforcement, intelligence sharing with local police SNT, and protocol for managing a knife-related incident on campus (immediate police call, campus lockdown for the specific area, first aid response).

Counter-Terrorism and Prevent

The university Prevent duty is one of the more complex institutional compliance obligations in the UK. The requirement to have due regard to preventing radicalisation sits alongside the institutional commitment to academic freedom and free inquiry that characterises a research university.

The practical implementation framework:

Staff training: Prevent awareness training should cover: the indicators of radicalisation across all relevant ideologies (not solely Islamist extremism – far-right, incel, single-issue, and state-sponsored extremism are all relevant on campuses), the distinction between radical views (protected under free speech) and involvement with terrorism (not protected), and the Channel referral pathway for individuals of concern.

External speaker policy: The policy must be documented, legally reviewed, and consistently applied. It should set out: the threshold for requiring a risk assessment before an event (recommended: all external speakers with 200+ capacity audience), the process for assessing whether a speaker’s content creates a risk under Prevent duty, the process for cancellation (which requires substantive grounds, not discomfort with the speaker’s views), and the police liaison protocol for events that proceed with identified risk.

International students and transnational repression: CPNI academic engagement guidance (updated 2024) highlights the risk of state-directed surveillance and targeting of international students from China, Iran, Russia, and other authoritarian states. The pattern of transnational repression on campuses includes: monitoring of students’ social media and academic work, family-based coercion (threats to family members in the home country unless the student ceases activities), intimidation of Uyghur and Hong Kong student activists, and intelligence collection on research activities. The university’s Prevent lead, working with CPNI and Home Office guidance, should have a framework for recognising and responding to reports of transnational repression.

P1 City University Campuses

The security environment for university campuses in P1 cities reflects the broader threat picture amplified by the specific dynamics of student and academic communities:

Manila: The University of the Philippines Diliman campus has a history of student political activism and police-student confrontations that make it a politically sensitive venue. International visitors to UP Diliman should maintain awareness of political events on and around campus. The Human Security Act framework in the Philippines creates specific legal risks for individuals associated with organisations the government has designated as terrorist.

Istanbul: Turkish universities, and Bogacizi University specifically, have been the site of sustained political conflict. Istanbul University’s campus environments require awareness of Turkish law enforcement responses to political activity on campus. Foreign academics or researchers associated with political dimensions of Kurdish affairs, LGBT issues, or criticism of the government should seek specific legal and security advice before accepting invitations to Turkish universities.

Lagos: University of Lagos (UNILAG) and other major Lagos campuses reflect the general Lagos security environment: staff and student concerns about traffic ambush crime on approaches to campus, petty theft, and the challenges of medical response in a campus emergency. International visitors should apply standard Lagos operating protocols.

For the institutional security framework applicable to schools and family-accompanied expat settings, see our international schools and expat families security guide. For the corporate campus security framework applicable to technology parks and research campuses, see our corporate offices and workplaces security guide.

Sources

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2024 (Martyn’s Law) and SIA Implementation Guidance. Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Section 26 and Home Office Prevent Duty Guidance for Higher Education 2024. Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 and Office for Students Guidance. ONS: Crime Survey for England and Wales – Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2024. UCU/NUS: Lad Culture and Sexism in Higher Education 2020. RAINN: Campus Sexual Violence Statistics 2024. Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023. ACPO/NPCC: Campus Safety Guidelines 2024. CPNI: Protecting Your Research – Academic Engagement Guidance 2024. Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee: China Report 2023. OSAC: Philippines, Turkey, Nigeria Country Security Reports 2024. Control Risks: Institutional Security Advisory 2025. Home Office: Transnational Repression Guidance for Universities 2024.

James Whitfield is a Senior Security Consultant with 20 years of experience in institutional and venue security, including protective security advisory roles at higher education institutions and research campuses globally.

Summary

Key takeaways

University campuses are legally required to treat large events as regulated premises under Martyn's Law from 2025

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2024 creates binding legal obligations for university events above 200 capacity. Institutions that have not yet completed a Martyn's Law compliance review and assigned a Senior Premises Manager for Enhanced duty events are at legal risk. The SIA implementation guidance for universities is available through the ProtectUK portal.

