‘The dice are loaded’: history, solidarity and precarity in Australian universities

Support for doctoral candidates in Australia during the pandemic: the case of the University of Melbourne

“…My impression is that the pandemic has been a wakeup call for many of us, each has learned a different set of lessons and will be committed to a different set of actionssome think this is the last straw for them in academia, some are more committed than ever before to reclaiming the public higher education ideal. But for us to call the university a 'community', the internal growing divides must be bridgednot only between the manager and the managed but also between staff at the core and the periphery of academia (Thomas, Forsyth, and Bonnell 2020;Ford et al 2020).…”

Drivers and patterns of early retirement in the neoliberal university

“…Nevertheless, research shows that worker preferences and the actual timing of retirement reflect the interaction of various ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors (Stattin and Bengs, 2021) and that the late career and retirement pathways of university academics are heterogeneous (Cahill et al, 2021; Crow, 2021; Hutchings et al, 2022). While recent debate about labour processes in the university sector has particularly focused on women and those at earlier career stages (Thomas et al, 2020a), there may be merit in extending this to include comparisons with those at older ages, whose employment trajectories may be subject to similar contingencies. This may lead to mutually reinforcing intergenerational and diversity approaches (OECD, 2013).…”

“…Universities have undergone a profound transformation, becoming increasingly corporatised, taking on an overtly commercial orientation and entrepreneurial character (Jessop, 2017). Drawing from business models of production so-called neoliberal universities have turned to managerialist approaches that seek to minimise inefficiencies and condition workers to accept constant change and continuous flexibility (Troiani and Dutson, 2021), which has transformed the requirements and organisation of academic labour (Olssen and Peters, 2005;Thomas et al, 2020a). Workforce characteristics considered desirable in the market-oriented and entrepreneurial university, such as flexibility, the ability to navigate technological change, agility and innovation (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2016) contrast with common stereotypes of older workers (Brooke et al, 2013;Gringart et al, 2011).…”

“…Universities have undergone a profound transformation, becoming increasingly corporatised, taking on an overtly commercial orientation and entrepreneurial character (Jessop, 2017). Drawing from business models of production so-called neoliberal universities have turned to managerialist approaches that seek to minimise inefficiencies and condition workers to accept constant change and continuous flexibility (Troiani and Dutson, 2021), which has transformed the requirements and organisation of academic labour (Olssen and Peters, 2005; Thomas et al, 2020a).…”

‘To prove I’m not incapable, I overcompensate’: Disability, ideal workers, the academy

“…Working extra hours is not only considered routine, but academic staff feel the need to work outside of standard hours to make the necessary contributions to be respected (Brown and Leigh, 2018). Unpaid labour expectations of casual staff to develop skills, networks and reputation are also typical (Mellifont et al, 2019; Thomas et al, 2020). Overarching workplace expectations include academic progression assumptions for staff who are expected to want – and to be always working towards – progression to the next pay, title and responsibility level, which deepens the relentless productivity of the workplace (Shahjahan, 2015).…”