Working at a university

[Prebisu]

What's it like to work at a university in professional support staff?

Outside of work to what extent can you get involved in "university life" given that you are a staff member and not a student? I assume the work is too time consuming.

• Pay isn’t great and progression can be limited
• Pension is okay, although most pensions schemes/benefits have declined over recent years
• Staff can apply for a NUS card (Totum) so you can get student discounts

• Staff can’t join student clubs/societies, if that’s what you mean by getting involved in “university life”?
• At my university, staff can apply to be part of the graduation ceremonies, and wear the fancy robes
• Staff can sometimes get discounts on tuition fees if they want to do a degree alongside their work
• You generally have access to the university library, so you can borrow books

Universities are nice places to work on the whole, especially if you work in a student facing role as it can be very rewarding. The low pay and bureaucracy can be frustrating, but I do have a better work-life balance compared to friends in the private sector

I am at management grade working in a university. The money is excellent for the work life balance I have. I finish at 5 every day and get a full hour for lunch. We can apply to study for free on any of our courses, or can go to other institutions. Further study is very encouraged and even lower grade admin roles have people with degrees. My promotion options are very limited as I am one of kind in the University so unless my manager leaves I am staying were I am but I have no complaints. Compared to private consultancy there is a lot of bureaucracy and things are painfully slow to move sometimes but I've learned to roll with it. I do feel a bit trapped though because I won't get the same terms elsewhere.

Regarding student life I would say we benefit from aspects of it. Often they have bands and comedians in during the day that we can enjoy, or just generally the students hijinks can be a bit of fun.

@indigoemerald yes I meant societies because I know from some people that some universities actually allow non-uni members to join a society (for an additional fee). A friend's DD joined a dance society at a university when she was doing a placement in a completely different city.

The annual leave is excellent, they were very supportive during COVID when I was struggling with childcare.
Not a great time to be looking at the moment though as most universities are cutting back.

There's only one club staff are allowed join out of the 100s of clubs and socs we have. And thats because its so hard to get young people with the right experience to run it

Depends on your level at my uni ... academics get 10 more days than lower grade support staff. Very senior support staff have 5 more days.

@Prebisu was your DD's friend a student though? I think that would make a difference.

At my university staff can’t join student societies - I believe students from the other university in my town can sign up though which might be similar for your friend’s DD?

I don’t think students would particularly want a staff member joining in to be honest, it might make them feel like they are being supervised/have to be well behaved all the time!

I was in a senior support role in two different unis (one RG, one modern). I liked working in HE but the money wasn’t great. Only reason I left really as the culture was one I enjoyed (it’s not for everyone, support staff are defo way down the pecking order compared to academics).

I work in IT at a university and I concur with the other people here. The work/life balance is so much better here than in private industry. The downside is that the wages aren't great and the pay "rises" over the last few years haven't kept pace with inflation. Kiss goodbye to performance-related pay, too.

Opportunities for career progression are very limited. If you're used to working in relatively fast-paced private industry then universities can be painfully slow in many respects. A surprising number of staff members have never worked anywhere else which can engender a "this is the way we've always done it" approach. This may also have a knock-on effect for your future career: it's not difficult to go from private industry into higher education, but it's not easy to go back. Of the last few people I know who have left, nearly all of them have gone to either the public or charity sectors.

We can't join student societies but there are a variety of staff clubs we can join instead. There's one that organises theatre trips, another for lone parents, another for LGBT+ staff and so on. Plus we get discounts on the uni gym and many events that take place on campus.

It suits me. I'm in my 50s and I really don't want to work all the weekends and evenings that I used to in business. But I think if I'd started working here back in my 20s it would have put a big crimp in my career.

Lots of universities are struggling financially. I know two people who work as non-teaching staff and both had to reapply for their roles since covid. Something to look into with the place you are considering applying to.

Friend's DD was a student yes, but said that locals from the area were free to join.

