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 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. 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 Read more…
We know, we know … The last decade has been like watching a gang of rogues and grifters take over the UK universities and treat them like conquered vassal states to be used as spoils of war for any purpose Read more…
We all worked for the lab at the university. It was a very successful lab. It was run on big grants obtained by our highly-cited PI. We made many important contributions to medical research for over 25 years. We had Read more…
It’s a hyper-competitive field! Like the most evil tech billionaire. Or the dumbest thing done by Donald Trump. When it comes to the destructive culture of modern universities, Oxbridge likes to be at the apex of the rankings. For example, Read more…
One of the commonest queries to the 21 Group is about contested authorship. Politics around paper authorship is particularly an issue in STEM subjects where collaborations are the norm, less so in the humanities. Queries usually come from students & Read more…
Another Scandal ! Another Scandal ! Another Scandal ! We predict that 2025 will be the Year of Scandals in UK universities. There are a number of reasons. The regulator of Higher Education is the Office for Students, which employs Read more…
General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) give you the right to request information held about you — for example, meeting minutes about your promotion, pay, complaints or even just malicious emails naming you. You may be unhappy about how your University has Read more…
There’s been a Grievance raised against a Professor. The Human Resources (HR) division of the University is indolently carrying out an investigation. This might be done by a group of internal academics, advised by HR. Or sometimes the University uses Read more…