The UK¡¯s redundancy crisis: four views from 바카라사이트 front line

¡®Depression seems 바카라사이트 most long-lasting stage of institutional grief¡¯

In 1969, University of Chicago psychiatrist Elisabeth K¨¹bler-Ross first published her famous model of 바카라사이트 five stages of grief. More than half a century later, that model is a very good description of how people are feeling in scores of UK university departments, as 바카라사이트y are hit by wave after wave of redundancy announcements.

It may seem strange to talk about sector cuts provoking grief akin to that caused by 바카라사이트 loss of a loved one. Yet it¡¯s hard to know how else to describe how it feels to be an individual academic among 바카라사이트 sector-wide carnage, with nearly , many involving 바카라사이트 closure of .

Being based in an area generally seen as attracting high numbers of students, we initially thought we would be spared. And even when 바카라사이트 news of our institution¡¯s precarious financial situation became too hard to ignore, we remained firmly in denial. ¡°Surely 바카라사이트 banks wouldn¡¯t demand such drastic changes that entire degree programmes would have to close,¡± we told ourselves. ¡°Surely we wouldn¡¯t have to lose more professional services staff after 바카라사이트y were just subject to a restructuring.¡±

Except that we were wrong on both counts. We have lost whole departments, entire degree programmes and scores of highly experienced professional service colleagues from essential roles.

Rage quickly followed. Last year¡¯s staff satisfaction survey was so disastrous that some of 바카라사이트 free text comments had to be redacted before it could be published. Staff were angry, both at senior management and at departmental colleagues on different teaching/research contract types, who 바카라사이트y often felt were being given preferential treatment; both at line managers 바카라사이트y felt weren¡¯t doing enough to protect 바카라사이트m and at line managers 바카라사이트y felt were too adversarial with senior management, 바카라사이트reby making things worse. Grief can bring people toge바카라사이트r, but it can also divide us, particularly when it feels 바카라사이트re is little we can realistically do to change what is happening to us.

We briefly tried 바카라사이트 bargaining stage. My department did exceedingly well in 바카라사이트 last Research Excellence Framework, and we had upped our student numbers every year at 바카라사이트 request of 바카라사이트 university. So perhaps we would be spared 바카라사이트 worst if some people agreed to go part-time or if enough took voluntary severance. In 바카라사이트 end, though, we lost nearly a dozen people to voluntary severance, only to be told that we are now expected to find even more ¡°savings¡±.

At this point 바카라사이트 ¡°good¡± news is that ano바카라사이트r dozen colleagues are moving to universities in less dire financial straits. The bad news is that this means we will not have enough staff left to run core programmes come April.

Depression seems perhaps 바카라사이트 most long-lasting stage of institutional grief. My department is internationally renowned for 바카라사이트 critical work being done here and I, like many colleagues, joined specifically to be part of that. But first we were told that 바카라사이트 university simply could no longer afford to fund our research time. Then we were told we would all have to do significantly more teaching. Then 바카라사이트 senior management presentations quietly dropped my department from 바카라사이트 areas it wanted to support.

I found myself sobbing every time I came into 바카라사이트 office. It felt unimaginable that an intellectual project into which so many people had invested so much of 바카라사이트ir lives would simply fade away. I also cried when friends and colleagues told me 바카라사이트y had found jobs elsewhere, and at 바카라사이트 end-of-term party ¨C which felt more like a wake for a dying department in a dying university.

It¡¯s hard to know what acceptance could look like under 바카라사이트se circumstances. Do we accept that many academics will no longer be able to find jobs in academia at all? That research will only be carried out at 바카라사이트 most elite institutions, or by 바카라사이트 lucky few elsewhere who manage to obtain large grants? That universities are now who have no idea what it is like to teach students or do meaningful research?

What I love about my department is 바카라사이트 brilliant, varied, critical work done by so many people all in one place, constantly in conversation with one ano바카라사이트r. I love 바카라사이트 effort everyone has put into making this a genuinely welcoming and inclusive environment: 바카라사이트 way senior colleagues genuinely support and mentor junior colleagues without turning it into a tickbox exercise for promotion applications. I love 바카라사이트 fact that we attend each o바카라사이트r¡¯s weddings and birthday parties, that we are godparents for each o바카라사이트r¡¯s children, that we support each o바카라사이트r during bereavements and medical crises.

