Britain’s equality watchdog has launched an inquiry into racial harassment at universities amid mounting evidence of students and staff from minority groups facing abuse.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Tuesday it was aware of claims from some student groups that universities were “brushing incidents under the carpet unless they go viral on social media”.

David Isaac, the organisation’s chair, said the inquiry would be looking at whether universities “have systems in place to stop racial harassment being a stumbling block to educational achievement and ensure that victims can obtain redress”.

The move comes after a string of high-profile incidents of racist abuse on campus and complaints that university authorities were not doing enough to handle them.

In April, two Sheffield universities launched investigations into four separate allegations of racism. Such incidents included a claim that a black student was hit with a banana during an ice hockey game and a student alleging that someone had written on a library whiteboard that there were “Too many Asians (Brown ones)”.

In May, Nottingham Trent University student Joe Tivnan was ordered to pay £500 in compensation to fellow student Rufaro Chisango following racist chanting that was captured on video and went viral. One of his chants was “We hate the blacks”.

Dr Zubaida Haque, the deputy director of the race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust, said: “Firstly, it’s great that the EHRC are holding a formal inquiry, and we welcome it. It’s hugely important because we know racist bullying and racial harassment has been increasing across educational institutions, starting from schools to universities.

“For the EHRC to be launching a formal inquiry, it is sending a strong message to the educational sector regarding where it stands on racial harassment.

“That said, we haven’t seen the survey, so we don’t know how racial harassment is defined. But hopefully it will include all types and manifestations of racism, from covert, unconscious bias to more overt and physical acts of violence.”

Haque said universities, just like schools, “are supposed to be safe places for all students. The fact that racist bullying and harassment is going up in safe, liberal places of education should be a worrying indicator to us. How effective this inquiry will be depends on how they enforce and gather the information. The devil is in the detail in terms of what the EHRC will do with the findings.”

As described by the EHRC, the inquiry will look at various scenarios of racial harassment. The evidence produced will be used to develop recommendations for what can be done to improve the ways universities respond to the racial harassment of staff and students.

The inquiry will cover publicly funded universities in Britain and the call for evidence will close on 15 February 2019. The final findings and recommendations are set to be published by the autumn of 2019.

Ilyas Nagdee, the Black Students’ Officer of the National Union of Students, said: “Over the last year we have seen high-profile incidents of racism on UK campuses; yet, as many staff and students of colour are aware, these incidents have been ongoing for decades. The response of many institutions has been inadequate, many seemingly caring more about their reputations than racism and the welfare of students on campus.”

Nagdee welcomed the inquiry by the EHRC, which will analyse different relationships and power dynamics, such as staff to student and staff to staff. “The focus on the reporting and support mechanisms is also critical, as many students and staff of colour have complained about the current process being taxing and impossible to navigate; to attempt to prompt action they are forced to constantly relive traumatic incidents.

“As work on the attainment gap continues, it’s high time we shine a light on this issue that breaks the myth of the ‘liberal tolerant university’, in the hope of creating equitable institutions across the country,” he said.