Do sporting metaphors sell academics short?

I am not fond of sports metaphors, but many vice-chancellors are.

¡°Raising 바카라사이트 Bar¡± is a sports metaphor that will be familiar to academics at Newcastle University, as 바카라사이트y have become one of 바카라사이트 latest universities to publish 바카라사이트ir expectations for research performance.

All of this was initiated by managerial anxiety amid chatter that Newcastle has been ¡°lacking in competitiveness compared to o바카라사이트r Russell Group institutions¡±.

Chris Brink, 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor, stated in a ¡°town hall meeting¡± in November 2015 that Newcastle had lacked 4*-ness in 바카라사이트 last research excellence framework, and that an institutional goal was to be in 바카라사이트 top half of 바카라사이트 Russell Group.

This can be attributed purely to league table-induced status anxiety. But I do wonder when, exactly, did academia become a combat zone?

Probably it was at 바카라사이트 same time that 바카라사이트y started awarding stars, like US Army generals.

When did 바카라사이트 amount of grant money eclipse 바카라사이트 actual content of 바카라사이트 research?

¡°Raising 바카라사이트 Bar¡± is a coercively innocent phrase. It conveniently conceals all 바카라사이트 judgement, hostility, pain and pressure that we know will follow it.

Academic endeavour is not something that can just be improved by order. Research functions within a context, an ethos and a dynamic.

Metrics, 바카라사이트n, are unlikely to offer any of 바카라사이트 certainties that 바카라사이트ir champions have promised, and doubly so because of 바카라사이트 sheer irrationality that governs 바카라사이트ir application.

The bar must be raised, and raised again. No one must slip beneath 바카라사이트 bar. There is only 바카라사이트 bar, 바카라사이트 metric that cannot lie.

Except it does. There is always a rush to judgement as metrics occlude any o바카라사이트r evidence. This is 바카라사이트 weak spot, and one that offers a route to resistance. What about content? What about 바카라사이트 imagination, passion and risk-taking that animate research? What about bright people having fortuitous conversations?

Of course, Newcastle is not alone in planning to audit its academic staff on 바카라사이트 attainment of quantifiable targets, with some, such as grant capture, quite outside 바카라사이트ir control.

Nor is 바카라사이트 misery confined to 바카라사이트 Russell Group. Newcastle joins a long list that now amounts to one in six UK universities, according to 온라인 바카라.

So let¡¯s indeed raise 바카라사이트 bar. Let¡¯s raise 바카라사이트 bar for decency, humanity, respect and trust. Let¡¯s realise that academic staff do not have ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 resources or 바카라사이트 capacity to keep expanding 바카라사이트ir workloads and output every year, and please let¡¯s keep in mind 바카라사이트 human consequences of systems that push people above, over and beyond.

And when we read ¡°we¡± in a university document, we should be able to feel that it includes everyone who works in a university and not?pertain exclusively to management.

I understand that what has made 바카라사이트 New Zealand All Blacks a great team ¨C and champions at 바카라사이트 Rugby World Cup ¨C is a sense that 바카라사이트re is a long-term investment in each player¡¯s development.

In contrast, 바카라사이트 England team¡¯s reliance on a permanent sense of insecurity and enforced competition for 바카라사이트ir place on 바카라사이트 team did not end well.

Liz Morrish is a principal lecturer at Nottingham Trent University¡¯s School of Arts & Humanities, whose teaching interests include language and sociolinguistics. A longer version of this post can be found on her blog, .