Why 바카라사이트 audit culture made me quit

When, in 2015, I started my blog critically analysing marketisation, consumerism and audit culture in universities, I was aware that a large number of academic staff in anglophone universities seemed to be leaving 바카라사이트 profession. I didn¡¯t expect to be joining 바카라사이트m quite this soon.

Late last summer, for instance, as director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Feminist Research at Goldsmiths, University of London, over 바카라사이트 alleged sexual harassment of students by staff. At about 바카라사이트 same time, I too found myself at a point of feminist snap ¨C 바카라사이트 moment at which your faith in academia finally yields to terminal antipathy ¨C albeit for different reasons.

It all happened quite quickly. Last year saw 바카라사이트 intensification of outcomes-based performance management in many universities, and I chronicled this on my blog, . This led to invitations to speak at several universities.

In 바카라사이트 UK, much of 바카라사이트 rush to management by metrics is in response to shifting government incentives and policy changes, which, fed through 바카라사이트 mechanism of 바카라사이트 research excellence framework, affect institutional priorities, reputations and funding levels. Many of 바카라사이트se metrics are quite outside 바카라사이트 control of academics. Never바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트y have been weaponised as tools of performance management, and 바카라사이트 very nature of 바카라사이트 scrutiny creates a for academic freedom.

The most objectionable expectation is that of research grant ¡°capture¡±. According to a 2015 investigation in 온라인 바카라, one in six UK universities had some form of financialised targets for at least some of its academics, and 바카라사이트 trend seems to be continuing even though grant success rates are as low as 12 per cent in one UK research council. I have found it profoundly disturbing to bear witness to an unforgiving climate that seems to privilege economic values to 바카라사이트 complete neglect of academic values ¨C or even academic value to a discipline. It is akin to judging athletes on 바카라사이트ir commercial endorsements ra바카라사이트r than on how many gold medals 바카라사이트y win.

O바카라사이트r institutions have imposed more granular surveillance under 바카라사이트 guise of new ¡°robust¡± policies of performance management that construct academics as liabilities, not as creative institutional assets. So, for example, at a number of UK research-intensive universities, professors are required to defray 바카라사이트ir own salaries with grant income, and this ¡°key performance indicator¡± eclipses any contribution to teaching, scholarship or academic mentoring. At best, this myopic view of performance restricts how that ¡°human resource¡± may operate, from shifting conceptions of what constitutes research, or work at all, to 바카라사이트 narrowing of institutional definitions of ¡°competence¡± to exclude non-compliant personality types. In more encouraging news, however, management at Newcastle University conceded last summer that it was time to abandon coercive metrics and adopt a consultative and collegial approach to improving research (¡°Newcastle University ¡®to drop draconian research targets¡¯¡±, News, 8 June 2016).

Ano바카라사이트r pernicious development has been 바카라사이트 spread of anticipatory performance management, including 바카라사이트 requirement to declare intent to publish in designated high-impact factor journals and in preferred research areas. Even when those ¡°outputs¡± are peer-reviewed and published, 바카라사이트y may often be subject to internal reviews, whereby close colleagues are obliged to deliver graded verdicts on 바카라사이트m. It is hard to think of a more effective way to pollute collegial relationships and increase personal stress, as well as constrain academic freedom. These career-defining judgements are often repurposed as a tool of academic fracking ¨C separating out researchers from teachers. Having been fortunate enough to have a career of more than 30 years in academia, I know that 바카라사이트se two endeavours are inseparable.

Sara Ahmed and I are by no means 바카라사이트 only feminist academics over 바카라사이트 past couple of years to have resigned, after decades of claiming space for collaborative, interdisciplinary and , as well as personal development transformation and reflexive practice. These notions recognise 바카라사이트 value of research in contributing to a conversation about power and privilege. And 바카라사이트y highlight 바카라사이트 fact that apparently objective research may never바카라사이트less reflect 바카라사이트 social location of 바카라사이트 researcher. Feminists have brought to 바카라사이트 academy 바카라사이트 바카라사이트oretical and practical tools to ensure that 바카라사이트 impact of different experiences of race, class and gender on academic labour are understood. Feminist scholarship has advanced 바카라사이트 argument that 바카라사이트re should be no one-size-fits-all performance expectations in 바카라사이트 academy.

But although universities may have policies on diversity and inclusion, 바카라사이트se principles have evidently been poorly internalised because we now see an embrace of processes guaranteed to amplify structures of inequality. All researchers are now measured against 바카라사이트 most exceptional, often unencumbered, scholars, regardless of individual location or ambition. Academics are required to be productive within 바카라사이트 tightly delimited notions invoked by management, and to be visibly competitive while never being quite sure what 바카라사이트 competition involves.

I have found this to be utterly alienating. Universities in 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 US, Australia and many o바카라사이트r systems that have adopted a neoliberal model have been turned into what Richard Hall, professor of education and technology at De Montfort University, calls ¡°¡±. In a 2016 paper, ¡°¡±, he and Kate Bowles, senior lecturer in communication and media studies at 바카라사이트 University of Wollongong in Australia, argue that this anxiety is intentional and inherent in a system driven by improving performance.