The scale of sexual violence on campus requires a proactive institutional security response, not just a reactive complaint process

The 1-in-20 ONS prevalence figure for female students, combined with the 60%+ under-reporting rate documented by UCU/NUS, means that campus sexual violence is a serious security problem that reactive complaint procedures are failing to address. The institutional security framework must include prevention measures: lighting of late-night routes, Safe Walk services, visible CCTV, and staff training in bystander intervention.

Prevent duty and free speech duty create a governance tension that requires specific institutional policy

The simultaneous obligations under Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Section 26 (Prevent duty) and Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 require institutions to have a documented, legally reviewed policy framework for managing the tension. An ad hoc response to a specific speaker event without a clear policy framework creates both legal liability and reputational risk.

International students from high-risk diaspora communities may be subject to state-directed surveillance on campus

Transnational repression -- where foreign states target their diaspora communities in UK universities through surveillance, intimidation, and family-based coercion -- is a documented pattern. Universities have an obligation under Prevent guidance to recognise and respond to this risk. Academic and professional services staff should be trained to identify the indicators and know the referral pathway.

Night-time economy on and around campus is consistently the highest-risk period for student safety

The intersection of alcohol, darkness, unfamiliar locations, and reduced supervision creates the conditions for the majority of campus personal safety incidents. Safe Walk services, well-lit pedestrian routes to off-campus accommodation, trained security presence at late-night events, and taxi-safe behaviour briefings in freshers' induction are the minimum prevention measures.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2024 applies to venues used for qualifying activities with a public-facing function, which includes university events. The distinction is between the premises capacity and the specific event capacity. A lecture theatre with capacity of 200-799 falls under Standard duty during qualifying events. A campus sports hall or outdoor graduation ceremony with 800+ capacity falls under Enhanced duty. Universities hosting large conferences, external speakers, graduation ceremonies, or public events must assess each event’s capacity against the Act’s thresholds and apply the corresponding duty requirements. The SIA is the regulator for Enhanced duty events. The University of London, Russell Group institutions, and large campus universities with regularly occurring events above 800 capacity are among those with the highest compliance obligations.

Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Section 26 places a statutory Prevent duty on universities as ‘specified authorities’. The duty requires universities to: have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism; demonstrate that safeguarding measures include counter-extremism procedures; train academic and professional services staff in Prevent awareness; and refer individuals who raise concerns through the Channel programme. The Home Office Prevent Duty Guidance for Higher Education (2024) specifies that universities must have a named Prevent lead, an annual Prevent return, staff training records, and a policy framework for external speaker events that manages the risk of extremist content. The duty applies to all students and staff, including international students. Universities also have obligations under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 which creates a parallel duty to protect free speech – the tension between Prevent duty and free speech obligations requires specific governance arrangements.

The ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales (Focus on Violent Crime, 2024 edition) found that approximately 1 in 20 female students in England and Wales reported rape or sexual assault during their studies. The 2020 University and College Union (UCU) and National Union of Students (NUS) joint survey found that over 60% of students who experienced sexual harassment did not report it to their institution, primarily due to a lack of confidence in the institutional response. This low reporting rate means that incident data significantly under-represents the actual prevalence. Universities have obligations under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (positive duty to prevent sexual harassment) and institutional liability under the Equality Act 2010 for harassment by staff and students if a complaint is mishandled.

The framework for controversial speaker events at universities sits at the intersection of the Prevent duty (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015), the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, and the university’s general duty of care to attendees. The practical approach: all external speaker events with 200+ capacity should have a security assessment. Events with speakers whose content or audience profile creates a specific risk of protest or counter-protest require a security plan covering access management, steward briefing, protest management protocol, and police liaison. The NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council) and university security leads have developed joint guidance for high-risk speaker events. Cancelling an event on security grounds without a substantive threat assessment and police advice may breach the institution’s obligations under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

The targeting of international students from certain countries by their home-country intelligence services is a documented and growing security concern at UK universities. The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) 2023 report on China highlighted state-sponsored surveillance and intimidation of Chinese students and academics in the UK, including Uyghur students targeted for their diaspora political activities and students monitored for reporting on academic research. The same pattern has been documented for some Iranian, Russian, and Saudi students. Universities are aware of this risk through CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure) academic engagement and through Home Office Prevent guidance on transnational repression. Students from affected diaspora communities who experience surveillance, intimidation, or family-based coercion should be referred to the university’s Prevent lead and, where there is evidence of criminal conduct, to the police.

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