Credit: Taylor Robertson
Deputy News Editor
This comes after a Guardian investigation revealed high levels of bullying amongst university staff across the country
Glasgow University has shown to have relatively low levels of bullying amid scandal after The Guardian investigation.
The Guardian requested data from 135 universities and found nearly 300 academics have been accused of bullying students and colleagues, with a startling number of cases of discipline and confidential payouts found across British universities.
However, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to the University of Glasgow show only a few cases of bullying within the past five years. Since 2013 only six students have been disciplined for bullying with none being dismissed for this reason.
There have been two cases of staff being disciplined for bullying, both against other staff members, while the nationwide total across 105 universities is at least 184 in the past five years. Of the universities that provided The Guardian with data, Portsmouth came top of the list with 51 academics facing complaints but said the number was high due to their robust reporting system that encourages staff and students to report their concerns. In terms of bullying by all members of staff, Oxford totalled 73 reports. A spokesperson said the University strongly condemned bullying and had a network of 300 harassment advisers.
At the University of Glasgow, no members of staff have been dismissed over the past five years for bullying, although there is a currently ongoing case. Nationwide, 32 members of staff have been dismissed for bullying across 105 universities since 2015. The Guardian’s investigation found that 14 universities have used non-disclosure agreements to settle bullying cases, with at least 27 members of staff signing confidentiality clause in exchange for a financial pay-out. Glasgow also has no recorded instances of staff or students taking legal action against the University due to bullying, nor has it used any non-disclosure agreements to settle cases of bullying in the last five years.
Complaints of bullying at Glasgow should be submitted through the HR team of your college, and contact details can be found on MyGlasgow.
