University of Leicester Lecturer Reviews

Pros

The freedom to do the job my way

Cons

Being constrained by, mostly necessary, university regulations

Advice to Management

Invest in 21st century equipment for teaching

Pros

The normal benefits of working as an academic - flexible hours, predictable routines, etc. Academic staff are friendly to each other.

Cons

There is a push to increase student numbers to help the financial situation. The negative impact on staff is: - An ever-reducing quality of student. To increase numbers the entry requirements are lowered meaning we have to teach degree-level content to students that struggle to cope with it. - The Larger workload for marking, supervising etc. There is a large disparity in the pay and position of staff between departments and within departments. There are staff that have been around for a long time and were promoted during periods when promotions were easy. They clutter up the place on high salaries that block others. Teaching or Admin staff are treated like 2nd class citizens with no pretence that things should be any different. Leicester considers itself a research-led university and won't recognise that it's teaching and students support services that keep everyone in a job.

Advice to Management

I wouldn't put a sign highlighting which is the parking space for the VC given the unpopular nature of some of the decisions that are being made.

Pros

As an academic, there is relative freedom to pursue your own research.

Cons

I feel compelled to write this review because of the five star reviews that have been posted recently. Although some may be genuine, my suspicion is that at least some are fabricated. Let me explain. As a non-academic, the university is probably a good place to work. As an academic: Almost all departments are currently undergoing brutal "transformation" which is mainly about sacking staff. For example, the mathematics department were told to reapply for their jobs (after which 6 or so would be let go - approx 20 - 25% of the workforce). And similar approaches have been taken with other departments. Hopefully this review will serve to inform job seekers of the current situation.

Advice to Management

Your current approach is probably doomed to fail. I suggest to rethink, and try to get some talented managers in place. Hopefully things can be turned round, but at the moment most academic staff are very dissatisfied, and this will make it very difficult to get meaningful change pushed through (assuming you can identify what meaningful changes to make).

Pros

Good salary, possibility to work off-campus, emphasis on research, collegiality

Cons

increasing emphasis on funding capture and student satisfaction

Pros

Relatively reasonable pension scheme. Attempt to meet Athena Swan criteria.

Cons

Very little (compared to other university) paid leave - 25 days p/a. Unrealistically tough promotion policy (requirements are higher than those in Oxbridge); promotion is not based on skills but on political policies within the university. Faculty carry too many administrative responsibilities; very little time for research; teaching load is too high and actual interaction with students is very much time consuming without any significant benefit (for the students and for the results); unrealistic attention to individual students complaints (instead of looking at statistics).

Advice to Management

Cut on administration (which seems to be unrealistically in numbers) and generates useless tasks just to justify its existence; more departmental independence in finances; hire more teaching-prevalent staff at appropriate high level to relieve the research staff for doing research and achieve high REF. Increase paid leave at least to 30 days p/a (preferably 35). Cut on cosmetic campus investments (as recently installed useless statue in front of the library) and invest in more faculty positions.