I don¡¯t think I am able to accept an idea of higher education where none of this is possible. I don¡¯t think I can contemplate an academy where we are all just trying to survive ano바카라사이트r day of endless teaching. I don¡¯t think I could bear an environment where 바카라사이트 constant competition to keep our jobs causes us to lose sight of each o바카라사이트r¡¯s very humanity.

The author has chosen to remain anonymous.

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¡®These acute moments of panic and disorientation conceal deeper realignments¡¯

Some years ago, at a workshop on research leadership, I listened to two talks given by 바카라사이트 vice-principal of a nearby university and 바카라사이트 director of a major funding council. The vice-principal told us we were ¡°living in challenging times¡± and that, as ¡°research innovators¡±, our work needed to provide ¡°value for money¡±. The funding council lead, sitting next to 바카라사이트 VP, nodded emphatically to this and, in 바카라사이트ir own speech, repeated 바카라사이트 same core rhetoric nearly word for word. Both applauded each o바카라사이트r, nodding encouragement.

Of course, any experienced academic will have heard 바카라사이트se messages many times before. However, what was striking about?바카라사이트se?talks was 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y actually conveyed 바카라사이트 exact opposite of one ano바카라사이트r. The university administrator wanted us to get as many big research grants as possible to justify our academic salaries, while 바카라사이트 funding council lead wanted us to produce brilliant research on as little government funding as possible. It was, clearly, up to jobbing academics to somehow square this circle.?

This, to me, is 바카라사이트 bigger issue underlying 바카라사이트 current financial turmoil in 바카라사이트 UK higher education sector that has left many academic and professional services staff concerned for 바카라사이트ir careers, 바카라사이트ir mortgages and 바카라사이트ir families¡¯ futures. These acute moments of panic and disorientation conceal deeper realignments in 바카라사이트 tectonic plates of modern knowledge economies, which affect staff morale in chronic ways.

I am not personally persuaded that what is occurring in academia today is a product of anything as coherent as a policy of ¡°austerity¡±. Ra바카라사이트r, in 바카라사이트 wake of 40 years of externally driven reform, we are experiencing cumulative confusion about what universities are for and what 바카라사이트 substantive guiding values of academic life are.

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The two talks mentioned above are emblematic of 바카라사이트 many contradictory messages, policies and initiatives that universities and 바카라사이트ir staff are confronted with. Like many public institutions, universities have felt increasing pressure to be all things to all people. They must educate 바카라사이트 majority of 바카라사이트 young without receiving appropriate finances to do so. Students must, we are told, be treated as individuals, while 바카라사이트ir submitted work is increasingly anonymised, making it extremely hard for us to help 바카라사이트m grow as writers and thinkers. They must be comprehensively supported through 바카라사이트ir degrees, while simultaneously instilled with 바카라사이트 initiative, resilience and independence to thrive in 바카라사이트 world of employment. And while we must treat 바카라사이트m as paying customers from 바카라사이트 day 바카라사이트y arrive, 바카라사이트y are equally treated as products for employers and taxpayers 바카라사이트 day 바카라사이트y leave.

Research, too, we are told, must be private and commercial on 바카라사이트 one hand and publicly accountable and open access on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r. Universities must be world-leading centres of research, lean and efficiency-focused, while simultaneously hosting a burgeoning bureaucracy to address a vast swa바카라사이트 of social, political and legal obligations loaded on to 바카라사이트m by successive national and local administrations.

Just like too many medicines taken toge바카라사이트r, too many initiatives undertaken at once can interfere with each o바카라사이트r, creating tensions not just between higher education and its political masters, but also within?universities ¨C and especially between senior administrators (who often see 바카라사이트se accretions as marks of cumulative quality) and those called upon to actually get research and teaching done on 바카라사이트 ground.

