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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask what people's impressions are of academics/the job role

177 replies

anotheracademic · 04/05/2011 17:44

I see there are quite a few of us and also see from the recent money and salary threads how much people are earning, working conditions and qualifications .
Im wondering what non academics impressions are of what we do, what they think/thought we earn and what we are like.

OP posts:
peppapighastakenovermylife · 04/05/2011 18:36

Beta - universities won't get more money though will they with the fees going up?

Students currently pay around £3500 ish. That is then made up by the government although I'm not sure the exact amount. It has been calculated for years that it costs around £8500 to process your average student per year.

Sorry, complete tangent!

peppapighastakenovermylife · 04/05/2011 18:36

Grin - Marsha - it is perhaps the truest perception on this thread!

MarshaBrady · 04/05/2011 18:37

haha that's lucky Grin

peppapighastakenovermylife · 04/05/2011 18:38

Hope so anotheracademic - just a few of us on here feeling rather bruised at the moment.

theveryangry - too much unfortunately!

albusmycat · 04/05/2011 18:38

I'm an academic. Things have changed over the past few years - we are under more and more pressure to be research active but still keep up the teaching commitment. No 'research leave' in my university - a reasonably prestigious university in the south of England. The workload is phenomenal - my days tend to be 8 'till 6, + weekends, and holidays are nothing like the 'uni term' myth. I took a pay cut (was teaching in school for 25 years) when I took on this job.

Hmmmm.... that sounds depressing! But I love it. Apart from the pay I wouldn't change anything - my colleagues are wonderful, and I have my own office!

Original poster
anotheracademic · 04/05/2011 18:39

We dont get "research leave" either

OP posts:
TheVeryAngryMumapillar · 04/05/2011 18:39

But what is too much peppa?

Want2bSupermum · 04/05/2011 18:43

I would hope that an academic is someone who carries out research for organizations and may pass on their knowledge through teaching students attending the university. I would think the good researchers and academics who generate research that companies purchase would be very well paid while others are not.

After dealing with a few academics I think many are very removed from the real world. I think you are all lovely but just removed from reality.

TotalChaos · 04/05/2011 18:44

non academic with academic friends. money seems to be OK (less than a professional job tho in law/medicine/accountancy etc), but job security especially early on seems pretty poor. seems to be some flexibility round working hours in arts, particularly in holidays so a bit more family friendly than the conventional 9-5 job, science research seems to be a bit of a hard grind tbh.

Honeybee79 · 04/05/2011 19:06

Yep, my DH really struggled to get a post and when he did it was fixed for 2 years with a massive teaching load leaving no time for him to publish. And he had to go for an insane amount of interviews just to get that. He really struggled even though he has a double first from Oxford (top in the year) plus a doctorate from the same. And he had manage to get some articles published. It just didn't seem a viable career for him even though he is brilliant and loves his subject. But classical philosophy is niche to say the least.

ginmakesitallok · 04/05/2011 19:10

DP is part academic part lecturer - so best and worst of both worlds I suppose. Job as secure as it can be, seems to spend most of his life marking exams/theses/dissertations.

peppapighastakenovermylife · 04/05/2011 19:10

In what way are we removed from reality want2besupermum?

theveryangry - essentially it is split into teaching, admin and research.

darleneoconnor · 04/05/2011 19:12

Without reading the thread I'd say:

they juggle lots of balls
-research
-teaching
-doing funding applications

I'd expect women in academia to be discriminated against.

I think people think they get lots of short holidays but forget about marking and research.

I dont think it's anywhere nearly as high paid as it used to be.

pointydog · 04/05/2011 19:14

I think academics spend too much time analysing themselves.

lljkk · 04/05/2011 19:18

I'm with Highlander.

C4ro · 04/05/2011 19:20

Well, generalising wildly but- academics are a strange bunch. Fiercely clever but somehow happy to spend large amounts of energy and brainpower on vicious in-fighting for rather small amounts of prestige. Politicking and Shennanigans on a far worse scale than anything I've seen in business. Large amounts of pressure to publish papers and be seen to be busy. Plus fighting for those funding allocations on a never-ending cycle as they don't last long. There is a small bit of time left at the end of all that for actual research/ pushing back the boundaries of knowledge I understand!
Oh, and the pay isn't great but is quite acceptable between 20-50K mostly grade dependent. Experience- not much myself but DH has been asked a few times by his old Uni to go back and be a Prof there. He is not keen. He has a few patents and every now and again he gets a laughable 50 Euros or something like that when someone uses one of them.

