Publish or perish: Teaching falls by wayside in pursuit of cash

The pressure on junior academics to "publish or perish" means that there is little encouragement to improve teaching, according to Hau Hing Chau, a lecturer and teaching fellow in product design at Leeds University.

Despite commitments to improve the status of teaching in universities, senior staff were only really interested in how many published journal papers and research grant applications you had to your name, Dr Chau (pictured) said.

"People need time to develop their research. The pressure placed on junior members of staff is too high. There is very little encouragement to teach.

Senior managers don't really care about your teaching; what they care about is your publications and research income," he said.

The pressure to publish is driven by the research assessment exercise.

Academics will be expected to submit up to four papers in the 2008 exercise, and the results will determine millions of pounds of future funding.

"Quality (of papers) rather than quantity is the concern this time round,"

said Dr Chau, who started his doctorate in mechanical engineering at Leeds after a career as a mechanical designer in Hong Kong.

"Older colleagues say they didn't face this kind of pressure 30 years ago,"

he added.