Academics seethe over universities’ cost-cutting moves

A survey has found that academics, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students at United Kingdom universities are enraged by moves to cut jobs, and are accusing institutions of adopting ‘autocratic’ decision-making practices under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, writes Natasha Gilbert for Nature.

The survey, which had 1,099 respondents, was conducted between June and August 2020 by higher education researcher Richard Watermeyer at the University of Bristol, and colleagues. Half the respondents held the rank of lecturer or above, 14% were PhD students and another 14% were postdocs. Two-thirds of respondents were from ‘research-intensive’ universities; two-thirds identified as female and 61% were on permanent or open-ended contracts. The survey results were published last month (R Watermeyer et al Br J Sociol Educ https://doi.org/gk7hrb; 2021).

Respondents describe widespread concern over what they say is a small number of university administrators making decisions on employment and the future direction of institutions, often without consulting faculty or staff members. They also complain of major increases in teaching workloads without extra compensation or recognition. Many of these changes especially affect junior researchers, including postdocs, the survey finds. “There seems to be a real sense among the academic community in the UK that universities are using the pandemic as an opportunity to push through certain cost-cutting agendas,” said Watermeyer, adding that junior researchers felt exploited.
Full report on the Nature site.