Ian Dobson: The Disjointed Growth of University Staffing Since Dawkins.
(May 11, 2010)|
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News & Views item - May 2010 |
Ian Dobson: The Disjointed Growth of University Staffing Since Dawkins.
(May 11, 2010)
Dr
Ian Dobson is editor of Australian Universities' Review, an honorary
research fellow in the Centre for Population and Urban Research and director of
Educational Policy Institute. His paper in the most recent issue of Monash
University's
People and Place entitled "The
Disjointed Growth of University Staffing Since Dawkins" sets out
the case that while the Australian university sector has increased rapidly over
the past two decades the acceleration in student numbers has far exceeded staff
growth.
Dr Dobson points out that academic teaching staff "has grown at a much lower rate than that for research and in addition there has been a marked increase in support staff. It is his contention that "the major 'villain' in this disjointed growth is federal governments that have... demanded more and more time and resources to apply for... funding and be accountable for it".
In summary: Between 1989 and 2007, the student body doubled in size.
Teaching staff increased by one- third; most of the growth being casuals.
Research-only staff increased 352%, i.e. from 3.2% of total staff in 1989 to just under 10% in 2007.
The predominant increase in administrative staff was within academic departments (59.2% -- 8761 new jobs) while central administrative staff increased by25.1%, 3432 new jobs).
Here TFW reproduces Dr Dobson's conclusions and the statistics in substantiation:
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The aim of this paper was to outline changes in university staffing since the start of the so-called 'Dawkins revolution' from 1989. Universities still teach students and undertake research, but at a more frenetic rate than in the past. As in the past, these academic activities still require staff to support them.
However, the academic staff component for teaching has grown at a much lower rate than for academic research and the growth in numbers of staff to support these academic staff activities. It is hardly fair to blame they administrative staff themselves for the growth in their number, but this happens from time to time. With few exceptions, former academics run our universities and support staff merely react to their whims.
The major 'villain' in this disjointed growth in staffing is federal governments of either persuasion, which through a mixture of poor and misguided policy, divide funding into smaller and smaller portions, and demand more and more time and resources to apply for such funding, and then to be accountable for it.
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