Volume 10, Issue 8 (August 2023), Pages: 32-39
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Original Research Paper
Perception and prevalence of bullying in Malaysian higher education: A multifaceted analysis
Author(s):
Amran Abdul Halim 1, Norazmi Anas 2, *, Zulkifli Mohd Ghazali 3, Mohd Ahsani A. Malek 4, Ishak Suliaman 5, Ahmad Sanusi Azmi 1, Shahril Nizam Zulkipli 2
Affiliation(s):
1Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, Malaysia
2Academy of Contemporary Islamic Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, Perak, Malaysia
3College of Computing, Informatics and Media, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perak Branch, Tapah Campus, Perak, Malaysia
4Faculty of Islamic Studies and Humanities, Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah, Kuala Kangsar District, Malaysia
5Department of Al-Quran and Al-Hadith, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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* Corresponding Author.
Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4176-7625
Digital Object Identifier:
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2023.08.004
Abstract:
The escalating incidence of bullying cases within Malaysian higher education institutions underscores a disconcerting trend that arises from the confluence of academic pressures, financial strains, relational intricacies, and identity conflicts among students. This unsettling phenomenon engenders not only physical harm and emotional distress but, alarmingly, fatalities as well. In response, the imperative to curtail this deleterious spread through preemptive measures has prompted institutions to engage in student surveys. This research endeavors to illuminate the panorama of bullying perceptions prevailing among students within selected Malaysian higher education institutions. Employing a comprehensive analytical framework encompassing descriptive statistics, crosstabulation, independent samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA, this study scrutinizes the multifaceted dynamics underpinning bullying trends. Employing a combination of convenience sampling and online survey techniques, a cohort of 561 participants was garnered from four distinct higher learning establishments: Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS), and University of Malaya (UM). The outcomes of this investigation delineate a landscape in which bullying remains a persistent concern within the selected higher education institutions. Of particular significance is the perceptual contrast exhibited by bullies as compared to their peers, with the former demonstrating higher levels of support for bullying behavior. Consequently, institutional administrations are impelled to undertake comprehensive initiatives to comprehensively catalog instances of bullying, spanning both psychological and physical manifestations. These findings underscore the gravity of the issue and underscore the urgency for institutions to adopt proactive strategies to mitigate bullying, thereby cultivating environments conducive to holistic student well-being and nurturing scholastic excellence.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by IASE.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Bullying, Malaysian higher education institutions, Academic excellence, Student perception, Preventive measures
Article History: Received 21 December 2022, Received in revised form 26 May 2023, Accepted 22 June 2023
Acknowledgment
This study was funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) under the FRGS research grant fund, with reference code FRGS/1/2020/SSI0/USIM/03/1 entitled “Model Preventif Buli Sektor Pendidikan Malaysia Berdasarkan Sunnah Nabawiyyah.”
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Citation:
Abdul Halim A, Anas N, Ghazali ZM, Malek MAA, Suliaman I, Azmi AS, and Zulkipli SN (2023). Perception and prevalence of bullying in Malaysian higher education: A multifaceted analysis. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 10(8): 32-39
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