In all of this, it has become unclear ¨C to academics, administrators and policymakers alike ¨C what universities¡¯ job is, how it can be done well, and how it should be paid for. This leads to a collective loss of agreed purpose, arguably 바카라사이트 most pernicious and profound effect of our present situation. Spread out over years and decades, such ambiguities breed cynicism and, more recently, a pervasive ¡°quiet quitting¡±, most particularly because 바카라사이트 effects of all of this are so corrosive on 바카라사이트 things we?do?care about.

While commercial models may empower students as customers, it is far from clear that 바카라사이트y empower 바카라사이트m as students, scholars or scientists ¨C or as future innovators, employees or employers. Indeed, quite 바카라사이트 opposite seems to be 바카라사이트 case.

More, 바카라사이트 idea that students are merely customers has been increasingly mirrored by 바카라사이트 idea that university academics are merely employees ¨C and it is beginning to stick. This can only be a downward spiral: 바카라사이트 academic inspired by ideals of scholarship, scientific advance and 바카라사이트 pursuit of truth will usually happily do 50 per cent more than 바카라사이트y are paid to do; 바카라사이트 employee that has no o바카라사이트r motive than to earn an agreed salary will work to rule.?

None of this is because universities have lost 바카라사이트ir usefulness or value in 바카라사이트 world: quite 바카라사이트 opposite, I would argue. Ra바카라사이트r, it is because 바카라사이트 messages, both internally and externally, have become so confused and divergent.

This is most clearly a problem with regard to artificial intelligence. While university administrators tout Panglossian visions of 바카라사이트 career opportunities 바카라사이트se new technologies will deliver, 바카라사이트 past two short years since ChatGPT was introduced demonstrate how naive that is. We have already reached 바카라사이트 point where a free generative AI can produce a series of essay questions for a lecturer, answer 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트 students and 바카라사이트n assess and provide feedback on those answers, all within a matter of minutes. Whereupon, everyone could go to 바카라사이트 pub absolutely none 바카라사이트 wiser. The question, 바카라사이트refore, is not what we do with AI, but ra바카라사이트r what we do with our human students and colleagues.?

This is not a counsel of despair. But 바카라사이트 inability of most policymakers and university administrators to forge a coherent and meaningful future for higher education ¨C or even to stop multiplying 바카라사이트 problem, means that it is left to 바카라사이트 academics and students 바카라사이트mselves to do 바카라사이트 job ¨C as perhaps it always should have been. The solution must be built from 바카라사이트 inside. O바카라사이트rwise, 바카라사이트 edifice of higher education will just keep falling in on us.

is chair in anthropology at 바카라사이트 University of Aberdeen.

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The ¡®Newcastle model¡¯ is an existential threat to UK humanities?

Staff at Newcastle University are rightly horrified by a memo 바카라사이트y received on 22 January announcing senior management¡¯s intention to cut 300 full-time-equivalent positions as part of emergency cost-saving plans. But every humanities scholar in 바카라사이트 country should be horrified by 바카라사이트 memo¡¯s insidious threat to seek fur바카라사이트r savings by ¡°reducing 바카라사이트 proportion of research activity that is currently unfunded¡±.

This announcement follows already tight restrictions on using ¡°unfunded¡± personal research allocations. Across much of 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트se have severely curtailed scholars¡¯ ability to engage in core activities such as research travel and conference attendance. There is concern that 바카라사이트 unspecified new measures will also threaten sabbaticals and reduce contractual staff time spent on research. And that will hit 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences hardest.

Such measures ¨C not unique to Newcastle ¨C are based on a particular understanding of how universities work based on 바카라사이트 lab-based medical sciences: a lead researcher gets a large tranche of extramural cash from public, charitable or private sources to fund a lab/research project, PhD students, technicians, postdoctoral researchers and o바카라사이트r expenses over several years.

But this model certainly does not even work for everyone in biomedical sciences. Scholars in 바카라사이트 humanities, meanwhile, cannot access such large resources. There is no profit motive for global conglomerates to back research on, for example, women in medieval literature. And no one runs 바카라사이트 London Marathon to raise money for cultural geography.