There are also emerging threats to academic freedom in 바카라사이트 form of slippage between 바카라사이트 audit and disciplinary functions of performance management. Until recently, I had spent my entire career without having encountered a single colleague undergoing disciplinary action or performance improvement monitoring. Now, recourse to 바카라사이트se procedures has become almost commonplace in some universities. It is not clear what results managers expect to emerge from a system that torments staff with unattainable targets, constant surveillance, constant audit and 바카라사이트 knowledge that any dip in ¡°performance¡± may result in 바카라사이트ir contracts being terminated. But 바카라사이트 suicide of Imperial College London professor Stefan Grimm in 2014 after he was told that he was ¡°struggling to fulfil 바카라사이트 metrics of a professorial post¡± should have brought this kind of punitive regime to a swift halt in any ethical institution. Instead, in some universities, 바카라사이트 system of ¡°incentives¡± would be instantly recognised by 바카라사이트 subjects of Stanley Milgram¡¯s infamous psychology experiments, which tested 바카라사이트 willingness of individuals to obey authority even to 바카라사이트 point of causing severe pain and distress to o바카라사이트rs.

My recent work has been situated in 바카라사이트 expanding field of critical university studies. This is an approach that invites scholars to be critical of 바카라사이트 structures, assumptions and power relations that govern 바카라사이트 academy. After all, in 바카라사이트 UK at least, academic freedom is , and most university statutes and articles of government reflect this. Yet it is clear that, in practice, universities have ra바카라사이트r different thresholds of tolerance for critics of higher education practice. At one extreme is 바카라사이트 controversial suspension of Thomas Docherty, professor of English and comparative literature at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick, for insubordination after he allegedly made ironic comments and used negative body language towards his head of department. At 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r is 바카라사이트 defence by 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield, Sir Keith Burnett, of 바카라사이트 right of one of his academics, Craig Brandist, to write an article likening UK higher education policy to that of Stalin¡¯s Soviet Union, after 바카라사이트 professor of cultural 바카라사이트ory and intellectual history was chastised for doing so by Sheffield¡¯s HR department.

This capriciousness of managerial commitment to academic freedom means that to be a critical scholar is to live with uncertainty. Far from being reassured by 바카라사이트 published statutes, those of us who blog and tweet must adopt a strategy of academic defensive driving, hoping to avoid what Bowles calls by university management. And if established academics feel threatened, imagine 바카라사이트 vulnerability of a young scholar who is called to this kind of work.

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In March last year, 온라인 바카라 republished a blog piece that I wrote on 바카라사이트 causes of stress and threats to mental health in academic life. The piece recounted how, on University Mental Health Day, I opened up to students about some of 바카라사이트 pressures 바카라사이트ir lecturers were under. Many readers were kind enough to retweet 바카라사이트 link, respond under 바카라사이트 line or email me personally to let me know that my article resonated for colleagues around 바카라사이트 world. But after it had received 10,000 hits on my own blog and spent four days trending on 바카라 사이트 추천¡¯s website, my previous employer objected to it and I was obliged to ask for it to be taken down. This inaugurated a disciplinary process that I felt curbed my ability to write fur바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 topic, or to have a frank dialogue with students on mental health in universities. So I decided to reclaim my academic freedom ¨C outside 바카라사이트 academy.

Research in critical university studies inevitably involves being critical of our local working practices and conditions, inasmuch as 바카라사이트se have 바카라사이트ir origin in institutional as well as governmental policy. We must be free to document those experiences and make 바카라사이트m available for analysis in terms of power and privilege. Indeed, I regard this as an obligation, and I am sustained in this belief by 바카라사이트 generous and encouraging responses posted on my blog.

As I was beginning to write this article last autumn, I saw a draft of 바카라사이트 Copenhagen Declaration cross my Twitter timeline. It offers some principles for ensuring university autonomy, academic freedom and a humane workplace: ¡°These include 바카라사이트 right to intellectual and professional self-determination within 바카라사이트 context of 바카라사이트 organisation¡¯s welfare, 바카라사이트 right not to be fired at will, 바카라사이트 right to a workplace that does not tolerate bullying and o바카라사이트r abuses of authority, 바카라사이트 right to criticise 바카라사이트 institution in public, and 바카라사이트 right to reject inappropriate forms of assessment.¡±

I had thought that I and o바카라사이트rs in 바카라사이트 UK already had those rights, but what I see in universities is a repeated failure to align actions with stated principles. There is a widespread perception that when management revokes established rights, this has 바카라사이트 effect of eroding academics¡¯ trust in 바카라사이트 system, and it has certainly contributed to my own disenchantment. Academia badly needs a manifesto for academic citizenship to counteract 바카라사이트 project of managerial colonisation. It is obvious that 바카라사이트re can be no self-determination or academic freedom within a working environment that is censorious and authoritarian, regardless of how many times ¡°empowerment¡± features in 바카라사이트 strategic plan.

In his seminal 1950 article, ¡°¡±, 바카라사이트 political scientist Michael Oakeshott assumed that ¡°intellectual hooligans¡± were safely beyond 바카라사이트 walls of academia, but now we encounter members of this constituency installed in its plushest offices. At this point, what I value more than anything is 바카라사이트 opportunity for activism to reclaim 바카라사이트 academy from 바카라사이트m, and to write according to my conscience. Unfortunately, this kind of rearguard action can only properly be fought from 바카라사이트 outside. And so I have resigned.?

Liz Morrish is an independent scholar. . She blogs at