Jesus, I knew it was bad but I didn’t know it was *that* bad
This is not a person who is faced with the stark choice of sports direct or the dole. She has chosen this professional career and its drawbacks because she wants the status and respect of a senior position in academia. Lots and lots of people have the same ambition.
Mandating that these roles be better paid will mean that there would be fewer of them in future, and they would be much more competition for them.
When did “casualisation” become a word? Truly curious. And does it apply only to universities?
It’s the same here in the US. 75% of the faculty where I work are gig workers/adjuncts. Only elite universities have better ratios. I started as a gig worker in 1985. It was only slightly better then. I was hired on tenure track in 1989 and the next time we hired in my discipline was 2010.
21 years for a job to become available in my discipline and school. Some of my tenured colleagues work as adjuncts at other schools (in disciplines where it’s hard to find anyone qualified who are willing to take just one class – no one can live off of just the pay from one class). Many adjuncts are older, retired people (people retire at ever-older ages – the average is 70 where I work). Adjuncts do get retirement (not much, but if they have some other job in addition, it’s certainly helpful). Right now, fuel costs are making it really hard to recruit from all around the Los Angeles basin, which used to be the norm.
Bloated administrative costs are at least part of the problem.
> At the University of Northampton alone, 25 percent of all academic staff are, like me, on hourly paid and zero hours contracts, while the vice chancellor enjoys annual remuneration of £256,000
What? An academic that failed in their chosen subject, shifted into an admin role, is paid £256000? Must have advanced excel skills.
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Jesus, I knew it was bad but I didn’t know it was *that* bad
This is not a person who is faced with the stark choice of sports direct or the dole. She has chosen this professional career and its drawbacks because she wants the status and respect of a senior position in academia. Lots and lots of people have the same ambition.
Mandating that these roles be better paid will mean that there would be fewer of them in future, and they would be much more competition for them.
When did “casualisation” become a word? Truly curious. And does it apply only to universities?
It’s the same here in the US. 75% of the faculty where I work are gig workers/adjuncts. Only elite universities have better ratios. I started as a gig worker in 1985. It was only slightly better then. I was hired on tenure track in 1989 and the next time we hired in my discipline was 2010.
21 years for a job to become available in my discipline and school. Some of my tenured colleagues work as adjuncts at other schools (in disciplines where it’s hard to find anyone qualified who are willing to take just one class – no one can live off of just the pay from one class). Many adjuncts are older, retired people (people retire at ever-older ages – the average is 70 where I work). Adjuncts do get retirement (not much, but if they have some other job in addition, it’s certainly helpful). Right now, fuel costs are making it really hard to recruit from all around the Los Angeles basin, which used to be the norm.
Bloated administrative costs are at least part of the problem.
> At the University of Northampton alone, 25 percent of all academic staff are, like me, on hourly paid and zero hours contracts, while the vice chancellor enjoys annual remuneration of £256,000
What? An academic that failed in their chosen subject, shifted into an admin role, is paid £256000? Must have advanced excel skills.