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2sides2everystory

So in your university, TOW, the 12.5 hours interactive figure rings true and so does the £30 an hour bit because the building facade has to be maintained, the library of course, and the staff with their various service titles kept in the manner to which they have become accustomed?

One of the main actual course interactive resources i.e. access to the lecturer, is woefully underused you say - does that mean you have highly paid lecturers twiddling their thumbs or indulging their own interests in that "spare time"?

Might we usefully suggest that needs some serious looking at in the university you have in mind ?

I assume that this is a university that has already decided it is worth £9,000 per year next year ? Is it one offering cashback ?

The_One_Who

2sides2everystory wrote: »

So in your university, TOW, the 12.5 hours interactive figure rings true and so does the £30 an hour bit because the building facade has to be maintained, the library of course, and the staff with their various service titles kept in the manner to which they have become accustomed?

In my final two years, it would have been less than that. In my first two years it was probably more than double that. Although in my final two years my classes were closer to around ten people per class.

One of the main actual course interactive resources i.e. access to the lecturer, is woefully underused you say - does that mean you have highly paid lecturers twiddling their thumbs or indulging their own interests in that "spare time"?

Yes, you have highly qualified lecturers/researchers and some PhD students for the freshers who are confined to their offices for a few hours a week. Most can work on their own stuff in this time, and on the off chance that someone appears they will put it to the side to help. Others try to catch up on the thousands of pages of paperwork that they need to complete for the administration of courses.

Might we usefully suggest that needs some serious looking at in the university you have in mind ?

I assume that this is a university that has already decided it is worth £9,000 per year next year ? Is it one offering cashback ?

This university is one of the few which are running in a surplus, so it seems to be working out better than some others. This university is also one of the best for local access in the country, considering more than half its students come from the local area and always have.

Oldernotwiser

2sides2everystory wrote: »

One of the main actual course interactive resources i.e. access to the lecturer, is woefully underused you say - does that mean you have highly paid lecturers twiddling their thumbs or indulging their own interests in that "spare time"?

It is right and proper that academic staff are "indulging " their own academic interests in their spare time. It's part of what they're paid for; sometimes the most important part.

(And since when have lecturers been highly paid?)

The_One_Who

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

(And since when have lecturers been highly paid?)

Ha! In fairness, some are paid extremely well, although these tend to be the senior staff who are often taking on administrative duties as well. But for the rank-and-file when you consider their qualifications and that they effectively work two full-time jobs (researching and teaching) it's not very much.

Oldernotwiser

The_One_Who wrote: »

Ha! In fairness, some are paid extremely well, although these tend to be the senior staff who are often taking on administrative duties as well. But for the rank-and-file when you consider their qualifications and that they effectively work two full-time jobs (researching and teaching) it's not very much.

Unless things have changed since my day, I doubt very much that it's the senior staff who have many office hours open to undergraduates.

I also think that what you or I consider as being paid extremely well paid may be different from others on here who expect their offspring to be higher tax payers before the age of 30.

melancholly

2sides2everystory wrote: »

I am not here for the to and fro of debate. I am here to influence opinion and move minds.

then really, have a read back of some of your posts. they're difficult to get through in many cases. i think 'moving minds' requires engaging in debates rather than happening somehow outside of that so i admit you've lost me there completely. i honestly think your points would resonate more if they were made slightly differently. that would help everyone, no matter what differing opinions they may have (for example, smf2 and i have very different opinions on many aspects of the HE loans system, but i find their posts much clearer and easier to follow).

melancholly

The_One_Who wrote: »

Ha! In fairness, some are paid extremely well, although these tend to be the senior staff who are often taking on administrative duties as well. But for the rank-and-file when you consider their qualifications and that they effectively work two full-time jobs (researching and teaching) it's not very much.

apart from those who are in the uni management and not really 'academic staff', the max salary is limited by the pay scales now though, surely? even the very top end of a professor scale wouldn't get into mega bucks (and for that i'll use an arbitrary cut off of into 6 figures - which is your average GP salary these days ). granted VCs get far more than they should, but there's only one per uni so that's not so representative!

it's plenty to live off - it's not a 'bad' salary at all. but it isn't huge. the ones who do well financially are the ones with a sideline in popular books and media appearances.... which is always the way to get a good 'academic' reputation

2sides2everystory

melancholly wrote: »

...then really, have a read back of some of your posts. they're difficult to get through in many cases. i think 'moving minds' requires engaging in debates rather than happening somehow outside of that so i admit you've lost me there completely.

Engaging in debates is one means of attempting to move minds, but MSE is no think tank nor Oxford debating society. My posts may often fall flat or alternatively they may provoke or even infuriate but MSE-willing they are a feature of the landscape so I can only suggest that you get over it. I am not submitting them for the purposes of gaining marks out of ten, but if, given some of your views, you find them difficult to deal with then perhaps I am broadly on the right track on the opposite side

melancholly

2sides2everystory wrote: »

I am not submitting them for the purposes of gaining marks out of ten, but if, given some of your views, you find them difficult to deal with then perhaps I am broadly on the right track on the opposite side

it's not about being difficult to deal with but being difficult to understand..... but i'll leave it at that since you seem to be completely misinterpreting what i'm saying.

FrankieBoyle

melancholly wrote: »

then really, have a read back of some of your posts. they're difficult to get through in many cases.

I don't have any trouble? Maybe you just have difficulty accepting another persons POV? Actually, your posts are more difficult to understand - a few capital letters would be nice:p