It's interesting mixing with young people, but there is a reluctance, post-Covid, on their part to actually talk to you in person. That's real shame, as they don't understand that you get more out of face to face communication than you do over e-mails.

As staff you are so far down the pecking order after academics. Exam term is bad for working long hours, mainly due to the extra writing time and rest breaks some students are awarded, so it's an early start and a late finish for all but two weeks of the final term, and that is physically and mentally exhausting. Then comes the fall out from exam results, at a time when all the academics have gone off to do things they feel are far more important than helping undergraduates, so you can never get hold of anyone. "I'm away from my e-mails until October and will reply in due course."

No courses or society memberships. However, great that I get a free lunch every day, as I'm based in an establishment which feeds both students and academics.

In my experience universities don't care about their professional services staff on the lower grades, they're very happy for you to kill yourself working to make sure the necessary outcomes are achieved but you get absolutely none of the credit.

However the admin roles pay pretty good and better than most admin roles in private sector. Good holidays. No progression for the most part due to the way departments are structured so you'll likely be stuck in your role for a long time.

Some academics are lovely but quite a few are pretty awful to work with and will treat admin staff with absolute contempt if you dare ask them to do something that is part of their job.

I'm lucky in that I don't often have to interact directly with academics. Most of them are fine but there is a sizeable minority that can be very prima donna-ish. What I find particularly "entertaining" are the academics who teach computer networking - an industry I've spent my entire career working in - and who are teaching things that are at least a decade out of date.

Then comes the fall out from exam results, at a time when all the academics have gone off to do things they feel are far more important than helping undergraduates, so you can never get hold of anyone

You mean the research they are actually employed for ?

Two minutes working in professional services and you won't want to join student societies!

My professional services colleagues are paid a fraction of their work and often very busy and unappreciated. BUT, at others have said they're out of the office by 5, take a full lunch etc.

There's a huge range of roles though, and so things will vary hugely by department and by role.

What's the sense of community like in the workplace?

I think it very much varies between universities and departments. Where I work we have just had another round of redundancies, however I still think we are valued in what we do and my department is a great place to work. Its a small campus uni with beautifully maintained grounds with something always going on.

They make the terms very good to balance out the lower pay. In term time I have to be in the office as students are around but over the summer (3.5 months!) we just need minimal office cover and others can work remotely. Emergencies for sick children/house disasters etc are fine and sickness is treated as it should be, we are encouraged not to work when sick. (Contrast to working in schools is so huge!)

Personally for me it's great but I'm not career/money motivated. With some things the slowness and bureaucracy of some things is exhausting and it can be very hard to make some of the academics understand that what we are doing is for their benefit in the long run but to be honest there are are inflexible people everywhere. It's a much healthier environment to work in than any of the schools I worked at.

@Prebisu as others have said, the pay isn't great but the long holidays and relatively relaxed culture are a bonus. I'm an IT professional. I like the majority of people I work with. Some are better at their jobs than others, and some work harder than others, but that isn't reflected in their pay - we do have appraisals but they're pretty meaningless without performance-related pay.

My uni offers distance learning courses, and one of our benefits is a massive discount if we want to do one of the courses ourselves, so that can be a positive for some people.

There are a few staff clubs, but not many.

I work in PS at a big UK uni. I love it. I worked in industry before, took a PhD and then fell into this. Not as much cash, but a lot less stress. I like pretty much everyone I work with, but there are some interesting characters. Given the unstable state of UK HE, I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but it should see me though the next few years.

How generous are the staff discounts for master's degrees?

It depends on the university - it can range from 10% through to 50% based on the universities I have worked for. Also depends on the Masters course, at my current institution the discount is only applicable if the Masters is relevant to your role (so for example I couldn’t get the discount on a Chemistry MSc, but could get it on an IT/Management related MA)

I don't think students would want staff in their clubs, would they?

Where I work master's are free for staff provided you can come up with a reason for how it could enhance your job role. Those reasons can be really quite tenuous.

We get 80% off distance-learning qualifications with the University of London: https://www.london.ac.uk/