Monash University Business School has taken over as the most corrupt.Their two biggest sleezes are now gone.
Who
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?
Usyd is a teaching school.
The current round of EBA negotiations has management looking to remove the 40/40/20 teaching/research/admin allocations, so staff can be allocated greater than 40% teaching load. Managements goal in the negotiations is for each individual to negotiate their teaching load with their Head. Ultimately, this will move all staff to potentially be teaching focused staff. So while Eliza and Joakim have good intentions, powers above view the Business School as a cash cow who should primarily teach and subsidize other parts of the University.
When Spence left he famously said "make the bastards work (teach) more" and with a new VC that has no academic background, you can imagine what emphasis he places on research. Short term objectives to make big profits to pay nice bonus to management is their game. Research cuts into their profit margin/bonus.
I suspect most juniors would leave given the opportunity - but the urgency to leave has waned now that the lunatic pre-existing management have been ditched.
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?Usyd is a teaching school.
The current round of EBA negotiations has management looking to remove the 40/40/20 teaching/research/admin allocations, so staff can be allocated greater than 40% teaching load. Managements goal in the negotiations is for each individual to negotiate their teaching load with their Head. Ultimately, this will move all staff to potentially be teaching focused staff. So while Eliza and Joakim have good intentions, powers above view the Business School as a cash cow who should primarily teach and subsidize other parts of the University.
When Spence left he famously said "make the bastards work (teach) more" and with a new VC that has no academic background, you can imagine what emphasis he places on research. Short term objectives to make big profits to pay nice bonus to management is their game. Research cuts into their profit margin/bonus.
I suspect most juniors would leave given the opportunity - but the urgency to leave has waned now that the lunatic pre-existing management have been ditched.
Sad, it's also been happening at Monash Business School for a while now. Awful places to be.
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?Usyd is a teaching school.
The current round of EBA negotiations has management looking to remove the 40/40/20 teaching/research/admin allocations, so staff can be allocated greater than 40% teaching load. Managements goal in the negotiations is for each individual to negotiate their teaching load with their Head. Ultimately, this will move all staff to potentially be teaching focused staff.
"Negotiate their teaching load" ----- but who has the power in the negotiations?
Is USyd allowed to fire faculty -- and are they likely to fire faculty -- if faculty don't agree to increase teaching at the expense of research? If so, USyd has the power and they are not really negotiations worthy of the name. What is the legal situation? Does USyd have trade unions? I heard USyd got rid of all their adjuncts, part-time lecturers, etc, during covid, not to mention some full-time faculty have left. That would weaken USyd's position in the event of strikes or refusals to teach more classes?
If I was told by my dean or someone similar that I had to agree to increase my teaching load, I would tell them in no uncertain terms to FO and stick their extra teaching where the sun don't shine but I appreciate that others may have a different take on this.
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?Usyd is a teaching school.
The current round of EBA negotiations has management looking to remove the 40/40/20 teaching/research/admin allocations, so staff can be allocated greater than 40% teaching load. Managements goal in the negotiations is for each individual to negotiate their teaching load with their Head. Ultimately, this will move all staff to potentially be teaching focused staff."Negotiate their teaching load" ----- but who has the power in the negotiations?
Is USyd allowed to fire faculty -- and are they likely to fire faculty -- if faculty don't agree to increase teaching at the expense of research? If so, USyd has the power and they are not really negotiations worthy of the name. What is the legal situation? Does USyd have trade unions? I heard USyd got rid of all their adjuncts, part-time lecturers, etc, during covid, not to mention some full-time faculty have left. That would weaken USyd's position in the event of strikes or refusals to teach more classes?
If I was told by my dean or someone similar that I had to agree to increase my teaching load, I would tell them in no uncertain terms to FO and stick their extra teaching where the sun don't shine but I appreciate that others may have a different take on this.
