Why I’m quitting the academy

One question is of course, once you have left how can you influence the academy not to give in; not to accept the role of an exploiter of the student's purse with the profits ending in the managerial clique. I am currently writing from Mexico City; though still seeking my reinstatement as Lecturer in Cell Biology at my former department at Queen Mary University of London; the managers have breached employment law in my view in dismissing me on grounds of redundancy. The department advertised my position twice. On the first round the person who was offered the position was relatively experienced; likely realised what he was signing up to; and declined the offer. On the second round, a less experienced youngster, post-doc of the new "head of division of cell and molecular biology" was offered the post - and accepted it. Returning to your well-written article and its ending, I wonder what "permanent post" means exactly for the rank-obsessed universities in the UK...

It needs to be pointed out that job insecurity in early career, shady appointment practices and the requirement to teach outside one's immediate expertise are nothing new in academic life. Nor is it wrong in principle that an institution should produce highly qualified postgraduates who cannot find work in their immediate field; a Masters or a PhD is surely of greater value if some part of the skills acquired can be transferred elsewhere. One difference from years ago is that higher degrees are now more welcome in the general workplace, where once they were thought merely to signify otherworldliness. Having said that, it is worrying to hear that obsession with league tables, REF-returnability and impact, now so prevalent within the so-called elite universities, is spreading to the post-1992 world where universities like Roehampton ought to thrive on their distinctiveness rather than their resemblance to Russell Group sweatshops. My own experience (as an external examiner) is that some decency remains in parts of the post-1992 sector, where enlightened managers can still demand a primary commitment to enthusiastic and diverse teaching, but at the same time encourage and recognise contributions in research where these can be fitted in to a busy student-orientated timetable and achieved at modest cost. I see no evidence such research lacks quality, indeed in some instances it is arguably better as it is produced without the crushing burden of performance management. Perhaps it is in places like this where careers can be pursued that offer some element of traditional ideals, at least until the inefficiency of every institution casting itself in the same mould is finally recognised. A broader issue is whether the long-delayed effects of Thatcherite reforms (line management, loss of tenure and corporatisation) have now created a cadre of managers whose interests are no longer aligned with those of their academic staffs.