....to apply for uni admin jobs when universities seem to be in trouble?

[mumofoneofeach75]

Hello, hoping for some advice from current university staff. Posting here for traffic. I asked for advice a few months ago - I'm a secondary school teacher (core subject) desperately looking for alternatives (especially after the GCSE & A Level results....). Uni admin was recommended by some posters, but Brexit was also mentioned as a worry. Things seem to be much worse since I posted-falling numbers of both UK and international students, potential losses of EU funding, closing departments and "restructuring". I read an article in the Guardian yesterday about huge numbers of EU academic staff looking to leave UK institutions because of immigration worries and potentially significant loss of research funding. Are things looking as dire within the universities as it seems from the media? I'm really desperate and where I live, a uni job looks to be my best chance of getting out of teaching. Any information will be very gratefully received.

They're massive employers and they're not doing too badly as a whole. Depends on the job, obviously, and any dept can face cuts, but I wouldn't let that put you off. Just please make sure you fit the job requirements and can clearly demonstrate it on your application! (Currently working through huge pile of job apps which are appallingly written with no thought for the actual post)

It depends on the uni and the role. Some admin posts where i work have tenure which means you are pretty much insulated from redundancy

Generally uni admin departments are poorly run, which is why a lot of unis struggle. They need influxes of bright industry experienced administrative and change professionals but can't afford them, and so get stuck with those who need an academic admin role for one reason or another. It's a real shame.

Thank you for replying. I used to work in admin for corporate companies before becoming a teacher and I have signed up for an online business administration course. Are the RSA requirements I often see on the "essential" criteria non-negotiable? Once I have completed the Business Admin course, I intend to do some Microsoft courses for PowerPoint, Word & Excel. I use them every day but thought getting some certificates would support my application.

I've mainly seen subject administrator roles and roles in student services. Hoping to boost the low salary with some exam marking (I already do this) and maybe some tutoring. Do people tend to work after hours a lot (single parent with young school age children).

Not university but I've done high school admin - I think you'll find it dull after teaching

Can you swap to primary?

No-one in U.K. HE has "tenure" unless they were employed prior to Nov 1987 and haven't been promoted or changed roles since then - so hardly anyone!
Having said that most Universities are relatively stable employers - lots of doom and gloom, mostly exaggerated.

@nuttynoo

• quite a sweeping generalisation there. What's your evidence?

Admin are rarely required to work outside core hours & if they are they get paid overtime. Even academics are supposed to get time in lieu. Lol!

universities are constantly trying to cut admin jobs and failing....it looks pretty safe from where I'm sitting (watching another round of 'restructure admin to reduce costs' produce yet more admin jobs :))

Thanks for all the replies - seems a steady option. I'm mid 40s - hopefully that won't be a problem (ageism). Not sure I could teach Primary and the marking seems as bad or even worse than secondary. Boring sounds almost desirable at the moment - I'll probably try to continue online/distance learning studying. Thanks for all the replies - I'm feeling a lot more positive now.

My experience of university admin type jobs is that they are fairly stable in that they tend to stick to standard procedures which are well laid out. For example, where I work if they want to cut down on staffing costs, it is done through a combination of not filling posts when people leave, (unless managers can put a good case for posts being vital), early retirement and voluntary redundancies. Lots of restructuring goes on but staff are more likely to be redeployed elsewhere in the university rather than being made redundant.
The above does cause other problems but there is a sense of having a certain level of protection. Policies on sick leave, maternity leave, flexible working etc. are clearly defined.

You need to watch your terminology. "Admin" in universities means the senior non teaching/lecturing staff. Everyone else is "support staff". I found they are really looked down on by the acadmemic staff - very much us and them mentality.
So whereas in business it felt like everyone in the company was helping to achieve x, y and z; in university only the research staff are seen as doing that and the support staff are only supporting them.

My sister couldn't stock her uni support role any more, and would definitely agree with JustHappy3 that there's a culture clash with the academic staff, who seemed to have forgotten how to do anything for themselves whatsoever.

i've been in admin in a University for 10 years +. Rounds of volunrary redundancies go round annually but it is very rare an admin member gets it. They seem to ringfence the admin as once a role goes they can't then replace it.

I'm not worried about my job but must say that it is a changing workforce under the threats.

