Employment

Multibillion-pound funding gap may leave staff footing the bill

Fellowship will be extended if scholar attracts sufficient money from the public

Christopher Bigsby struggles to see the point of travelling to give a lecture

Staff contributions will need to increase by a third to clear a multi-billion pound deficit in the sector’s main pension fund, a new analysis says.

But employers dismiss potential impact of one-day strike

KwaZulu-Natal leader unveils controversial ‘equity index’ measuring universities’ performance on ethnicity and gender equity

By Colleen Flaherty, for Inside Higher Ed

Cut wages at top to underwrite living wage to all, say Young Greens

Faculty-in-residence keen to offer advice and a listening ear

University staff will hold a one-day strike on 31 October in a row over pay

Nearly two-thirds of University and College Union members voting in a ballot have backed strike action in a row over pay.

Brussels ‘to close file’ on foreign scholars battling ‘xenophobic’ law

The scheme to boost women in science is widening its impact

Emma Rees offers a time-sensitive account of the start of term

Applications to the Athena Swan Charter for Women in Science continue to grow, the latest set of awards has revealed.

Third initiative to foster fairer academy unveiled

Horizon Scanning study points to a ‘new kind of pedagogy’ in higher education by 2020

Generalists on fair terms would offer the flexibility the sector needs, argues Philip Roddis

Union members in higher education will be balloted for industrial action over the employers’ 1 per cent pay offer

A cross-party group of MPs has launched an inquiry that will look at the black and minority ethnic community’s interaction with higher education.

Alan Ryan reflects on the lack of uniformity in salaries for leaders of American higher education institutions

Malcolm Press withdraws claim to have ‘managed out’ under-performing staff at university

Meetings are an inescapable annoyance for most academics, but there are ways to make them more tolerable, John Kaag says

Union members at the University of Liverpool have backed a strike over plans to move non-academic staff on to contracts with new terms and conditions.

The University of Edinburgh has signed an agreement to cease all use of zero-hours contracts and replace them with “fair and equitable” deals.

The policies and realities of monitoring correspondence may vary, but the ethical implications are always significant

Union uncovers extent of casualised contracts in sector

Moving to a different sphere of study can be a fruitful - and liberating - experience

Dip into surplus to improve below-inflation 1% offer, union tells sector

Academics fear thin end of wedge

Allan Johnson on the misunderstood B-sides of conference presentations

A Scottish lecturer’s union has launched an investigation into the use of zero-hours contracts by universities and colleges in Scotland

Academics claim breach of data protection rules on Rate Your Lecturer website

Data show how much work conservation biologists do outside office hours

Global project explores the paucity of female leaders in academia

How long before search committees stop assuming that the right man for the top university job is a man?

Alessandra Lopez y Royo feels that money-obsessed universities are killing off integrity, honesty and mutual support

The University and College Union is among those invited to a Labour Party summit to discuss the controversial issue of zero-hours contracts.

UEL body plans research into attainment and staffing gap

When employers were freed go global, workers worldwide wobbled, says Ursula Huws

Academic experts who can also entertain enjoy the high life on the high seas

Early results show 40% of respondents feel ignored

UCU research aims to find figure for academy alone

Graeme Wilkinson left Wales to head a private institution that was more familiar than it first appeared

For academics, greater well-being doesn’t stem from spending more time at home

University denies reneging on promise not to penalise staff over issue

A US professor who Tweeted that if overweight PhD applicants “didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs” then they “won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation” has been formally censured by his university.

A legal challenge has been launched over law changes that unions claim make it easier to remove staff on fixed-term contracts.

Awards will go to arts, humanities and social science departments that hire and support women

Wikipedia ‘edit-a-thon’ bolsters profile of women who changed science

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald Kauvar and E. Grady Bogue on forced departures and how to avoid them

Matthew Reisz on how women walk the line between home and office

Lecturer was told he had ‘no future’ at Aberdeen if he continued battle

By Colleen Flaherty, for Inside Higher Ed

A strike ballot is opening at the University of Liverpool over plans to force about 2,800 non-academic staff to accept revised terms and conditions

The situation of the lettori - the British and other foreign lecturers working in Italian universities - has been dealt a blow by a new court ruling.

A protester has been arrested for allegedly writing in chalk on a university building during a demonstration in support of outsourced cleaners.

Students will demand ‘full-time professionals’, it is claimed, but others say the contracts will increase

Outsourced cleaners from Latin America have picketed a London university over calls to have them put on the institution’s payroll.

More than 3,000 higher education staff were made redundant as the sector prepared for the introduction of £9,000 tuition fees, a new study says.