Harassment rife in higher education, study finds

Canada’s National Observer 24 July 2021

According to a study by Statistics Canada, one-third of women and almost a quarter of men teaching and researching on Canadian university and college campuses deal with harassment, much higher rates than in most other workplaces, writes Morgan Sharp for Canada’s National Observer.

A 2018 Statistics Canada study found 19% of women and 13% of men reported experiencing harassment in their workplace in the past year. The post-secondary report, one of the first to look across fields of study, types of institution, and across the country, said the higher rates could be explained in part by the younger skew of the academic workforce and the hierarchies of power involved.

“There is a great deal of hierarchy in terms of authority” in academia, the report’s author Darcy Hango wrote, noting in particular the practice of tenured faculty supervising graduate students. “Moreover, younger adults, who are more likely to experience harassment and discrimination, represent a large part of the working and student population of post-secondary institutions,” he said.
Full report on Canada’s National Observer site

Receive email updates from UWN

Global newsletters    Africa newsletters    Other
    (other includes related events and webinars)

Data will be processed according to our standard terms & conditions.

Sponsored Article

Commitment, growth and shared lessons in African HE

Ashesi University staff

The Education Collaborative, an initiative started by Ashesi University in Ghana in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, is one of Africa’s biggest platforms of higher education stakeholders. Since 2017, the Collaborative has led a new model for collaboration in African higher education that is helping to grow the strength of the ecosystem.

Sponsored Article

Research focuses on production of jet fuel from halophytes

UAE University staff

With an eye to developing a clean, alternative aviation fuel to reduce carbon emissions, researchers at the United Arab Emirates University have been focusing on the production of jet fuel from sustainable resources such as halophytes, which are salt-tolerant plants that could be cultivated on a wider scale in the region’s coastal areas.

Sponsored Article

The value of being human: How teachers can work alongside AI

Michael Milligan

Artificial intelligence is now a part of our evolution in technology and teachers need to be encouraged to find ways to bring AI into the classroom and have students use it in a way that is beneficial to them in the long term.

Sponsored Article

Ground-breaking research on seawater biodesalination

UAE University staff

As water scarcity reaches critical levels globally, a research team at the United Arab Emirates University seeks to revolutionise seawater desalination practices, offering a path to mitigate water scarcity while championing environmental preservation.