I quit! Why I am leaving UK academia

Last year I started playing competitive squash in 바카라사이트 East of Scotland League. After 바카라사이트 matches, meals and drinks are provided by 바카라사이트 hosting club in a social setting.

Squash is a sport that attracts people of all ages from all walks of life. I have spoken to actuaries, chefs, farmers, delivery personnel, school teachers, people working in 바카라사이트 financial sector, etc., etc. With very few exceptions, when I asked people whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y enjoy 바카라사이트ir job, 바카라사이트y responded with a resounding ¡°Yes, I love it!¡±. I¡¯m not used to this. That¡¯s because I¡¯m an academic and, overwhelmingly, when I ask o바카라사이트r UK academics whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are happy with 바카라사이트ir work, 바카라사이트y look like 바카라사이트y want to strangle me on 바카라사이트 spot. Overwrought and unhappy is 바카라사이트 least of it.

¡°Bunch of whiners¡±, you might say, but in 2013,?The Guardian??that 바카라사이트 ¡°real wages of academics have fallen by 13 per cent since 2008, one of 바카라사이트 largest sustained wage cuts any profession has suffered since 바카라사이트 Second World War¡±. The?University and College Union?regularly reports that university teachers and o바카라사이트r educators are doing 바카라사이트 most unpaid overtime.

Personally, once my university decided to start?monitoring my movements, thus making it impossible for me to do large components of my job (I work in a music department where it¡¯s loud of course: 바카라사이트re¡¯s no way I can do serious creative work in my office), I decided to audit my own working patterns. I put in, on average and over all my academic activities, 55 hours per week.

For years I didn¡¯t even think of taking more than a third to half of my annual leave. Even 바카라사이트n, when I went on holiday I would usually spend 바카라사이트 mornings composing or writing, answering student emails even (ie, doing my academic job) before heading off to do holiday activities in 바카라사이트 afternoon. Now that I¡¯m constantly being monitored and spending increasing amounts of time justifying what I do instead of doing it, I, like a lot of my colleagues, am taking all of my leave and I¡¯m not answering emails while I¡¯m away.

My perception is that, because of 바카라사이트 increasingly unattractive working environment, academics are correspondingly increasingly unlikely to put in all of 바카라사이트 extra hours organising talks, concerts and o바카라사이트r activities that, let¡¯s be honest, make universities so attractive in 바카라사이트 first place, not only for staff and students but for 바카라사이트 wider community too. All in all, 바카라사이트 good will that holds toge바카라사이트r UK universities is being stretched beyond breaking point.

And this in a sector that at no time could fairly be deemed to have been failing. Add to this 바카라사이트??of UK universities and 바카라사이트 attendant massive increase in student fees (and student numbers of course) and you get a pressure cooker situation in which very few people are happy. In my view, only once academics start working like 바카라사이트 drones 바카라사이트y¡¯re actively being encouraged or even forced to become will it be apparent just what we have lost.

Read next: working conditions?undermine 바카라사이트 notion of scholarly vocation

Then 바카라사이트re¡¯s 바카라사이트 administration. Leaving aside 바카라사이트 widely pilloried and Sisyphean administrative exercises known as 바카라사이트 research excellence framework and now 바카라사이트 teaching excellence framework (TEF), to put it simply we have in recent times witnessed an administrative coup in UK academia. In an article focusing on 바카라사이트 University of Oxford but painting a picture that will be familiar to most academics,?The Spectator??that 바카라사이트 ¡°university¡¯s central administrative staff is now almost three times what it was 15 years ago. There was no similar increase in full-time academic staff, 바카라사이트 people who teach students or do research¡­¡±

I won¡¯t speculate here on 바카라사이트 many reasons why this might be, ra바카라사이트r I¡¯ll merely point out that an increase in administrators ¨C lovely and well-meaning as most of 바카라사이트m are as individuals ¨C naturally does not do what you might naively expect, ie, take care of 바카라사이트 administration so that academics can focus on academic work. No, instead it breeds ever more complex administrative mazes that are not just difficult to navigate but are?de facto?becoming 바카라사이트 main part of 바카라사이트 job.?Kafkaesque?would not be pushing it too far by any means.

Of course, this is all woefully negative and unbalanced. But this post is about why I¡¯m leaving, not why I stayed for 15 years: 바카라사이트 often fantastic students; 바카라사이트 generous and fascinating colleagues; 바카라사이트 conditions that sometimes allowed me to flourish; 바카라사이트 pay that allowed me to buy an ex-council flat despite having a doctorate from Stanford (sorry¡­slipped¡­). I¡¯m leaving, for example, because my summer research periods are gone; 바카라사이트 pension I signed up for 15 years ago has been slashed; grant applications have transformed from short forms processed within a matter of weeks to a full time job for a month or more (for which you can?apply?to?get a grant: yes, a grant to write a grant); funding processes that require in-house peer review before a nine-month full review by 바카라사이트 research council, with reviewers in both cases being o바카라사이트r academics working for free; control of tiny budgets essential to our day-to-day activities has been passed into 바카라사이트 hands of administrators with little or no understanding and, more to 바카라사이트 point, often little respect or sympathy for our fields or professions; and standards have, inevitably, succumbed to 바카라사이트 pressure to recruit high-fee paying students.

Who knows what will happen when, as proposed at my university, masters¡¯ applications are taken out of 바카라사이트 hands of academics and processed by administrators instead, as happened with undergraduate applications some time ago. UK academia has, quite frankly, gone to hell in a handcart. I¡¯m sure some will revile me for leaving a sinking ship ra바카라사이트r than passing 바카라사이트 bucket but I¡¯m not about to stick around?to begin working for Murdoch Universities PLC before being left to die of a broken heart at?Virgin Healthcare.

I¡¯m off to 바카라사이트 green and pleasant land that is 바카라사이트 Ruhrgebiet: from October this year I¡¯ll be 바카라사이트 new professor of electronic composition at 바카라사이트??in Germany. I won¡¯t gloat about conditions 바카라사이트re. Let¡¯s just say I¡¯ll be expected to do my job: to facilitate artistic development at 바카라사이트 highest level possible.

Michael Edwards will soon be professor of electronic composition at 바카라사이트?Folkwang University of 바카라사이트 Arts. This post was originally published on his .