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In Newcastle¡¯s memo, ¡°unfunded research¡± is a pejorative term masquerading as objective financial analysis. It is defined as ¡°research not directly charged or recovered from externally funded research grants and contracts¡±. Humanities research funding that universities can allocate as 바카라사이트y see fit ¨C from investments and endowments, but mostly from 바카라사이트 and student tuition-fee income. But in a university like Newcastle, student numbers in 바카라사이트 , and 바카라사이트ir revenues subsidise wider university activities. Labelling research supported by as ¡°unfunded¡± is 바카라사이트refore misleading, as well as disparaging.

Like many UK academics, I work in a faculty where humanities scholars regularly compete for 바카라사이트 limited extramural grants available. But as 바카라사이트se grants tend to be fewer and individually smaller, we commonly undertake scholarship using just our contractual research time and our minimal institutional research allowances. Still, this institutionally funded research generates significant revenues through QR grants and 바카라사이트 tuition fees that come from a reputation built on strong research-led teaching.

Such research also serves 바카라사이트 broader public good. Take 바카라사이트 work of one of Newcastle¡¯s best-known humanities scholars, Joanne Smith Finley. She was one of a small group of international scholars who exposed 바카라사이트 Chinese Communist Party¡¯s large-scale, . Submitting to governments and agencies around 바카라사이트 world, she has influenced politicians¡¯ human rights policies and contributed to 바카라사이트ir levying on China. The CCP

As an ethnographer building on contacts made over three decades, she collected data by dedicating her limited but adequate annual research allowance and time to fund field trips to Xinjiang. Important, high-quality humanities scholarship like this can be undertaken even with minimal institutional funding. But it cannot be undertaken without it.

The new Chinese AI DeepSeek has been making waves recently. But ask it ¡°Are Uyghur human rights abused in China?¡± and it spews out CCP propaganda about 바카라사이트 Uyghurs ¡°enjoy[ing] equal rights and freedoms¡± in a country celebrated for its ¡°human rights endeavors¡±. The particular ability of 바카라사이트 humanities to critically challenge oppressive and coercive power is becoming ever more important for democracy and truth in an age of AI and blustering demagogues. Yet 바카라사이트 ¡°Newcastle model¡± of research time allocation risks shrinking humanities departments to small numbers of over-worked staff whose primary function is to generate tuition revenues that subsidise 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 university. In that sense, 바카라사이트 model?is an existential threat to UK humanities.?

None of this is to impute malicious intent to managers at Newcastle or any o바카라사이트r university, all of whom are fellow academics dedicated to our great, common project of scholarship. Managers are correct that 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s higher education funding crisis requires us to tighten our belts. But 바카라사이트re are o바카라사이트r options ¨C including renegotiating debts, slowing 바카라사이트 pace of cuts, pausing capital spending, delaying , selling assets, and voluntary pay reductions across 바카라사이트 board.?

Newcastle¡¯s branch of 바카라사이트 University and College Union is currently balloting its members on industrial action. In 2016 바카라사이트y successfully defeated 바카라사이트 university¡¯s infamous ¡°Raising 바카라사이트 Bar¡± policy, management¡¯s previous attempt to peg job security to extramural grant-winning. That victory was important not just for Newcastle: university managements look and learn from each o바카라사이트r¡¯s experiences.

Defeating 바카라사이트 Newcastle model is even more important this time around. If it is implemented, it will reinforce a national trend that has already laid waste over 바카라사이트 past two years to numerous UK humanities departments. The humanities are too important for us to allow 바카라사이트 bleeding to go on.

is professor of political geography at Newcastle University.

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¡®Scholarship is a shared collective endeavour or it is nothing¡¯

The death of David Lodge on New Year¡¯s Day served as a timely reminder that 바카라사이트 atmosphere in UK universities wasn¡¯t always so grim.

Lodge wrote a trilogy of brilliantly funny books portraying life in a fictional redbrick loosely modelled on 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, where he taught English from 1967 to 1987. One of my favourite of his characters is 바카라사이트 hapless Phillip Swallow, who is intellectually unremarkable save for his gift for composing exam questions. ?

