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University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

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Re: University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

#231

Post by mbrodersen »

renewiltord wrote: post #146

This is good. Too long have universities maintained the illusion that all subjects are worth studying. They are not. And we have a valuation mechanism - pay. The truth is that some subjects need far fewer participants than others. You don’t need the marginal new mathematician or historian or geographer. We do need the marginal electrical engineer or software engineer. It is crucial that we signal to students their pr…

All modern technologies (including the internet) came out of not-for-profit research done at Universities. Private companies are great at exploring already existing markets but really bad at creating new ones. You need long term blue sky research to discover markets that nobody with a short term profit motive would even think about.

Re: University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

#232

Post by deathlight »

glapworth wrote: post #34

I used to work as an Lecturer in the other University in Leicester and I have lots of friends and colleagues working in various departments at Leicester University. It looks like the financial situation at the University is quite bad, and this isn’t the first time the executive has threatened to close this department. I feel for the people working there at the moment. Sad times.

Aren't math departments like the cheapest ones though? I feel like they would be near last in line for being cut.

Re: University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

#233

Post by woofie11 »

UncleMeat wrote: post #109
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What nerd with intellect would work as a professor if they could earn the significantly more money working for a hedge fund, FAANG, etc? Genuine question. The current academic hopeful spends their 20s in near-poverty level stipends and are more likely than not to never get a professorship as it is. If they did all that for 60k/yr why would they even bother? (Additionally I don’t know if it applies here, but often tha…

> Genuine question. I know a handful of faculty at top universities (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, etc). At least one did a year at a FAANG company prior to starting so it isn't like they don't know better. They are paid well enough and don't need 400k salaries. They love their research topic and love the freedom to work on the topics they care most about. They love mentoring students specifically. They don't care about s…

MIT, Stanford, etc. still give Cambridge/Mountain View housing-owning, BMW-driving salaries. With tenure, baseline CS salary is around $200k, with a 20% carve-out for consulting (which, with the brand stamp, leads many to be obscenely rich).

And most -- not all but most -- new faculty hires cheat in some way to get there, at the elites (at the very least, overselling results, but often intentionally p-hunting, stealing credit, and similar).

Re: University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

#234

Post by woofie11 »

haihaibye wrote: post #210
medium_burrito wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps we can establish a nonprofit research institution where people can do research. There are whole towns for sale in various places, we could get one for free probably. Get an endowment together, a few million, that could pay for a bit of food and refurbishment. Brew beer or some sort of herbal liqueur, might cover some expenses.

Most grants require you belong to a university. Removing this requirement would allow competition (even from independent researchers in coffee shops). Good luck trying to change this!

This is false. Not-for-profits which aren't universities apply for grants all the time. Different grants come with different restrictions, but the proposed scheme would certainly be above the bar for e.g. typical NSF science grants.

Universities are hard due to accreditation, but starting a not-for-profit is quick and easy.

Re: University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

#235

Post by travisporter »

inglor_cz wrote: post #12

I wonder if the end game of higher education looks like purely administrative bodies with enormous tuition that just provide the students with leisure, varsity sports and regular events on the currently hot social justice topics. I studied pure math in the Czech Rep. between 1996 and 2003. The administrative staff was about 10 per cent of the entire body of employees. Reading that administrators actually outnumber te…

"Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice", which founded the study is motivated to magnify "bloat" in establishment institutions. The article preempts this criticism but does not refute it. A more honest study would try to break down what the administrative roles actually do.

Re: University of Leicester firing all pure math faculty

#236

Post by haihaibye »

woofie11 wrote: post #234
haihaibye wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most grants require you belong to a university. Removing this requirement would allow competition (even from independent researchers in coffee shops). Good luck trying to change this!

This is false. Not-for-profits which aren't universities apply for grants all the time. Different grants come with different restrictions, but the proposed scheme would certainly be above the bar for e.g. typical NSF science grants. Universities are hard due to accreditation, but starting a not-for-profit is quick and easy.

It varies per grant. I work in medical research and this is the case where I live.

In the USA the NIH is 3-4x the budget of the NSF

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