Not for the first time, I watched as one of our PhD students was loaded into an ambulance and taken to hospital. He had collapsed in one of the university research labs about 20 minutes earlier.

A few hours later we received word from the hospital that the student was now alert and all tests were normal. Just as I had seen previously, the student had fainted as a result of stress, anxiety and fatigue.

This was not what I had in mind when I accepted a position as a non-academic member of staff. Rather than the relaxed conditions I expected, I found myself in the most stressful environment I had ever experienced.

I initially assumed this was isolated to my university. However with a little online research, I found these toxic conditions were commonplace in universities the world over.

Having been part of the university system for some time, I’m now able to see past the imposing architecture and impressive titles.

For starters, mental health issues for PhD students are so common, they could almost be considered part and parcel of the qualification. Recent research has found that over 30% of PhD students develop a psychiatric condition. This is a higher rate than for people working in defence and emergency services, which is about 22%.

If mental illness occurred at the same frequency in any other sector, the authorities would be demanding immediate reform, under the threat of litigation and permanent closure. The only reason PhD researchers are exempt from government legislation is because they are students rather than employees.

These figures sit uncomfortably next to the professed ideals of these institutions. Our universities claim to exist to provide our most brilliant minds the freedom to nurture their greatest ideas and inspire the next generation.

To facilitate this, the organisation provides infrastructure and services. With these resources, hundreds of academics are then free to pursue their goals and further their own positions as quasi-entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, these untethered conditions are also very favourable for those with an unhinged sense of entitlement. It strikes me that a rogue professor can often operate on campus with virtual impunity.

Even a well-meaning academic has to juggle many responsibilities. For example, a research professor must teach hundreds of undergraduates, supervise a team of PhD researchers, manage research grants and collaborations and edit publications and dissertations. Very few professors are able to accomplish all this without the overwhelming burden affecting their character and judgement. The resulting stress often manifests as poor judgement and negative behaviour.

Unfortunately, the ones most likely to be on the receiving end of this are the PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and non-academic staff, who are often on short employment contracts. These people are in very tenuous positions and have little if any recourse. This situation creates a dynamic where the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour are often blurred.

There are also many academics who can only muddle through by riding on the coattails of students. Always quick to take advantage of any vulnerability, the usual suspects usually appear on a long list of co-authors of random and unrelated publications.

Sadly, students are also vulnerable to the theft of data, ideas and materials; not only by their colleagues, but sometimes by their own supervisor. In a university environment, this type of bad behaviour is unfortunately so frequent, it is too often normalised and ignored.

I once witnessed an incident that still saddens me. We had an undergraduate from overseas studying with us. To support his work, he had brought some samples with him. One of the PhD students was appointed to supervise him. However, once the students got hold of his samples, the young visitor was virtually abandoned. The PhD students and professor were able to extract some useful data from the samples, yet the undergraduate remained excluded from all their success.

I soon heard that the student had returned home with nothing to show for his stay with us. Before he left, he reported the theft of his samples and his subsequent exclusion from any research. The incident was reported, but no action was taken against those responsible.

The surprising tolerance of this type of behaviour is likely a result of academia being a product of itself. After all, all academics were once long-suffering PhD students. Hence because of the familiarity, academia often fails to see the gravity of the situation.

But the wider community would be shocked to know this behaviour was so prevalent at the very highest level of education. The community expects so much more from people calling themselves “doctor” or “professor”. The current model of postgraduate research is severely flawed and should be urgently addressed. If we don’t, the vicious circle will continue.

Join the higher education network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter @gdnhighered. And if you have an idea for a story, please read our guidelines and email your pitch to us at highereducationnetwork@theguardian.com



Looking for a higher education job? Or perhaps you need to recruit university staff? Take a look at Guardian Jobs, the higher education specialist