I know two people employed by the university near us and both really rate it as an employer in terms of support, pension, pay, holidays and security. One has bad mental health issues and they've been great in organising counseling for her. I've been on the brink of leaving teaching a couple of times and was keeping a close eye on the university jobs page to be honest! Go for it!

Ha, I'm a Uni admin person trying to get out :)

Pros
flexible working (in my university)
easy (seriously, easy, easy work)
pension
some lovely colleagues
totally stable and safe as long as you're not tied to a grant term.

Cons
highly dull
you are not a priority
no promotion
no pay rise (well, my last one was 0.5%)
no recognition for above and beyond.

It has been a very useful job while my daughter was young but I don't think I've used my brain in 6 years.

I work at a university which is a ton 10 global university (so seriously high ranking). We are always hiring. In fact, in my department, we rely on temps to support the main team because it's so difficult to fill vacancies and there's so much to do!!!

I wouldn't have too much of an issue jumping between institutions I think as there's lots of jobs available.

I think you're focusing too much on wider sector issues which every sector has. I haven't heard of widespread lay offs and cuts, yet. And the one time I did it was at a university that was actively hiring.

Good luck with search and application!

*top

I'd say go for it too!

However, as with the corporate world, there is a huge variety of jobs under the banner 'admin', from clerical work and data entry, to Director level. The pros and cons will depend on the role. I can't see my Director of Marketing saying their role is easy or highly dull, whereas one or two of the cashiers might well regard their role as dull.

Agree with flexibility though, for instance the vast majority of institutions in the sector are happy for staff to work from home or leave early on occasion (or even regularly!). Decent pension too and nice intelligent people plus I quite like working in a sector that values learning and how it develops our young people.

@Nuttynoo the university I work at is run more like a private company in how it is organised in that it's really productive, efficiently organised running of programmes and marketing activities, fast turnaround on expenses, good project management and hard working and intelligent workers. I will probably look to private sector for next job role as couldn't go back to inefficient university job and be institutionalised in a typical HE role. Shame.

PeaFaceMcgee - I had this in previous job role. Didn't work to have academics running admin/professional services/marketing - the decision-making wasn't always great.

Interestingly I don't deal with many academics now and I'm line managed by professionals. Maybe it's a coincidence but has been smoother.

The academic/professional dynamic has always been wobbly. I think a lot of it is due to heads of departments not setting clear enough expectations of both, working separately, and both, working together.

It would also help if some academics weren't dicks 😂

There's not as much job security as there was but it's still pretty good. And there's so many EU staff employed in professional services teams in unis - if they leave someone will still need to do the work!

The pay and conditions are generally OK - and things lie holidays, sick pay often better than private.

Can be a bit dull. Academics can be a bit arsey. But the culture varies hugely from uni to uni and team to team - in my area and uni we're very highly thought of.

Also, it's a good segue move for you - education to education admin could then open up jobs elsewhere in a new career.

One more thing though - many of the roles are careers in themselves and will have quite specific requirements - eg you can't just take on a role as a librarian in a uni, it's not an admin job anyone can just do. Same for HR, finance, etc, though there are entry levels roles for each of these careers around.

It would also help if some academics weren't dicks 😂

This should be engraved over the entrance to every university to remind the ornery sods. #notallacademics

"My sister couldn't stock her uni support role any more, and would definitely agree with JustHappy3 that there's a culture clash with the academic staff, who seemed to have forgotten how to do anything for themselves whatsoever."

[sceptical]

Most academic staff I know are doing a LOT of jobs extremely well - they are expected to be world-class researchers, extremely good teachers, excellent managers, and strategic leaders. I actually think lower grades of support staff in academia do a lot less for the academics than in cognate industries like private sector law or accountancy firms, for quite a bit more money. Higher up, there are some really excellent people where I work, but they are almost invariably those with PhDs who have gone into the admin side rather than the academic side.

OP: universities have become very neoliberal, and there has been a proliferation of professional service jobs, some of which are absolutely essential, others of which seem completely unnecessary.
I think it's likely that some professional services jobs will go in future because they are going to have to cut back in response to the pretty dire funding problems. But that doesn't mean that all of them will go by any means! The work can be well-paid and rewarding, too.