‘Pandemia’: a reckoning of UK universities’ corporate response to COVID-19 and its academic fallout

Abstract

Universities in the UK, and in other countries like Australia and the USA, have responded to the operational and financial challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritising institutional solvency and enforcing changes to the work-practices and profiles of their staff. For academics, an adjustment to institutional life under COVID-19 has been dramatic and resulted in the overwhelming majority making a transition to prolonged remote-working. Many have endured significant work-intensification; others have lost -or may soon lose -their jobs. The impact of the pandemic appears transformational and for the most part negative. This article reports the experiences of n=1,099 UK academics specific to the corporate response of institutional leadership to the COVID-19 crisis. We find articulated a story of universities in the grip of 'pandemia' and COVID-19 emboldening processes and protagonists of neoliberal governmentality and market-reform that pay little heed to considerations of human health and wellbeing.

Co-Constructing a Community of Practice for Early-Career Computer Science Academics in the UK

“…For many this is while working in a precarious and for some a short term contract [11,27]. As a backdrop to this, workload in the UK higher education sector has become a highly contested issue [26] and a common topic in many discussions with early-career practitioners (and more so with the impact of COVID-19 [2,28,29]).…”

“…The scheme was formally initiated in December 2020. To date three developmental/networking events have been delivered online, primarily due to the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented considerable challenges for computer science [2,21] and for higher education in general [28,29]. Alternative approaches would have been considered in other circumstances.…”

‘Living at work’: COVID-19, remote-working and the spatio-relational reorganisation of professional services in UK universities

“…The physical closure of university campuses around the world, in response to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) global pandemic, instigated major changes in working practices and conditions for university staff. While recent studies have considered the impact of a transition to remote-working on academic staff caused by the pandemic (McGaughey et al, 2021 ; Shankar et al, 2021 ; Watermeyer et al, 2021b , c ), scant attention has been paid to the impact on non-academic and/or ‘para-academic’ (Macfarlane, 2010 ) staff working in the ‘third space’ (Whitchurch, 2013 ) of universities’ professional services arms. Such an oversight is not without precedent, with much research literature on work in higher education settings neglecting study of the professional services (Whitchurch, 2018 ).…”

Inclusive Education in Wales: Interpreting Discourses of Values and Practice Using Critical Policy Analysis

“…Alongside the design and construction of the new Curriculum for Wales from 2016 to 2020, we have also seen the development of the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) 1 system-a new statutory support system for children and young people aged 0-25 years with a learning difficulty or disability; the ALN system will be enacted from September 2021 (Welsh Government, 2018). Furthermore, these major education system reforms in Wales are now being undertaken during the COVID-19 global pandemic, alongside the shift to "emergency remote teaching" (Watermeyer, Crick, Knight, & Goodall, 2021;Shankar et al, 2021;Watermeyer, Shankar, et al, 2021) from March 2020 onwards and the resulting demands of online learning, teaching and assessment across all settings, ages and contexts, in Wales and internationally (Crick, 2020(Crick, , 2021OECD, 2021;UNESCO, 2021;Welsh Government, 2020c).…”

“…Furthermore, these major education system reforms in Wales are now being undertaken during the COVID-19 global pandemic, alongside the shift to "emergency remote teaching" (Watermeyer, Crick, Knight, & Goodall, 2021;Shankar et al, 2021;Watermeyer, Shankar, et al, 2021) from March 2020 onward and the resulting demands of online learning, teaching and assessment across all settings, ages and contexts, in Wales and internationally (Crick, 2020(Crick, , 2021OECD, 2021;UNESCO, 2021;Welsh Government, 2020c).…”