Comments on Aaronovitch Watch: Nick on academe

A colleague who'd taught at an ex-poly told me the...

2008-06-10T14:31:00.000Z

A colleague who'd taught at an ex-poly told me the most soul-destroying part of it was that, thanks to fees, you didn't even get a wider social intake - just 'thick middle-class kids'.

There is a grain of truth in this one; the culture...

2008-06-10T14:26:00.000Z

There is a grain of truth in this one; the culture wars are over and the right side won.

Slightly off-topic, but on the subject that all ac...

2008-06-10T14:17:00.000Z

Slightly off-topic, but on the subject that all academics think alike see Obama’s Presidency: Victory in the Culture Wars (via John Cole).

The conservative traditions and beliefs, in

You probably can't generalise about the RAE proces...

2008-06-10T11:33:00.000Z
You probably can't generalise about the RAE process. It seems to vary according to the university and subject. In the sciences/engineering its pretty important. I don't plan to experience one myself (I'm returning to industry as soon as i've completed my thesis - the money's better, and you have more control over your career), and I agree with it in theory, but the execution does seem pretty

ejh, if you meant me, it goes like this (bear in m...

2008-06-10T10:43:00.000Z
ejh, if you meant me, it goes like this (bear in mind that the principle is now students=money):

Russell Group University 'A' takes all the students with straight A's it can (including some it might have turned down in the past, if only because of lack of capacity)

Wannabe Russell Group University 'B' takes all the students with slightly less than straight A's who meet its entry

Are they doing it like the NFL draft?

2008-06-10T09:40:00.000Z
Are they doing it like the NFL draft?

I work for the biggest and best university in the ...

2008-06-10T08:45:00.000Z
I work for the biggest and best university in the UK.

That would be Hull, would it? (thanks to Blackadder Goes Forth)

On a more serious note, the HEFCE targets are a killer - and the decision by the government to lift the 'cap' on student numbers for each university meant the inevitable 'musical chairs' regarding recruitment: each uni takes more qualified students until

Does this happen in English? I can think of all k...

2008-06-09T14:34:00.000Z
Does this happen in English? I can think of all kinds of problems with the peer review process, but that's not one I've come across.

no, it doesn't happen very much. There are a lot of journals where there is obviously an in-crowd, but they tend to not be that good, and thus probably are not what Nick means by 'learned journals'. Then there are journals where peopel often get

I work for the biggest and best university in the ...

2008-06-09T13:40:00.000Z
I work for the biggest and best university in the UK. The single most important govt intervention is not the RAE, which only really accounts for about 3-4% of our income. The QAA assessment of teaching, and the National Student Survey are important, although paradoxically they don't loom large because we always come top.

No, there are two important things:
(1) HEFCE targets for

_omeone who produces good research will be someone...

2008-06-09T12:35:00.000Z
_omeone who produces good research will be someone who is a pretty good teacher,_

Well, often, yes. But the RAE has meant that those people aren't the ones who get to teach much, anyway.

I certainly don't think that the RAE has led to a decline in the quality of research. Very much to the contrary, in fact. It has, in some disciplines, led to the marginalization of heterodoxies

By far the weirdest thing about it is surely the c...

2008-06-09T12:29:00.000Z
By far the weirdest thing about it is surely the claim that prioritising research over teaching is what is redistributing from the poor to the wealthy - unless he means from comparatively poor universities to comparatively wealthy ones and perhaps then hence from the comparatively poor to the comparatively wealthy, but that's not obviously what he says.

"It's almost impossible to get a

"The problem is that his suggestion - making sure ...

2008-06-09T12:24:00.000Z
"The problem is that his suggestion - making sure teaching is the first priority of departments - [...] will also involve another peer-reviewed system of assessment,"

Or Ofsted?

Shudders

[redpesto]

I'm not sure how you can link 'sucking up to edito...

2008-06-09T11:57:00.000Z
I'm not sure how you can link 'sucking up to editors of learned journals' with a general conformity in political views.

I was baffled by this. Does this happen in English? I can think of all kinds of problems with the peer review process, but that's not one I've come across. The usual problem is that you've offended one of the "anonymous" reviewers as you didn't cite enough of

Yeah, student feedback is pretty useless. They ten...

2008-06-09T11:49:00.000Z
Yeah, student feedback is pretty useless. They tend to think any technique that they didn't encounter at school is about cutbacks. There were loads of complaints at Sussex about they're being asked to mark each others work - even though this is currently one of the recommended approaches/best practice, etc (and actually a really good way to get them to think critically - something in short supply

I think you're being too fair on him ejh. a second...

2008-06-09T10:34:00.000Z
I think you're being too fair on him ejh.

a second failing of the system is that it creates conformism in supposedly independent minds. There are many honourable exceptions, but as a herd, academics are the most predictable of beasts. If I sit down with builders, dentists or accountants, I have no way of knowing what their opinions will be. Within seconds of talking to an academic, I

To be as fair as possible. Cohen isn't saying that...

2008-06-09T09:41:00.000Z
To be as fair as possible. Cohen isn't saying that all academics have the same views, but that once he had listened to any given individual for a few minutes we would know what their views on all the major issues were. Well, I wonder if you would, Nick. I wonder.

A serious journalist would (a) have known this an...

2008-06-09T08:20:00.000Z
A serious journalist would (a) have known this and (b) thought about some alternative.

It's pretty damning for Nick that this sort of criticism can be applied to pretty much all his recent work. As usual (just like Andrew Anthony) he seems content to read one person's view, which he considers well-argued, and which fits in with his prejudices, and then simply parrots it, doing