#AcademicVenting 🧵 Higher education, certainly in the UK, continues to be in dire straits - here the tally Queen Mary UCU is keeping.

What are we doing about it as academics? I can tell you.

We are talking about opening new MAs (to generate more money) , or closing MAs (to save money).

That’s what 80% of departmental meetings across the country are taken uo by now. I am not even joking. That’s all we have.

https://qmucu.org/qmul-transformation/uk-he-shrinking/

#AcademicVenting 🧵 Higher education, certainly in the UK, continues to be in dire straits - here the tally Queen Mary UCU is keeping.

What are we doing about it as academics? I can tell you.

We are talking about opening new MAs (to generate more money) , or closing MAs (to save money).

That’s what 80% of departmental meetings across the country are taken uo by now. I am not even joking. That’s all we have.

https://qmucu.org/qmul-transformation/uk-he-shrinking/

#AcademicVenting 🧵One thing i am learning (having been at a small, struggling university before): things are not good even within the “winners”. Huge student numbers, staff completely overworked, academic freedom for multiple reasons palpably curtailed, managerial centralisation of support staff wreaking havoc (“we must separate the person from the post” - why must we?) . Morale seems pretty low, even here. Amongst academic and support staff (and students), there are no “winners” at all.

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy 🧵 ok so i haven’t written here in a long time - for various reasons. But now 15 months or so since redundancy (from a “permanent” UK university post i had for 13 years) i want to give a quick update: to explain why i am hardly on #Mastodon these days, and also because perhaps it’s useful for others - far too many of us are going through this sadly. Also just feel this stuff is worth documenting as one little story of our time.

#AcademicVenting 🧵and then also the move to online teaching and the reuse of recorded lectures makes us lecturers rapidly redundant. Last nighr a friend told me about how she had to spend hours preparing a new online MSc - all in 6min snippets that had to comply with v strict guidelines (zero ac freedom, critical thinking); this would then be available for 5 years, no further input required from her. And then this morning I read this post by @petergleick

https://fediscience.org/@petergleick/115444098505231725

#AcademicVenting 🧵Then, of course, the world-wide, very serious political onslaught on universities, already manifesting in many ways. Harvard announced last week that they were cutting their PhD programmes by 50-75% across all disciplines! This is so bad.

I dread to think what will happen to UK HE if/when Reform get in.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/21/fas-phd-admissions-cuts/

#AcademicVenting 🧵One thing i am learning (having been at a small, struggling university before): things are not good even within the “winners”. Huge student numbers, staff completely overworked, academic freedom for multiple reasons palpably curtailed, managerial centralisation of support staff wreaking havoc (“we must separate the person from the post” - why must we?) . Morale seems pretty low, even here. Amongst academic and support staff (and students), there are no “winners” at all.

#AcademicVenting 🧵anyway: with my new vantage point (fixed term, part time) I am now back in universities and so will take up this 🧵again to vent/reflect (discreetly) on my own experiences but also on the whole sector. Which is NOT in a good state! Everyone knows this but i really want to just write about it all again here, along with others (eg @kate @serenissimaj @actualham @inquiline )

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy #Precarity 🧵good; especially learning wise. I know i am incredibly lucky in so many ways. But it’s hard work, many humiliations (lower grade etc) and also: no central identity. Apart from no time that’s been the main reason why i don’t post here much anymore. So: shoutout here to everyone juggling several insecure jobs: it’s hard, and it really changes, hardens you. Less outward looking, sense of agency, hope. Deeply worrying that majority of us live this way.

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy 🧵school, on equity in global health partnerships, and a 0.5 mat cover in Geography at UCL. I am also managing an archaeology project for the Museum of West African Art in Nigeria, on earthen heritage. Altogether earning about same as before at the moment; and each job really enjoyable and interesting. But: it is full on precarity, hard work (too much), and i have no idea what it will all lead to - or rather, realising there will be no “to”. Altogether, it’s been

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy 🧵so for several months i just kept on applying, for academic and other jobs. Every application, of course, a big effort of selling, reinventing yourself; all pretty draining. None of the non-acadmic applications (the most work) got me interviews. Hard to change sector! The permanent academic ones also no luck so far. But I did get two part time fixed term ones. So this is what I am doing now: a 0.5 mat cover as a research fellow at the Brighton and Sussex medical

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy #Consultancy 🧵
But whilst I very much thought about “going into consultancy”, it’s not teasy when you don’t have an existing network; i found the permanent insecurity hard; and also kept on hearing stories of consultants, too, really struggling at the moment (AI part of this). Also by spring, more academic jobs were advertised again, and overall i felt I had to prioritise applications for more “permanent” jobs; i simply had no time to focus on consultancy

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy 🧵so just to state upfront: financially i am doing ok for the time being. I have been very lucky that i got a couple of research consultancy jobs that not only brought in some money but were also really stimulating and enriching: one on race equity and power in global partnerships for the RSPB; one on marine decision-making in Sussex for the MMO. I learned a huge anount, talked to many very impressive people, and really enjoyed both.

#AcademicVenting #Redundancy 🧵 ok so i haven’t written here in a long time - for various reasons. But now 15 months or so since redundancy (from a “permanent” UK university post i had for 13 years) i want to give a quick update: to explain why i am hardly on #Mastodon these days, and also because perhaps it’s useful for others - far too many of us are going through this sadly. Also just feel this stuff is worth documenting as one little story of our time.