Individual staff have no power in negotiations. In effect, you could be told you need to teach umpteen courses and if you refuse you could be unemployed shortly thereafter. Tenure does not exist and you can easily be "managed out".
Collectively, unionized staff have some negotiating power via industrial action like strikes. There has been 5 strikes this year because of current negotiations around the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), which is effectively a legally binding employment contract. However, this collective power is pretty weak. The EBA is about to expire and Usyd do not need to renew one.
Staff are viewed as dispensable factory workers - that can be easily replaced by a casual. When research isn't valued, staff are only needed to teach, so a casual replacement becomes pretty viable. And with a surplus of unemployed masters and PhD graduates with worthless degrees casual staff are easy to find.
Historically, academics have been told by Deans/Deputy Deans that students dont come to Usyd to be taught by a specific individual, they come simply for the "brand" - sadly upper management are too short sighted to realize that "brand" was built by centuries of great specific individuals. Similarly staff were told by a Deputy Dean that if a top University like Harvard or Stanford tried to poach faculty, that Usyd would not do anything to try to retain that faculty member (no competing offer etc.).
Real statements that give you an idea on how much talent is valued at Usyd.
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?
Who are promising juniors?
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?Who are promising juniors?
Richard Philip has a Journal of Econometrics.
Guanglian Hu has 2 JFQA's.
They likely won't stay at USyd if teaching loads are increased as they can get good outside offers.
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?
Usyd is a teaching school.
The current round of EBA negotiations has management looking to remove the 40/40/20 teaching/research/admin allocations, so staff can be allocated greater than 40% teaching load. Managements goal in the negotiations is for each individual to negotiate their teaching load with their Head. Ultimately, this will move all staff to potentially be teaching focused staff."Negotiate their teaching load" ----- but who has the power in the negotiations?
Is USyd allowed to fire faculty -- and are they likely to fire faculty -- if faculty don't agree to increase teaching at the expense of research? If so, USyd has the power and they are not really negotiations worthy of the name. What is the legal situation? Does USyd have trade unions? I heard USyd got rid of all their adjuncts, part-time lecturers, etc, during covid, not to mention some full-time faculty have left. That would weaken USyd's position in the event of strikes or refusals to teach more classes?
If I was told by my dean or someone similar that I had to agree to increase my teaching load, I would tell them in no uncertain terms to FO and stick their extra teaching where the sun don't shine but I appreciate that others may have a different take on this.Individual staff have no power in negotiations. In effect, you could be told you need to teach umpteen courses and if you refuse you could be unemployed shortly thereafter. Tenure does not exist and you can easily be "managed out".
Collectively, unionized staff have some negotiating power via industrial action like strikes. There has been 5 strikes this year because of current negotiations around the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), which is effectively a legally binding employment contract. However, this collective power is pretty weak. The EBA is about to expire and Usyd do not need to renew one.
Staff are viewed as dispensable factory workers - that can be easily replaced by a casual. When research isn't valued, staff are only needed to teach, so a casual replacement becomes pretty viable. And with a surplus of unemployed masters and PhD graduates with worthless degrees casual staff are easy to find.
Historically, academics have been told by Deans/Deputy Deans that students dont come to Usyd to be taught by a specific individual, they come simply for the "brand" - sadly upper management are too short sighted to realize that "brand" was built by centuries of great specific individuals. Similarly staff were told by a Deputy Dean that if a top University like Harvard or Stanford tried to poach faculty, that Usyd would not do anything to try to retain that faculty member (no competing offer etc.).
Real statements that give you an idea on how much talent is valued at Usyd.
I do not want to sound like an agent provocateur but surely strike action is justified here? Yes, there are unemployed masters and PhD graduates around but is a recent student in Hobart or Adelaide likely to fly to Sydney once a week and stay at a hotel near Redfern in order to give a lecture course for (I am guessing rates here) for $10,000 max per term? No. So that narrows the potential casual lecturer list to Sydney based graduates which is not a huge list. And in any event, if courses are taught by recent graduates, standards will likely suffer.
