There's never been a strike in UK higher education like this one
Category: career
University admissions – true stories
University admissions - has there ever been a completely 'fair' system?
One year of retirement
What has it been like? And what have been the best things about retiring?
Going back to school
I could never understand why all those farmers seemed to spend their time throwing spears around in the woods.
Mental health for academics
It's a funny old job, being an academic. It's one of those jobs in which, if you are feeling bad, suffering from a heavy cold or lack of energy, there's usually something not too mentally demanding which you can do: checking whether the books for the new course are in the library yet, sorting through… Continue reading Mental health for academics
Continuing to retire (sort of/not)
Even without an official 'catalyst', things precipitate other things. They react together in an intellectual chemistry which unites all the different areas of life which most interest me.
The first day at university
Your experience of 'going to university' isn't necessarily the same as anyone else's experience, and that's fine. There isn't just one way of doing it.
It’s ‘retiring’, not ‘retired’
When I retired, I never planned to have a clear before/after moment. Professionally, binaries of this kind have no appeal - I wrote a whole book about one such alleged moment - and when it comes to life transitions, why is one supposed to feel any different just because of a birthday, for example? In… Continue reading It’s ‘retiring’, not ‘retired’
Redundancy in universities
(written before The Open University began its extensive voluntary severance programme in 2018, but with a few relevant additions in italics...) It's déjà vu all over again... I had a bad case of déjà vu this week, as the universities of Manchester, Aberystwyth and Sunderland announced job cuts. I went through this at Reading in 2010… Continue reading Redundancy in universities
The travelling academic (2) Being allowed out
Should you go to that conference? What's the real cost? Can you get there from here?? And what's my top conference tip?
The retiring academic 