November 06, 2008

Universities have been listed among the worst in a survey on bullying of university staff across the UK

Northern Ireland’s two universities have been listed among the worst in a survey on bullying of university staff across the UK.

The University of Ulster and Queen's University feature in the “worst” category for staff being “always” or “often” bullied.

The UU was 7th on the national list compiled by the University and College Union (UCU). The union has named and shamed the universities with the worst reported levels of bullying ahead of Friday’s national Ban Bullying at Work Day. Queen's was 19th.

Of the 143 respondents from Queen’s, 11.9% said they were always or often bullied. At the UU, just over 10% of the 148 respondents said this was the case.

The University of East London had the worst ranking with almost 17% of the staff surveyed saying they were always or often bullied. In 19 institutions at least one-in-10 respondents to the UCU survey reported being ‘always’ or ‘often’ bullied.

A University of Ulster spokesperson said: “The University of Ulster has received a copy of the UCU survey and is in the process of assessing its validity and relevance.

“The university has a comprehensive bullying and harassment procedure agreed with the local trade unions. The aim of the procedure is to provide a safe and harmonious working environment and to provide mechanisms to address any issues raised.

“All staff and students are expected to comply with the policy, and to assist in the promotion of a good working environment free from any form of bullying and harassment.”

Queen’s University said: “Queen’s University is a large employer and has an extensive range of policies to support staff in the workplace.

“The university views bullying at work as unacceptable and has procedures in place to fully investigate complaints of this nature and take appropriate and timely action.

“An analysis of the last two years indicates only three cases have been brought to the attention of senior managers for examination under the agreed procedures. The university has comprehensive consultative procedures in place with all its trade unions.”

Over 9,700 UCU members working in higher education across the UK were surveyed and the results reveal that 6.7% of members said they were always or often bullied at work and 16.7% said “sometimes”. Only half (51%) said they were fortunate enough to “never” be bullied at work.

Less than half of all respondents in higher education (only 45.1%) said they were never subjected to personal harassment at work, 7% said they were subjected to it “always” or “often” and nearly one-in-five (18.8%) said they “sometimes” suffered personal harassment.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “Bullying at work can take many forms and all of them create stress for the victim.

“Everybody has the right to expect to work in a safe environment free from bullying. We believe bullying to be a deep-seated problem in higher education and we want to know what organisations such as the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) are doing to tackle the problem.”

From: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Also: UCU today names and shames the universities with the worst reported levels of bullying, ahead of Friday's national Ban Bullying at Work Day.

They are:

  • University of East London
  • Kingston University
  • De Montfort University
  • University of Lincoln
  • University of Salford
  • University of Glamorgan
  • University of Ulster
  • Bangor University
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Birmingham City University
  • University of Greenwich
  • University of Westminster
  • Oxford Brookes University
  • University of Gloucestershire
  • University of Hertfordshire
  • University of Dundee
  • University of Portsmouth
  • University of Bradford
  • Queen's University Belfast
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Tackling bullying - a UCU conference

UCU will be holding a national conference on tackling bullying and harassment in the tertiary education workplace on 27 November in London.

UCU conference centre, Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JP

Britannia Street office location map

Speakers include:

Dr Iain Coyne, University of Nottingham
Hannah Essex, College and University Support Network, and
John Bamford, UCU health and safety advisor

There will also be practical workshops in the morning and afternoon, on campaigning against bullying and negotiating anti-bullying policies, and results from UCU's forthcoming survey of bullying and cyber-bullying.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another posting from this blog last year....

OCTOBER 29, 2007
The Institute of Education

Anonymous said...

The Institute of Education, I can assure you is a place where bullying and harrassment takes place and the management do nothing because they are the ones that are doing it.

The internal grievance procedures are a joke, the stress that staff are put through when they make a complaint is unbearable.

All senior staff stick together and do their upmost to push out staff who complain and the silent ones either leave or work in fear.

I heard there was one school which consisted of 4 centres where 16 staff left from the period of August 06 - March 07.

The reason why the IOE do not follow their procedures because the bullies are their friends and most of the staff are dispensible.

There is one serial bully [LF] who is also Geoff Whitty's friend [kept hush, hush of course] who has bullied 6 members of staff and guess what they have all left. This bully then accuses the staff member of not being able to do their work and brings a disciplinary action against that person who has made a complaint. And yes, they do nothing and promote the serial bully.

*****************

Posted a year ago.

Let us also remember tomorrow the staff who work in this university which seems to have escaped UCU's list

Why not speak out tomorrow against workplace bullying??

Save a life.

Aphra Behn

Anonymous said...

Tackling bullying - a UCU conference

UCU will be holding a national conference on tackling bullying and harassment in the tertiary education workplace on 27 November in London

UCU conference centre
Britannia Street
London
WC1X 9JP

Britannia Street office location map

Speakers include:

Dr Iain Coyne, University of Nottingham
Hannah Essex, College and University Support Network, and
John Bamford, UCU health and safety advisor.
There will also be practical workshops in the morning and afternoon, on campaigning against bullying and negotiating anti-bullying policies, and results from UCU's forthcoming survey of bullying and cyber-bullying.

Please register below.

Conference programme (provisional)

10.30 - Registration & coffee

11.00 - Welcome and introduction - UCU President

11.05 - Bullying in UK post-16 education – Dr Iain Coyne (University of Nottingham)

11.30 - What UCU is doing about bullying: negotiation strategies and examples – Andrew Harden (UCU)

12.00 - Workshops: Tackling bullying through negotiation

12.45 - Plenary: Tackling bullying through negotiation

1.00 - lunch

1.45 - What CUSN is doing about bullying – Hannah Essex (CUSN)

2.00 - The extent of bullying and harassment in post-16 education: recent UCU surveys – Stephen Court (UCU)

2.15 - What UCU is doing about bullying: organising strategies in the workplace – John Bamford (UCU)

2.45 - Workshops: Tackling bullying through campaigning

3.30 - Plenary: Tackling bullying through campaigning

3.45 - Conclusion: panel

4.00 - Finish

Check UCU website....

See you there!

Aphra Behn

Anonymous said...

Sally - I would like you to know that today in my university there is complete silence regarding workplace bullying.

The union officials know my situation - they have not spoken to me.

Their silence I read as support for the alleged bullies.

I am outraged by their behaviour.

Aphra Behn

Anonymous said...

Suggest you look at yesterdays THES. There is a wonderful article about the wife of Leeds Met VC. Read the comments about the article! Perhap the peasants are revolting.

Anonymous said...

What is the title of this article? We can't find it?

Anonymous said...

The pack are watching me disintegrate. My identity as a lecturer cannot withstand the practices that feel to me like workplace bullying. I watch my lecturer self cave in. I hold on firmly to my identity as a human being who is disgusted and outraged by what is happening to me.

The silence yesterday from my union colleagues ... was resounding. They too join in with their frozen faces and their silent approbation.

Aphra Behn

Anonymous said...

THES article. "To get Ahead Watch Brows and Britches". Also Times, Telegraph and BBC Radio.

Anonymous said...

Why Leicester University is not in the list anymore?