Original poster
anotheracademic · 04/05/2011 19:28

Not so much analysing but curious certainly pointy. I was intrigued by all the money and salary posts almost equating hard work and qualifications with pay and wondered if people had any idea how much the (possibly best) qualified in terms of awards people do get paid.

As far as the real world, we are well in touch. I spent a lot of today sorting out student problems - finance, learning problems, medical and personal stuff. Trying to scrape students through, deadlines, everyday admin including well, everything, office politics, dealing with people from all walks, threats of litigation and violence, extreme criticicm. Whats not real world about that?

OP posts:
AnnieBesant · 04/05/2011 19:35

Are there any professions that say "wahey - life is great!"?

Academics moans are similar to teachers IME.

DH is an engineer and the pages of 'Professional Engineering' are filled with angst about professional status (misuse of the word 'engineer') and equivalent pay.

What about Lawyers? Medics? I know fewer of them.

I am a whingey teacher btw!

Honeybee79 · 04/05/2011 19:39

I'm a lawyer and yes, lawyers are also full of professional angst. Tend to agree, Annie!

Original poster
anotheracademic · 04/05/2011 19:40

It wasnt about moaning, more about others impressions. I was picturing people thinking we were antisocial, scruffy, a bit eccentric and with mad hair. i was right Grin

OP posts:
SleeperService · 04/05/2011 19:44

Sorry to hi-jack thread, but I'd like to ask albusmycat how you found the transition from school teaching to academe?

I'm a HOD in a busy school, and enjoying what I do, but I've seen a PGCE lecturing job in a local uni - wondered whether you were in a similar field and could tell me how the workload compares?

MillyR · 04/05/2011 19:54

I think that the reputation of academics has been damaged by the fact that traditionally, the time most people would come into contact with an academic was when they were a student at university.

Increasingly, students are being taught by very junior academics, research students, and in some universities by people who are not academics at all. I have certainly known of courses being offered by a new university where the lecturers have come in from an FE background and have only an undergraduate degree and a PGCE, and no qualification at all in the area they are teaching in. I assume that is a consequence of the belief some people have that a lecturer merely facilitates learning, and if you have been taught to teach, you can teach anything.

It presents a very poor experience of Higher Education, and will be many people's only experience of academia.

I think it is a bit ludicrous to say that academics are out of touch with reality, when some of them are researching about and interacting with some of the most excluded people in society - a reality many ordinary people prefer to ignore.

Francagoestohollywood · 04/05/2011 19:55

I am married to an academic.

Dh has had quite a swift career in the UK. The salary is good (but not as good as in the UK since we've moved back to Italy)

He works a lot, but can manage his load quite creatively (comes home at about 6.30 pm, but then works once the children are in bed). Most of all he really loves his job, he thinks it's the best job ever.

Want2bSupermum · 04/05/2011 20:00

peppapighastakenovermylife I think it is part of being on the fringe of normal when it comes to intellegence and also the working environment being different.

The posting by albusmycat shows how far removed some academics are from reality.

'The workload is phenomenal - my days tend to be 8 'till 6, + weekends, and holidays are nothing like the 'uni term' myth.'

That sounds like quiet season to me....

AprilSunshine · 04/05/2011 20:04

I'm leaving academia as it's just too much. I've just completed my phd in biological sciences. In this area you can expect £26-£32 straight after PhD IF you can get a job, and it'll be a 1-3 year contract only. You will have to have published before you get a job normally. You can't get anything permanent until your 30s i reckon (and only if you're lucky!).

My OH has just got a postdoctoral research position (we couldn't cope with 2 academics in the family!) but I'm looking outside of academia and I can't find anything at all. I really don't know what to do. I've had plenty of interviews and they go really well, there's always someone that little bit more experienced than me.

Academia is hard, really hard and it's competitive. You can spend ages preparing a grant application and then, basically, you won't know if your work will be funded for another 6-9 months or so as the grant review process takes so long.

Therefore, I would say it's not the money, but the lack of job security that's the problem. For example, how are married academics supposed to get a mortgage when they're both on short-term contracts Hmm