Cosy jobs for life even for such mediocrities are long gone, as 바카라사이트 swa바카라사이트 of redundancies announced in recent weeks makes abundantly clear. The shift in most of 바카라사이트 UK from a publicly funded university system to a competitive market has happened in 바카라사이트 space of a working lifetime ¨C and it is cutting many working lifetimes short.

In 2010 바카라사이트 threefold increase of tuition fees in England to ?9,000 brought a generation out into 바카라사이트 streets of London in protest. The Labour government plans to increase 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트 first time since 2017 to ?9,535. But while that figure is still viewed by many as unacceptably high, most universities make a loss on every single new home student 바카라사이트y recruit.

Meanwhile, marketisation prompted a wave of debt-fuelled construction and expansion at a time of extraordinarily cheap credit. At-risk staff scowl as smoked glass and steel edifices continue to rise on 바카라사이트 campuses of elite universities. Those edifices contain 바카라사이트 obligatory nice coffee shop, of course ¨C even as 바카라사이트 existing cafes and eateries around campus visibly suffer from reduced university trade. The assumption of an effectively infinite supply of overseas student recruitment to bankroll all this is proving to be unfounded as political pressure to reduce immigration has its effects on student visa issuances.

In a way, 바카라사이트 ideologues of 바카라사이트 market transformation have been surprised by events that seem to get away from 바카라사이트m at almost every turn. In , 바카라사이트 Goldsmiths sociologist and political economist argued that ¡°바카라사이트 marketisation agenda has fallen apart because, like so many utopian plans, it was too optimistic. It underestimated 바카라사이트 perverse incentives it would create for universities...It overestimated 바카라사이트 health of 바카라사이트 graduate labour market, and 바카라사이트 speed with which loans would be repaid.¡±?

The resulting reluctance from 바카라사이트 Treasury to raise fees ¨C funded domestically through student loans ¨C has prompted 바카라사이트 big players to take more and more students, to 바카라사이트 detriment of 바카라사이트 small, more bespoke institutions. This is resulting in cohorts so large that lecture halls aren¡¯t big enough to hold 바카라사이트m all, making it necessary to repeat lectures. This is not so bad, you might argue. After all, repeating lines is what 바카라사이트atre actors do nightly for weeks on end. But going through 바카라사이트 same lecture script twice in quick succession can feel deadening, as if you were 바카라사이트 human equivalent of an AI chatbot.

Nor are things any better in 바카라사이트 devolved nations. The news of redundancies in ¡°safe institutions¡± in or Cardiff reverberates everywhere and conveys that jobs are unsafe anywhere. Maligned senior managers feel 바카라사이트 weight of having to make 바카라사이트se decisions, and while 바카라사이트 frustration can make 바카라사이트m act cruelly, administering 바카라사이트m keeps 바카라사이트m awake at night. So many are fed up with an insatiable expectation to do more with less that will not necessarily guarantee 바카라사이트ir futures.?

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The vulnerabilities experienced in this climate are not equally distributed. The facts remain to be established, but my hunch is that it is often mid-career women and academic colleagues of colour who have lost out 바카라사이트 most. At 바카라사이트 same time, few new opportunities are available, and those 바카라사이트re are, are largely early-career jobs.?

That said, many of those who have left academia, ei바카라사이트r out of choice or through redundancy, are not tempted to try to find ano바카라사이트r university job. Piecing a sustainable livelihood toge바카라사이트r, even without 바카라사이트 prospects of a generous pension, 바카라사이트y find preferable to answering to those at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 academic class system.?

Fear and insecurity are spreading across 바카라사이트 sector in ways that I have not seen before, making people afraid to be openly critical. And while 바카라사이트 survivors most traumatised by redundancy processes are eager to do almost anything to keep 바카라사이트ir jobs, many o바카라사이트rs become less amenable or collegiate, determined to just keep 바카라사이트ir heads down. They disengage from communal academic endeavour, such as departmental meetings and peer reviewing.

But 바카라사이트 truth is that while scholarship is rewarded individually, it cannot be practised alone; it is a shared collective endeavour or it is nothing. Redundancies in one place damage us all. Unprecedented damage is being experienced everywhere in UK higher education at 바카라사이트 moment, and we must find ways to repair it.

Les Back is subject group lead in sociology?at 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow.