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In October 2023, Oxford University and College Union (UCU) published a report on the effects of casualisation at the University. They found over 66% of academics employed by Oxford University are on fixed-term contracts. Similarly, Cambridge’s UCU branch found that 69% of research staff were working on fixed-term contracts, with 13% Read more…
The Royal Society elected Elon Musk into a Fellowship in 2018. Musk was honoured for his work in technology and engineering, particularly in the fields of space exploration and sustainable energy, This has become a controversial election. Musk’s reputation in scientific circles has crashed. On 25 November 2024, Prof Dorothy Read more…
A Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) is a formal request made by an individual (the “data subject”) to an organization, asking to access the personal data the organization holds about them. This request is a key right under data protection laws. When a person makes a DSAR, any organization such Read more…
From 1 September 2023, the Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University has been the New Zealander, Prof Wendy Larner. During Larner’s tenure as Provost at Victoria University of Wellington (2015–2023), the university faced financial challenges that led to “strategic decisions”. In May 2023, the University confirmed a NZ$33 million deficit, attributing Read more…
Papermilling is a dubious research practice. It refers to situations in which research processes or findings are conducted in a way that is questionable, misleading or lacking integrity. This includes unethical practices, exploitation of students and postdocs, plagiarism, deliberate manipulation of data or superficial research that doesn’t contribute genuinely to the Read more…
Cuts, “voluntary severances” and redundancies dominate the UK higher education landscape. But not for all. The management bloat in UK universities continues to swell even as lecturers & researchers are made unemployed. The University of Nottingham has just advertised for a Chief People Officer. The salary is £140,000 to £153,000 per Read more…
Given the turmoil in Higher Education, the 21 Group is looking at the background and behaviour of some of our very well-rewarded Vice Chancellors. We started with Professor Colin Bailey, President and Principal of Queen Mary, University of London here. Next up is Professor Peter Bonfield, Vice Chancellor of the Read more…
Activity at universities falls into 3 broad categories – teaching, research & administration. They are not equivalent. Teaching & research are core activities. Everything else serves to support these primary goals. Some administrative work is obviously necessary. This includes student support, counselling services, IT services, the disability centre, librarians, research Read more…
We have described in an earlier blog posting the sad yet inspiring case of Magdalen Connolly The matter was extensively discussed in the Times Higher Educational Supplement by Wyn Evans and in the Daily Telegraph by Poppy Wood last year. Briefly, Magdalen Connolly introduced ground-breaking concepts related to a Judaeo-Arabic Read more…
Vice Chancellors, Pro-Vice Chancellors and Registrars make lots of money. Universities justify their huge salaries as needed to “attract top executive talent“. The median Vice Chancellor pay of the Russell Group for 2023-2024 is £400,000, as reported by the Times Higher Education Supplement. “The largest individual total remuneration went to Read more…