Australian academics hunker down as pandemic rages Scientists less likely to risk switching jobs despite rising fatigue, flagging morale and gender equity going backwards By John Ross 10 October
Brussels to Rome: stop discriminating against foreign lecturers Marathon legal battle by Italy’s lettori for equal rights may soon end after European Commission’s intervention By Jack Grove 6 October
Purge of administrators leaves UK universities exposed Loss of vital expertise piles more pressure and workloads on those left behind, including academics By Anna McKie 4 October
University stress levels worse than ever, says New Zealand union Institutional leaders ‘don’t listen’, leaving line managers to provide little more than ‘palliative care’ By John Ross 2 October
David Miller: Bristol sacks professor accused of antisemitism Sociologist criticised by MPs says that he plans to appeal against termination By Chris Havergal 1 October
Liverpool strikes off as compulsory redundancies averted Final two staff members facing axe allowed to leave on more generous terms following long-running industrial action and international boycott By Chris Havergal 1 October
Cross-gender friendships ‘critical to helping women in sciences’ Female researchers who socialise less with male colleagues less likely to feel supported in the workplace By Paul Basken 27 September
Glasgow apologises for wording of maternity cover job advert Lecturer in modern gender history only required ‘until the substantive postholder returns from maternity leave, or in the event of her resignation’ By Simon Baker 24 September
UCU plans ballots for pre-Christmas strikes over pay and pensions Union members at 152 UK institutions asked to walk out for fourth time in little over three years By Anna McKie 22 September
Union halts boycott as Toronto renews job offer to Israel critic Valentina Azarova declines to take human rights position, but CAUT suspends censure and claims academic freedom win By Paul Basken 17 September
Administrators ‘help relieve stress burden’ on academics Mix of survey and employment data offered as caution to those blaming high costs on administrative bloat By Paul Basken 16 September
‘Dramatic’ variation in universities’ occupational health spend FoI requests suggest some UK institutions have spent just a few hundred pounds per academic over the past six years By Simon Baker 15 September
Pandemic job losses ‘accelerating’ in Australia Permanent rather than casual staff now being targeted, report suggests, but expert queries data underpinning the analysis By John Ross 13 September
University of Sydney underpaid staff by millions, review finds Acknowledgment comes days after apology from Melbourne By John Ross 13 September
Birkbeck lecturer resigns over Eric Kaufmann ‘political project’ Lisa Tilley cites impact on staff and students of ‘proximity’ to former department head’s ‘far-right followers’, plus ‘sickening environment’ By John Morgan 31 August
Fears for science as Australian university sheds more staff Proposed redundancies target science, engineering and IT – disciplines supposedly favoured by funding reforms By John Ross 24 August
Recruitment rebounds in Australian academia Analysis of Australian job advertisements points to recovery, particularly in non-traditional research By John Ross 23 August
Returnee Chinese researchers ‘unfairly privileged’ in hiring Scholars who have stayed at home concerned about ‘double standards’ on salary, funding and promotion By Jing Liu 14 August
Unions concerned as Georgia pushes post-tenure review At partisan moment, governing regents pursue new processes allowing for firing of tenured faculty By Paul Basken 10 August
THE Live ANZ: ‘free’ education ‘taken for granted’ Whitlam and HECS fostered a ‘social psychology’ of indifference towards higher education, Australasian conference hears By John Ross 7 August
University ‘fudging figures’ on sociology cuts Course cut critics castigate Australian institution for using data selectively, as sociologists elsewhere watch on nervously By John Ross 3 August
Fresh strike over Liverpool job cuts targets clearing Union members overwhelmingly back action even as number of compulsory redundancies slashed to two By Anna McKie 3 August
Ole Miss settles with lecturer who claimed sacking was political University insists historian Garrett Felber was let go for failing to communicate effectively with department chair By Colleen Flaherty for Inside Higher Ed 2 August
Prioritise women for research funding, Chinese universities told Policy revamp aims to tackle gender inequality By Joyce Lau 2 August
US universities anticipating major leadership turnover post-Covid Easing of pandemic a moment for many campus presidents to take a break and others to be pushed out By Paul Basken 21 July
What is a highly cited paper worth? About £10,000 a year Publishing a well-received paper could boost a scholar’s income by $13,500, says US study By Jack Grove 20 July
US faculty pay drops for first time since Great Recession Pandemic drove down wages at two-thirds of institutions, AAUP annual survey finds By Paul Basken 19 July
University staff less happy and more anxious than UK average Sizeable number of staff members struggled over course of pandemic and are suffering from chronic stress and exhaustion, researchers say By Anna McKie 19 July
New wave of redundancies sweeps Australian universities Hundreds of roles at risk as fresh wave of coronavirus restrictions sweeps across country By John Ross 18 July
UCU threatens strike action over Sheffield archaeology closure University council backs shuttering despite widespread opposition By Chris Havergal 15 July
How many staff does my university employ? Good luck finding out Four different datasets, four different stories: Australian university staffing statistics ‘impossible to reconcile’ By John Ross 14 July
