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This article provides the first analysis of all available UK university anti-bullying policies, summarising, comparing, and contrasting the content of policies acquired from university websites. The importance of anti-bullying policies is known from policy research in schools and workplaces but has previously not been investigated in Higher Education. A new coding framework and guidelines were developed to enable our analysis, and universities were given a score. Scores indicated variation between policies, suggesting some students may have inadequate support when consulting their university policy. The findings indicate that all universities should create and implement an anti-bullying policy. Students could be involved in the development of interventions or policies, as co-created initiatives may be more influential. University policy must be up-to-date, inclusive, comprehensive yet concise, and it must be publicised. We propose that our novel coding framework could be of use to policy makers and researchers investigating bullying policy within higher education.

This paper explores the experiences of students with chronic illnesses in UK universities. Sixty-seven students with chronic illnesses completed an online survey with open-ended questions about their experiences in higher education. Questions covered four main topics: academic work; university staff; social and extracurricular activities; and participants' miscellaneous opinions. Using thematic analysis, the data were analysed with references to the social model of disability and social representations of chronic illness. Participants wrote of misconceptions surrounding chronic illnesses, a sense of inequality, and feeling undervalued. Many staff members seemed to lack understanding and so 'policed' academic regulations rather than accommodating for their chronic illnesses. However, some participants wrote of social and academic 'allies' who offered understanding and proactive support. The findings add substance to the chronic illness literature with the focus on students at university, and we offer recommendations to universities for improving inclusivity for students with chronic illnesses. Disabled students with energy-limiting chronic illnesses are frustrated by a lack of support and feel that they have fewer opportunities than non-disabled students. Some university staff may hold negative views of disabled individuals, and so provide inadequate support. This can lead to students' reluctance to disclose chronic illnesses. Students with chronic illnesses felt that some staff and peers did not class chronic illnesses as 'real' disabilities and felt that they were perceived lesser than those with visible disabilities. Some students proudly owned the label of 'disabled' to educate others, including staff, who sometimes used university regulations inappropriately to excuse not adjusting support for disabled students. Some staff and students were perceived as supportive allies. Universities must listen to disabled students and those with chronic illnesses to ensure they fulfil their legal and moral obligations of providing equality of opportunity, enabling all students to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School bullying has been researched extensively, yet research on student bullying at university is still in the early stages and lacks valid measurement instruments. This paper outlines three studies conducted to develop a new scale to measure victimisation and perpetration at university (ultimately focusing on victimisation). Wider bullying literature from the school context and the workplace was consulted alongside an initial qualitative study exploring students' perceptions of university bullying. For Study One, an exploratory factor analysis on data from a sample of UK university students (N=243) resulted in a reliable scale with four factors: (1) psychological victimisation, (2) physical act/trace victimisation, (3) social victimisation, and (4) direct verbal victimisation. After modification, Study Two tested the altered structure of the scale on a new sample of UK university students (N=304), finding two alternative two- and three-factor models. Study Three tested the competing models from the first two studies using confirmatory factor analysis (N=441), finding the four-factor structure to be the best model out of the three, but with the scale requiring further work. Although none of the fit indices' statistics were ideal, this is the first attempt to design a higher education bullying scale based on a multi-phase approach, which shows potential as a useful tool for measuring victimisation following further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]