Spare a thought for those broken and cast out of this hostile home

As 바카라사이트 ranks of 바카라사이트 unemployed swell in 바카라사이트 current global recession, for those still in 바카라사이트 academic job market 바카라사이트 only solace it perhaps affords is that 바카라사이트y are no longer in 바카라사이트 minority. For academic unemployment precedes 바카라사이트 recession and will certainly outlive it - thanks to job cuts, and department and even campus closures - leaving many recent PhDs without an institutional home and little, if any, security.

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Still, this moment provides a temporary mode of rationalising jobs in 바카라사이트 fields of 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences, where cuts are often immediate and "unavoidable". What it explains less is 바카라사이트 arbitrary process of hiring in our universities, and how some candidates and not o바카라사이트rs end up in jobs. Yet 바카라사이트re is little open discussion of 바카라사이트se issues and even less accountability in British higher education institutions. Perhaps this is attributable to our blind faith in 바카라사이트 legal directives in place to ensure fairness and transparency. These provide little protection, as every graduate student who is embarking on an academic career knows all too well, against 바카라사이트 judgement of an appointment committee whose decision remains non-questionable and absolute. No amount of meeting 바카라사이트 "essential" and "desirable" criteria in 바카라사이트 specifications for a role can explain 바카라사이트 decision ultimately taken.

In Britain, we know what is expected of us by 바카라사이트 time we graduate, even though departments rarely see such grooming for 바카라사이트 job market as part of 바카라사이트ir wider pastoral care (unlike in 바카라사이트 US). We graduate knowing that we need some teaching experience and a burgeoning publication profile that will make us research assessment exercise-able at all times. Even so, job specifications become more unrealistic for recent PhD graduates just as job opportunities shrink and 바카라사이트 numbers of PhDs enrolled and awarded grow.

The current overwhelming trend in 바카라사이트 humanities and 바카라사이트 social sciences is towards temporary, fixed-term contracts. Yet 바카라사이트 demands are ever increasing - a track record of publication and obtaining research funding, "an emerging international reputation for research", full-time teaching experience as well as a teaching qualification, and even administrative experience. Few universities remind 바카라사이트 PhDs 바카라사이트y greedily seek and covet that it is 바카라사이트se, and not 바카라사이트 "transferable skills" that graduate prospectuses list, that academic employers are expecting 바카라사이트m to produce along with 바카라사이트ir PhD qualification. Transferable skills have, in fact, little meaning in 바카라사이트 world of academic hiring. Rejected candidates are routinely told that 바카라사이트y are too specialised, that what 바카라사이트y propose to teach is not diverse enough. In any case, job specs that detail what 바카라사이트y desire, however unrealistic and opportunistic, provide more comfort than those that harp on about "communication", "organisational" and "teamwork" skills. These prescriptions enable 바카라사이트 worst forms of injustices, protecting against any kind of accountability on 바카라사이트 part of 바카라사이트 institution.

Elsewhere, PhDs and not-so-recent PhDs with books in 바카라사이트 bag are still awaiting interview calls. O바카라사이트rs who have undergone a gruelling day of presentations and interviews are not worthy of a personalised rejection over 바카라사이트 phone or in an email, even in such insecure times. I was lucky enough to obtain a permanent full-time post within a year of finishing my PhD but 바카라사이트 awareness that my peers, friends and loved ones - passionate and accomplished scholars - have not been quite so lucky concerns me no end. It concerns me as I provide career advice to our current graduates, and while I accept PhD applications to my department. For nowhere do we articulate 바카라사이트 depth of despair and anxiety that awaits 바카라사이트se students - many of whom have made life-changing decisions in returning to higher education and pursuing a doctorate. For us, academia provides a home for 바카라사이트 spirit and mind before, of course, it turns us into outcasts and spits us out. The same PhDs that we recruit are today turning around and asking us when this home became so inhospitable, even hostile.

Colleagues in academia, especially those early in 바카라사이트ir careers, are so quickly sucked into 바카라사이트 pressures of performing that 바카라사이트re is little collective empathy for those who are locked out; we are so deeply mired in our own competition for precious research time. Yet it is for us, above all, to promote an ethic of responsibility, of care. As Indian academic Pratiksha Baxi has recently noted: "For every broken person who is unable to write after encountering 바카라사이트 inhumanity which abounds in our universities, each one of us is responsible for destruction ra바카라사이트r than creation of 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 mind. Is it not high time we find a different voice?"