Liverpool hit with union boycott in escalation of job cuts row North-west institution is second university to be ‘greylisted’ by UCU in three months By Chris Havergal 9 July
Deal secures permanent contracts for 4,000 Open University tutors Contractual agreement guarantees associate lecturers pay rise and annual salaries, following recent delay and five years of negotiations By Anna McKie 7 July
From Richard III to boycott: where did it go wrong at Leicester? As row over redundancies shows no sign of easing, academics see deeper-rooted problems of mismanagement By Anna McKie 1 July
Gag clauses ‘becoming the norm’ in Australian redundancies Covid redundancy terms include non-disclosure and non-disparagement obligations, as corporate HR culture captures universities By John Ross 23 June
Researchers ‘plot promotions using conference collusion rings’ Secret lists of preferred papers have been circulated prior to computer science meetings to help favoured scholars get ahead, says US professor By Jack Grove 23 June
NIH funds cluster hiring of ethnic minority scientists New programme for universities modelled on version that increased racial equity within NIH’s own laboratories By Paul Basken 23 June
#IchbinHanna: German researchers snap over lack of permanent jobs Scholars, fed up with decades of living from contract to contract, force government to remove video that seemed to celebrate insecurity By David Matthews 21 June
Academia ‘more stressful than the real thing’ for medics Australian review finds that the switch from clinical practice into the ‘sausage factory’ of academia can elevate stress levels – even among the most stressed By John Ross 20 June
Row deepens over Sheffield plans to close archaeology department University accused of destroying notes from a meeting, which it says is standard practice By Anna McKie 19 June
Social responsibility means recruiting more technicians locally Universities offer many rewarding technical careers – but local populations are often oblivious of them, says Mike Hughes By Mike Hughes 11 June
Covid: working mums hit hard as v-cs demanded ‘business as usual’ Wide-ranging survey of mothers working in higher education reveals institutions’ inconsistent and often ineffective responses By Anna McKie 10 June
European researchers ‘losing interest’ in UK university jobs Headhunters and scientists have reported waning interest in UK research roles, citing high cost of visas and healthcare as a key deterrent By Jack Grove 9 June
Precarity means top students quitting academia, warns OECD expert Report author says increasing funding would only lead to more insecurity, and culture shift is needed instead By David Matthews 8 June
Complete PhD coverage for lecturers ‘undesirable’, says professor But author of 2012 paper on staff qualifications says it is likely to be ‘norm and expectation’ that many academics have a doctorate By Simon Baker 2 June
Universities grant administrators’ post-Covid home-working wish Surveys reveal widespread support among professional staff for working remotely at least some of the time By Anna McKie 26 May
‘WeWork for academics’ vision to reduce need for long commutes Scholars launch bid to create co-working spaces for researchers in cities around UK By Anna McKie 25 May
Indian inequality exposed as ad hoc lecturers bear Covid brunt Covid wave has revealed a deadly lack of welfare and job security By Joyce Lau 24 May
University staff in Italy ‘most likely to have secure contracts’ Almost a third of university employees globally are on contracts lasting less than two years, according to THE data By Ellie Bothwell 19 May
Careers Clinic: strategic moves with one eye on a promotion THE’s Careers Clinic series brings together the great and the good of higher education to answer a burning careers question By Dene Mullen 18 May
UK union says final pay offer of 1.5 per cent rise ‘unacceptable’ Employers up their offer at final negotiations but UCU says they should ‘reward the extraordinary efforts staff have made’ during Covid-19 By Anna McKie 17 May
Remote working ‘boosting managerialism’ in academia Move online may have been green but could damage impactful research, THE’s UK Academic Salon hears By Simon Baker 12 May
Liverpool union members to strike during end-of-year exams Industrial action continues despite university reducing number of planned redundancies and revising selection criteria By Chris Havergal 10 May
Leicester hit with union boycott in jobs row University and College Union ‘grey-lists’ institution, asking academics to refuse to have any dealings with it By Anna McKie 4 May
Limit use of one-year research contracts, says Russell Group New study by elite university group says open-ended contracts, not rolling one-year deals, should become ‘norm’ for UK research staff By Jack Grove 4 May
Lecturer wins unfair dismissal case after being told to get PhD Former Huddersfield lecturer claimed his mental health suffered due to increased workload of mandatory doctoral study By Simon Baker 30 April
Work to rule at Liverpool over ‘rank and yank’ cuts Union threatens strikes and marking boycott after staff identified for redundancy based on research grant income and citation impact scores By Chris Havergal 26 April
Some UK universities saw teaching contract jump as REF loomed In year before REF census, at a handful of institutions more than two-thirds of staff were reclassified By Simon Baker 26 April
Union censures Toronto after job ‘rescinded over Israel views’ Faculty group’s first boycott order in decade affirms pro-Israel interference, but president Meric Gertler pushes back By Paul Basken 23 April
Leicester staff vote for strike action over job cuts Union passes motion in favour of industrial action over risk to 145 staff By Anna McKie 15 April