201–210 of 242 posts
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This didn't started with covid19. It started with Bologne.
I'm not sure which parts of the Bologna process drove these changes, can you clarify?
The decade of the big scam was terrible for doing science also. The trust between politicians and scientists was destroyed deliberately by the first. Covid was just the last nail in the coffin.
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You are using one Oxford college as an example, that is not representative at all. Most universities have very little (if not null) prestige associated to them. If you will only recruit top talent at Oxford and Cambridge, why have the rest of the universities? How do you plan on funding them?
Again, your rhetorical questions are straightforwardly answered by history. Humanities departments have survived for centuries at relatively non-prestigious institutions. It is clearly possible for societies to fund such things if there is the social and political will to do so. It may be that there is not, at present. Nonetheless, it is a vast oversimplification to suggest that recruiting talented academics in the h…
That things worked in a certain way for centuries means nothing. Humanities academics are easy to hire, they are many, many PhD graduates, and very few open positions. Also, they make more money in academia than they make in industry. With not money outside options, it is easy to fill those roles.
I'm not suggesting cutting all funding, I think they do provide value in society. However, they shouldn't be demanding salaries that they cannot produce themselves. The fact that Business School professors (as an example, the same could be said by CS professors) make a lot more, doesn't mean that Humanities professor should make the same.
Also, having governments fund most of their budget has many risks. It is very hard for it not to become political and a tool for those in power.
My niece left academia for Draper Labs, where she has had a very productive career. Done far more for society than she would have, at a school. Instead of struggling for grants for her basic and applied research, often finding herself unfunded for a term or year unexpectedly, she's funded liberally and makes quick progress on important issues. Never looked back. Something is broken in Academia.
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Again, your rhetorical questions are straightforwardly answered by history. Humanities departments have survived for centuries at relatively non-prestigious institutions. It is clearly possible for societies to fund such things if there is the social and political will to do so. It may be that there is not, at present. Nonetheless, it is a vast oversimplification to suggest that recruiting talented academics in the h…
My questions are not rhetorical, so you could answer them. Money has to come from somewhere. If your answer is subsidies, then decide either to increase taxation or to cut funding to something else. I believe it is wrong to force people to subsidies academics producing nothing. You cannot tell me that a History PhD studying the life of a 15th century Pope provides much value to society. That things worked in a certai…
Lots of people demand 'salaries that they cannot produce themselves'. For example, soldiers, nurses, firefighters, etc. etc. I'm not sure why you have it in for academics specifically.
Universities in the UK and many other countries have been heavily subsidised by governments for a long time. In general this does not seem to result in universities becoming a tool for those in power. Quite the opposite in many cases.
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I don't know about other parts of the UK, but I interviewed for some (senior) lecturer positions last year and the salary was a joke by London standards. I'm not comparing to lofty SWE salaries here, but just compared to what it takes to make a decent living in London.
PostDoc salaries in BayArea Universities are 1/2 or less of what a junior engineer makes. You can literally consult the tables at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/income-limits/state-an... that a NIH postdoc would pay you an extremely low - low income. Other countries like Germany or Switzerland at least pay somewhat decently (Germany 3x above media income). I got an offers to work on several really cool project…
But the post doc stuff feels like ritual hazing. Poverty wages for highly educated, highly skilled individuals for even more years. It seems like medical residencies, but you’re never going to see the type of money the physician will after paying dues.
“increasing right-wing hostility towards academics” is listed as a reason for academics leaving. Is this true? Isn’t the power structure in a academics dominated by individuals that lean left? Most of the stories I have read regard academics being driven out by woke staff and students.
Also there was a Trump executive order that threatened ALL govt funding to any org that commits a thought crime and that will return as soon as Republicans win the WH
Can anyone show me statistical evidence that this "great resignation" is anything more than a story made up by the media?
I left academia for a software company, not midway my career but at the early start. The decision is easy when you have mouths to feed, wages don’t keep up, and I can earn double my salary doing the fun part of my work (ML+optimization+data/energy modelling in civil engineering space) literally the next day. I was working with all kinds of companies to help them get started with this kind of work. Instead of sending…
What you mention as “the fun part” does sound pretty interesting. Sounds like you’re contracting/consulting? Any advice on finding assignments in the field? (For someone with a DS + non-civil engineering background)
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However, I bet the buildings are fancy, the gym is lavish, and the cafeteria looks like a upscale food court with chefs to cook your custom ramen or stir fry. I also bet there are twice as many administrators as there were 40 years ago and far more expenses to maintain the high end buildings and sporting venues. More schools, more competition means more administrators, more marketing, more fancy dorms and facilities…
And rock climbing walls, stadiums, courts, parking enforcement tech, regulations over regulations of the smallest crap. Imagine if the school was just a building with rooms for teachers to meet with students and labs to do research in. Maybe it wouldn’t be fun for the sporty people and their name wouldn’t be in a cheerleader chant but it would be very focused and efficient
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My questions are not rhetorical, so you could answer them. Money has to come from somewhere. If your answer is subsidies, then decide either to increase taxation or to cut funding to something else. I believe it is wrong to force people to subsidies academics producing nothing. You cannot tell me that a History PhD studying the life of a 15th century Pope provides much value to society. That things worked in a certai…
I absolutely can tell you that a History PhD studying the life of a 15th century Pope provides value to society. The value of such work has been recognised for centuries. Lots of people demand 'salaries that they cannot produce themselves'. For example, soldiers, nurses, firefighters, etc. etc. I'm not sure why you have it in for academics specifically. Universities in the UK and many other countries have been heavil…
Soldiers, and defense in general, are part of the main things a government should provide (we can discuss how much, but that is another discussion).
I am not sure why you say nurses cannot produce salaries. Nurses work in the private sector and provide substantial value.
I do not have it in for academics specifically. In fact, I used to be one. What I am saying is that they are mostly disposable and think of themselves as some superior value.
In the UK in particular, education used to be tuition-free. Now they are running more as a business. I do not see the point of forcing subsidies on people who produce something that not even other academics are interested in. You are basically paying people to sit in a room and discuss something by themselves. Why does a minimum wage worker have to subsidies that? We are all getting hit by inflation, some more than others. Academia is a job with zero risk involved. I don't think it is fair to keep subsidising the dream of a few while having so many better uses for the money, or even reducing the tax burden on society.
[0] https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/04/23/ac...