Jonathan Ellis
@jonathansellis.bsky.social
Author/editor of things on Elizabeth Bishop. Yes, I still write letters & postcards. Paid and sometimes unpaid academic. He/him.
Four baselines for academic conference attendance: 1) keep to your allocated speaking time. 2) everyone is clever; stand out by being warm & kind. 3) be interested in everyone equally - from postgrad to Prof to conference administrator to catering & hotel staff. 4) in Q&A, ask an actual question.
If you're arriving at uni this autumn, or maybe dropping your kids, remember that there could be a ghostly phalanx of absent redundant staff, lost modules and degraded degrees making it a very unhappy place. It may *look* the same, but it won't *be* the same. www.ft.com/content/e5b0...
Several UK universities nearly ran out of cash last year, says report
Almost a quarter of higher education institutions were left with less than 70 days of cash to cover costs
ft.com
University senior leaders have discovered that the best way to improve education & research is to make academics spend more time worrying about whether they’ll still have a job 😉
UK is now sabotaging its own future by closing university courses in: Mathematics, Chemistry, Nursing, Physics, Modern Languages, Music, Astronomy, Creative Arts, English, History, Classics A gutting of disciplines that keep people alive, drive discovery & give the country any claim to culture
The House of Lords fiddled while Exeter burns: at last week’s HE debate, a host of Oxford-associated grandees made the usual points while the sector continued to melt down, says Andrew McRae https://ow.ly/AyVu50ZlVoG
‘We urge the Government to prioritise this issue. Should this situation continue unchecked, the damage to the health of higher education, research and innovation will be profound and have long-lasting consequences.’ www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/stateme...
British Academy President: UK higher education crisis risks irreversible damage
As course closures, shrinking provision and widening regional inequalities threaten the future of UK higher education and research, President of the British Academy, Susan J Smith calls for an immedia...
thebritishacademy.ac.uk
This game has all the elements that make watching England excruciating at every single World Cup.
This is one of the dumbest and saddest things I've ever seen. We should not think of universities in this way, and if we do that'll destroy everything that is both useful and good about them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Find out which university degrees could earn you most across your lifetime
New data suggests which university degrees have the highest and lowest financial returns over a lifetime.
bbc.co.uk
I am once again begging universities to realise that staff - academic, professional services, estates, all of them - are the product they are trying to sell. Without staff there is nothing to sell. No amount of flashy buildings will replace staff in universities. UKHE is in freefall.
Applying for promotion has led to the usual outcome. Not good enough. Fail again, fail better.
What's it actually feel like to live through the decline and fall of mass Higher Education in Britain? Today I've written about this from the inside here... Hope you like it, and hope you find it useful. isrf.org/blog/what-do...
What Does It Feel Like to Live Under the Threat of Redundancy?
isrf.org
‘The humanities will bury their undertakers.’ That was my concluding remark for this R4 show earlier this week. Contributors collectively showed why the humanities matter and how they might develop and flourish in a more digital age. Do take a listen www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Sounds - Rethink, Rethink... the Humanities
Should we be rethinking the humanities for a digital age?
bbc.co.uk
“It’s been 25 years since I got my PhD…” (me) “Why aren’t you a professor yet?” (the Little One)
“Neglect bordering on vandalism.” Pithy but true summary of successive governments’ treatment of universities. But Labour’s in power now and needs to do something about it fast before further damage is done. @labouruk.bsky.social
Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 3mo agoThe Society's President and Council have released the following statement on the proposed closure of undergraduate degrees at the University of Hertfordshire, in #History and the wider humanities bit.ly/4dmV5oO This comes at a time of further bad news from Essex and Nottingham #Skystorians
'Proposed staff cuts at some of the UK’s leading science departments should prompt ministers to reconsider whether the future of subjects key to industrial strategy ambitions are left to the markets, experts have said.' 1/2
Science job losses ‘at odds with Labour’s industrial strategy’
Ministers urged to intervene as proposed cuts to highly regarded chemistry departments threaten UK government’s skills and growth plans
timeshighereducation.com
East Asian Studies is being gutted at Sheffield - all staff at risk with 8.6 FTE proposed to go (a third of us). Biggest cuts in Chinese and Japanese Studies. We’ll be taking a few days to process. Solidarity to Materials and Chemistry colleagues who are also dealing with similarly bad news.
Plans to reduce staff numbers in the University of Sheffield’s famed chemistry department risk causing “lasting damage”, @sheffielducu.bsky.social warns www.timeshighereducation.com/news/sheffie... via @jgro-the.bsky.social
Sheffield’s renowned chemistry department at risk in latest cuts
Plans to cut staff numbers in department that has produced four Nobel prizewinners will harm university’s research reputation, warns UCU
timeshighereducation.com
#EnglishCreates: Futures 'Varieties of English' concludes with a series of posts on Elizabeth Bishop, curated by Dr Jonathan Ellis (University of Sheffield). The series will also feature posts by students who were involved in the project - watch this space! universityenglish.ac.uk/the-art-form...
Exactly what I talk about in my @isrfoundation.bsky.social piece this week. Increasingly Arts and Humanities will be limited to so-called 'top' universities, with large cold spots across the country which mean that students from lower income backgrounds simply cannot access them. Do you want that? 🤷♂️
University of Hertfordshire UCU@uhertfordshireucu.bsky.social · 3mo agoOn Friday afternoon before the Bank Holiday, colleagues in the Humanities department were called to a meeting on Tuesday. They were informed that the University Portfolio Review had decided that English Language, English Literature, Philosophy, History & Creative Writing UG degrees would close
Is the government doing anything to prevent the hollowing out of university departments across the country? If 1000s of jobs were being lost in housing or manufacturing, ministers would at least be forced to answer difficult questions.
Sheffield has long nursery waiting lists Yet Sheffield Hallam University’s nursery - open beyond just staff - has falling attendance It's not well publicised 😉 Because SHU wants to shut it & sell the building to balance the books. Convenient timing 😲 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sheffield Hallam University nursery closure plan 'mad' - parents
Sheffield Hallam University is consulting over the closure of its Collegiate Nursery site.
bbc.co.uk
Little one is old enough to watch The Sopranos. Significant milestone achieved. Bada Bing!
Updating my CV is not an activity that fills me with joy.
We managed 24 pancakes this year! With Vermont maple syrup courtesy of a friend.
