Profit motive should not rule university management (From The Argus)

Profit motive should not rule university management

5:15pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

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In response to Simon Fanshawe’s letter (Letters, March 13) in which he claims that the proposals for change within the University of Sussex have been “developed by our leading academics at Sussex”: We presume that he means the Heads of School who were promoted and recruited specifically to assist management in its restructuring.

We are aware that these Heads are well-respected in their fields, and we do not doubt their credentials. We would, however, like to point out that many other leading academics at the university have offered up counter-proposals and have expressed concern about the damage management’s proposals would do to the reputation of the university.

These counter-proposals would involve fewer redundancies while working within the financial constraints that management uses to justify its action. These counter-proposals, however, have been recommended for rejection by senior management.

We are aware of wider budgetary constraints, but we disagree fundamentally with the use of these constraints to justify the complete restructuring and reorientation of the university. Mr Fanshawe argues that management want to keep the university’s values intact. Axing highly-respected departments, sacking highly-respected staff and forcing higher workloads on those who are left does not seem like the best way to do this.

One of the foundational values of the university is its interdisciplinary approach. Management is compromising courses while placing an alarming emphasis on the commercialisation of education.

We and Mr Fanshawe are in agreement about one thing: we want to change the world. What we disagree on is what sort of world we want.

The management of our university seems to want a world where research is predicated on business interests and education is secondary to profit.

This is why UCU is striking, and this is why students have been occupying a building on campus.

The Stop the Cuts Campaign, University of Sussex, Asa Briggs Building, Arts A2