Across the pond

Today’s results of the YouGov poll of over one thousand university teachers commissioned by the University and College Union are a clear pointer to the degree of concern amongst university teachers about the changes that have been made to the way our universities are managed. No less than 55 per cent think that a university teacher’s lot is now so bad that they would not recommend it to their children as a career.

This is astonishing. Most university teachers enjoy their work. They have got their present jobs after much longer periods of education than those who do other work. They remain full time students until the age of around 25, building up debts and then work for pay which is not adequate for bringing up a family for a few years as they work their way up the pay scale.

But there are huge compensations. Despite all the changes university teachers have much more autonomy in their jobs than most workers. They don’t have to go into work every day. They can do their research at home. They cannot be fired because their opinions do not fit in with whoever is their current boss, so long as those opinions are backed by solid evidence.

They are most reluctant to use the strike weapon because of the danger of threatening the careers of their students, who are even more short of money than they were themselves when they were students. They are very reluctant to criticize their ‘bosses’ in public. Because the collegiate style of management, although it is under threat, has not yet disappeared. Crucial policy decisions are mostly made at staff meetings, and by Senates and Councils, on which university teachers sit themselves. They regard their bosses as colleagues.

When they answer survey questions they follow the academic rules. Basing their replies on evidence. So perhaps the most worrying result of this survey is that 47 per cent of university teachers say that their health has been damaged by the changes. Quite as worrying is the fact that 52 per cent have considered moving to jobs in the private sector. In terms of personal politics university teachers reflect the population as a whole. But the majority on the left wing would never want to work in the private sector because they believe in a strong public sector.

So what are university teachers complaining about?

Bureaucracy, an overwhelming workload, poor management and external interference.

The first three are all the result of the changes in the way universities are managed, which began in 1980s when Mrs Thatcher was in power and which have been re-inforced by the Blair government. Vice Chancellors and Principals have been encouraged to act like chief executives. They have been urged to learn from the private sector. Many new Vice Chancellors, with experience of managing private companies, have been appointed. University teachers are encouraged to consider their students as ‘customers’.

Above all the university bosses have been urged to look at the profit and loss account. To make decisions on financial grounds rather than on academic grounds. To favour new trendy subjects (including journalism!) at the expense of rather important old-fashioned subjects like classics, physics and chemistry, which are not attracting as many students.

The extra work load that university teachers are complaining about is the new paper work that has been introduced to meet the demands of the new managers.

The impact of these changes on individual universities varies considerably. Changing a university is like altering the path of an ocean liner. It takes a long time. There are still many people at the top in British universities committed to the collegiate style of management, who have managed to mitigate some of the worst effects of the new managerial ethos.

Today’s YouGov poll reflects the present state of play in this change process. The important lesson, is the same as that in relation to climate change. Unless action is now to change course, the YouGov poll in ten years time will find that 75 per cent are fed up.

Time for the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary to get out the beer and sandwiches and start listening to those at the chalk face who are passing on the knowledge and skills to the next generation.

‘Prussians’ managing our universities

A few weeks ago I had a long personal email from one of my former colleagues at City University who was seeking to convince me how much worse things were now than they had been when I had been active on the union branch committee. He described the new managers as the Prussians. My immediate thought was that his was an extreme view, but the word has been rumbling around at the back of my mind ever since, when I have been thinking about the changes that have been made in all British universities over the last twenty years. And I have come around to the view that there was something in what he said. There have been some quite dramatic changes for the worse. They need to be written about. Because most of my colleagues in the press have no idea what is happening and how different things are today than when they were at university.

I hope that today’s report of the YouGov poll of over one thousand university teachers commissioned by the University and College Union will make them sit up.

The results are dramatic to anyone who knows the university sector. Most university teachers are dedicated to their jobs and they are not prone to whinging about it, even in anonymous polls. They have seen their pay relative to jobs requiring equivalent skills, steadily eroded. Civil servants, MPs, journalists and other professionals are outstripping them and have been doing so since the early 1980s.

But poor pay is not main target in this poll. It is bureaucracy, an overwhelming workload, poor management and external interference that is most complained about.

No less than 47 per cent say it has affected their health. 55 per cent say the university teacher’s lot is so bad that they would not recommend it to their children. 52 per cent say they have considered a move to the private sector.

Bureaucracy, an overwhelming workload, poor management and external interference are the main reasons why nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of lecturers think about moving to work abroad.

So much for the poll results. The rest of this blog derives from my own personal experience over the last twenty years and talks I have had with many colleagues at other British universities and some universities overseas.