Ipsos has conducted a survey on behalf of the University of Agder about bullying and harassment in higher education. The total number of respondents was 17,984, which gives a response rate of 42 per cent. The response rate at NHH was 59 per cent. 

Four categories

The survey is divided into four main categories. Two of them concern sexual abuse and sexual harassment, respectively.

None of NHH’s 229 respondents (p. 19) state that they are aware of instances where someone has used violence to obtain sex, or that they themselves have felt coerced, threatened or pressured into engaging in sexual activity in the past 12 months.

Two per cent of NHH respondents (p. 17) state that they have been sexually harassed in the past 12 months. The corresponding figure for the sector in general is 1.6 per cent. Verbal sexual harassment, both orally and in writing, was the most frequent form of harassment.

clear regulations

The national report also presents figures for bullying and harassment. At NHH, 10 per cent of respondents (p. 11) state that they have been bullied or harassed in their current employment relationship in the past year. They state ‘other causes’ for this rather than ethnicity or gender.

– NHH has very clear regulations for handling bullying and harassment. The aim with these regulations is to clarify what we consider acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in order to prevent bullying and harassment from occurring and to clarify responsibilities and roles, says NHH Rector Øystein Thøgersen.

Whistleblowing

– These results show that we need to continue working to promote a best possible culture and a god working environment for erveryone at NHH, he says.

The fourth category of the survey is about whistleblowing. At NHH, 53 per cent of respondents state that they know where to find the reporting system/‘speak up’ system at their institution.

– We need to do better than this. We introduced new reporting (routines) for both students and employees last year. What we learn through this survey is that we need to give our employees better information about how to report harmful, unethical or illegal actions at NHH. Reports from both students and employees will be taken very seriously and treated confidentially. These are matters that we need to handle immediately. The work we’ve done to ensure that the students know how to report has been successful, and there’s no reason why the employees shouldn’t have the same knowledge, says Thøgersen.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share by e-mail