Dear Editors,
I resigned my post as a Professor at a Russell Group University after 14 years last year. I agree with Adam Boulton that universities are broken and some are more broken than others. And that many an existing crack has become more obvious to more people in the last three years.
But I don’t think this is only because of Brexit, or lack of money or funding as many VCs might have the government believe. Brexit has harmed research partnerships and the prospects of many home students who might have wished to travel, study or live and work in the EU and, in turn this might well affect course choices.
However, what I saw would contribute to a different narrative. I was a research Professor with no formal requirement to teach but that does not mean I do not know teachers. I did supervise at several levels over the years too. I also have first hand experience of supervising during the pandemic which was salutary and upsetting.
No, what I saw was the increasing job insecurity of teachers, lecturers and post doctoral researchers often hired on very short term contracts to suit the research and publishing needs of the Professors – whose main role is to win funding bids for Universities, hand over 30% or whatever the local rate is into central university funding for overheads, and to train the next generations to do the same later along the way. Of course the byproduct is new knowledge but much of it going into academic journals does not see much light of day. If it goes into the correct journals (and you often have to pay for that too) then that Professor or researcher will progress adequately with their career.
Why not ask how many post-docs leave academia before getting any meaningful job. The percentage is high. Ask how many leave due to insecurity and stress. But why not also ask why universities build so many new buildings, and why the overheads are so steep and where taxpayer money is being spent and how many times over does the taxpayer pay for the output, the teaching the overheads and more.
Universities may be the only sector not yet disintermediated by the internet. They may be big businesses with multiple cost centres (whilst operating as charities) but they have little or no internal markets to support fresh and new thinking or practise and their legacy IT and other systems feel overly cumbersome, too top down and overly hierarchical.
It’s a huge pity that teachers strikes have to impact students – if they could impact management more directly they would choose that option. But the teachers are not the problem. The arts and humanities degrees are not the problem either as our fantastic creative sector will demonstrate year after year. Nor are the art schools and other higher education providers in that sector.
Universities do have to be mended but just giving more funding is not the answer.
Asking better questions including interrogating the excellent demographic data UKRI now provides about research and teaching staff in the different component parts of the UK would be good. More transparency in who actually is paying for what would be good. Interrogating VCS and other senior management with a better journalistic knowledge basic grasp, and reminding the government what the value of education is, especially those who never went near the state education system, would be good too. Apply more investigative principles to get behind some of the cosy relationships and the building blocks of mending some of the systemic problems may emerge!
PS I’m not allowed, apparently, to call myself Professor any more. But a research professor I was with the eyes of a former documentary filmmaker and organisation watcher after 15 preceeding years at the BBC.
PPS I used to know Adam Boulton but don’t have any conflict of interest.
PPPs I went to a state primary school and a state grammar school but I did manage to make it to Oxford to a mixed college in 1978 which was an achievement back in the day.
Lucy Hooberman
Just Reduce Oil
Dear Editors,
When Just Stop Oil protesters understand and acknowledge that you can’t just stop producing oil and accept that over 6000 products are used daily by people from toothpaste to electricity cables then a sensible discussion can take place.
Oil will always be required, so they should accept this premise and look to more realistic goals to “Just Reduce Oil” and then adopt a more realistic agenda which in turn would garner more public support.
Oh and one last thing about Just Stop Oil protesters. Try protesting like they do in China, India and Russia, for example, who are some of the world’s biggest polluters, and see what happens.
Best regards
Jon Fuller
Paid holiday in 1938
Dear Editors,
Regarding Maggie Pagano’s recent article, it was a Conservative and National Liberal Government in 1938. Not so wicked after all.
The Right Honourable Sir John Wheeler, DL
Email your letters on the subjects of the day and to comment on points raised in Reaction articles to letters@reaction.life