The academic year will be finishing soon s...See full post
The Dean at Sydney University made a part time post doc (SA) who works in a low tier position at a low tier pension fund and a failed academic accountant (SVDL) joint Head of Department (HoD) of the Finance department 3 years ago. SA has never coordinated a course or presented at a conference. Both have weak research output. Multiple complaints of a toxic bullying culture under their ‘leadership’ have been ignored. SA and the Dean appear to be good friends. To legitimize SAs initial appointment as HoD, the Dean appointed SA to the spurious part time position of "Practitioner in Residence", the advertisement for the position never made public and he was the only applicant.
Sydney Uni are now advertising for a "Professor of Practice", because SA now wants to be a full time Prof. (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/en-au/listing/265538/professor-of-practice-in-finance/). No need to have ever supervised a PhD student, but you must work in industry but be a head of department, which narrows down to about 1 person in Oz that can apply.
Anyone thinking of joining save yourself the pain, practically everyone is looking to leave, the abuse of power is rife and the culture toxic. They are trying to drastically increase teaching load. There used to be a policy that staff do three deliveries. They scratched that policy and introduced a new one where the HoD allocates teaching at their full discretion – in theory you could be placed across 10 courses for a few hours tutoring on each.
OP seems do not understand what students want. Dean opens position not based on our, EJMRs want, but based on stakeholders.
What are Australian stakeholders? Employers and Students. They care about real job rather than top publications. After several years of research focus, now they want to improve teaching quality. I knew some Australian Professors with top journals but very bad in teaching - many students complaints.
Students pay hefty tuition fees - they deserve more.
From practical consideration, Australian prefer something practical in real world. I knew that some of my friends dropped out from PhD and continuing working as bus driver.
Check McDonald's Australian hourly rate vs US hourly rate. In Australia, blue collar workers are more respectable than in US.
Yes - students deserve the best for the fees they pay - but the Deans approach and nepotistic hiring resulted in the antithesis.
Appointing unqualified HoDs who foster a toxic environment does not help stakeholders (students or employers). This decimated the department, removed good will (which is what Unis run on), and scared off top teaching (and research) staff. For example, this action resulted in AA and SF leaving Usyd (extremely unhappy with the HoDs) - the only two faculty who have ever been awarded the top teaching award in the Business School. Their courses have subsequently been butchered, leaving the students with a worse education and employers with unqualified staff.
The nepotistic hiring by the HoDs resulted in poor teaching staff being hired and the best casual staff being let go.
Eventually the market corrected itself and the Dean, Deputy Dean and HoDs "resigned" within a few months of each other. Hopefully, the place recovers, but with the new EBA negotiations who knows.
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?Who are promising juniors?
T. To
C. Liu
Rising stars
How are things going at Sydney University finance now? I am thinking that things have improved since Joachim and Eliza took over but want confirmation from insiders. Is the work environment genuinely improving or does it feel more like a minor re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. You have a couple of really promising juniors. Are they staying or leaving for Europe / the US as soon as Quantas hires some cabin crew and fixes its baggage problems?Usyd is a teaching school.
The current round of EBA negotiations has management looking to remove the 40/40/20 teaching/research/admin allocations, so staff can be allocated greater than 40% teaching load. Managements goal in the negotiations is for each individual to negotiate their teaching load with their Head. Ultimately, this will move all staff to potentially be teaching focused staff. So while Eliza and Joakim have good intentions, powers above view the Business School as a cash cow who should primarily teach and subsidize other parts of the University.
When Spence left he famously said "make the bastards work (teach) more" and with a new VC that has no academic background, you can imagine what emphasis he places on research. Short term objectives to make big profits to pay nice bonus to management is their game. Research cuts into their profit margin/bonus.
I suspect most juniors would leave given the opportunity - but the urgency to leave has waned now that the lunatic pre-existing management have been ditched.
Agreed!