Redundancies at the University of Birmingham

[supermum52]

Hi everyone,

The University of Birmingham has just announced its voluntary leavers scheme which is quite a generous package. I stand to gain 72,000, 30000 of which is tax-free. I am 52 years of age with two teenagers, aged 13 and 16 who are also very demanding. I am really fed up with the culture of overwork and stress at UoB and have wanted to leave for quite some time. At the same time, it is a well-paying job. The leavers package really tempts me. Any advice on the direction I should take would be appreciated.

@FreshLaundry @Alicecatto

I've put in a couple of grants this year am aware how difficult they are. But the odds are much worse for post doc/ RA applications atm - over 90 applicants for the last (pretty niche) fixed term job I was shortlisted for.

No idea why everyone here has decided RAs are easy jobs to get and it is reasonable to take VR from a senior position with a view to applying for them as an alternative to applying for own research money.

I was talking about this to a friend yesterday who told story about a senior fac member in humanities who took VR like 15 years ago, and assumed people he knew would pass him casual teaching work (back when there was more around) to carry him until his retirement while he spent more time on hobbies. His acquaintances said that work was reserved for PhDs so they stood a chance in the job market after graduating and he was unemployed for years.

I never said @wtw that RAs are easy jobs to get, nor that senior people should take them. I just noted that the VS package offered to OP was very good. I took VS to retire. I still write books, etc, but I am not applying for RA jobs, and the fellowship I will have in 25/26 is for mid career/senior/retired academics, not ECRs.

After I moved here from the States, I actually got my start here in the UK in academic by adjunct teaching for a few years, then received an RA, then a permanent job. I was tenured in the States, and had to basically start all over again here in the UK...the previous American experience didn't seem to "count". So I have had to climb the ladder twice, and never tried to imply it was easy.

My first fixed term job in the States: 80 applications
My tenure track job: 150 applicants
My permanent job in the UK: 100 applicants.

It is rough out there for everyone I suspect.

I think this demonstrates just as much the ageism of academia and the way that academics who’ve contributed and worked their hearts out are discarded and overlooked.

It’s why I’m reluctant to retire. I enjoy teaching and I’d keep on doing my research anyway so they may as well pay me. I offer excellent value in all sorts of ways - experience and the willingness to spend more than half my research time in facilitating other people’s careers and research.

It’s why I think @supermum52 is brave to consider VR. But then I don’t have a partner to support me while I consider what next, so I need to keep earning.

@YellowAsteroid

As is the policy of many departments, I can no longer apply for casual hourly rate teaching at the institution where I did my PhD, because current doctoral students have priority for these positions - even though I would be objectively better qualified (with a phd, and having taught the courses before). I don't think this is discriminatory against me; if this wasn't the policy, people would hang around in those positions (potentially for years), creating a bottle neck and new PhDs wouldn't have the opportunity to obtain even a bare minimum amount of experience. These are not only jobs but training opportunities, as part of doing a PhD.

But usually a lot if those applications are from people who don’t stand a chance of being shortlisted. So the competitions is actually not as bad as it might appear.

How long have you been at the UOB to get this amount

How long have you been at the UOB get this this offer?

VS announced at Sussex today. All very depressing.

How sad. What are the terms?

170 full time equivalent posts going at UEA, including in STEM. When will it stop?

VS almost certainly happening at Edinburgh

How do you know? What are the signs?

Edinburgh’s been announced and in the news.

Is the package attractive?

And Leicester just announced. Think by the end of the year, there will be more doing vol sev than not....

Edinburgh have said they are looking at options including VS but no details of what it would look like. And at an all staff meeting last week the principal said he didn't know where money for VS would come from so who knows how much (or little) it will be!

6 months salary pre-tax

One fifth of staff to lose jobs at Canterbury Christchurch, concentrated in whole departments to be aced

Geez. I am sorry. That is why they have taken nearly three months to pay my external’s fee!

It's very scary and depressing.

Lots leaving Loughborough under VS in two weeks’ time

Hi all,
So many unis making similar announcements, so huge sympathies to everyone... I've just added a very specific thread re pensions as my institution just announced VS. I'm similar to you @supermum52 - a little older at 55, and kids a little older too. I always thought I'd work until 60, but am seriously considering going given the generous package (and the likelihood of compulsories down the line). For me it isn't so much about the toxic work culture (massive sympathies - you sound amazing to have lasted so long), but just getting fed up with the overwork, the constant demands, dealing with systems that don't work etc etc. I also can't bear the idea of being in a place going through compulsory redundancies... I've watched it happen to people and its just horrid.

As many have pointed out, getting another academic job would be hard or impossible at the moment (and tbh I don't know if I'd have the energy) but I've been thinking about whether I could manage doing writing (ie unpaid research) in the mornings, and then a low paid job in the afternoons (work in a cafe, type thing...)

So, I guess what I'm asking @supermum52 and anyone else who is considering it... is how you are doing in terms of getting around the idea of no longer being an academic in terms of your identity...

Thanks@Dealingwithredundancy for your well wishes. Personally the huge relief of a future exit has eclipsed all professional identity concerns. My psychosomatic symptoms have vanished, and I am suddenly very upbeat and cheerful to the extent that people have remarked positively on my mood. I intend to adapt to whatever the future brings because it can only be better than the toxic work environment I have been enduring. Admittedly It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get another academic job; therefore, like yourself, I would not mind doing low-paid work for a while. Good luck with whatever path you choose to take.

This is interesting - that's what 60 weeks of my salary would be (if the #years was enough to get the maximum). I'm at another University which has recently announced coming VS, but we don't have the details yet.

I'm mid-career, doing hardly any research these days, but I often fantasize about returning to life as a postdoc. I do have to work as I have a mortgage and don't have a partner contributing. I will wait to see their offer ... and think.

@supermum52 brilliant to hear you are feeling so positive - it is clearly the right thing for you to do!
There is a lot to think about - the whole money side of things, impact on family, and then the identity / me-as-an-academic thing too...