Something is wrong within the Australian university sector. Following the final report of the Australian Universities Accord, we have seen multiple inquiries into university governance and extensive national media coverage highlighting crises within the sector. While the challenges of working in universities have never been more visible, what does this mean for prospective academics?
Our research, including a survey of over 500 Australian academics, explored what they had to say to prospective academics. In general, responses painted a bleak picture, with only 5% of participants strongly agreeing to the statement ‘I would recommend academia as a career to others’.
While responses to the question ‘what advice would you give to someone considering academia as a career?’ were often infused with cynicism, they provided some insight into how academics are currently feeling about working in the sector. In the following, we describe four key themes in the advice for prospective academics.
Be realistic about the job, not just the dream
Many of the responses referred to the positive elements of the work, noting it is ‘a great privilege to be paid to think, teach, and serve our communities and society’. The vast majority of these positive descriptions of academic work, however, were followed up with cautions to ‘be very aware of what you are getting into’.
Clear distinctions were made between the positive elements of the role, notably engaging in research, working with students and having an impact on the community, and the institutional challenges;
‘I totally get why it’s attractive, and there are still bits of it I love. So I’m just very honest, e.g. with my PhD students. I tell them the institution will fuck them over for its own gain because they can just employ someone else if/when they burn out’
Many academics suggested that others ‘go in with caution. test it out with a post-doctoral position and take as many diverse opportunities as possible’. They recommended working in other sectors before pursuing a career in academia. Others cautioned that prospective academics develop a thick skin and need to ‘be prepared for failure. Failure to get promoted, failure to get your work published, failure to win grants’.
Know when to say ‘no’
When beginning your career, it can be easy to feel pressured to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity, particularly for those in precarious employment. The freedom of academic work is positioned as a double-edged sword, suggesting that flexibility and autonomy can lead to a culture that encourages overwork or positions work as a ‘lifestyle’. Others highlighted the importance (and difficulty) of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
One academic advised to not ‘let FOMO drive your decisions. Take some time to settle in and then think carefully about how you want to function / who you want to be as an academic – and do that’.
Others highlighted ‘it’s ok to say no because the timing isn’t right – you’ll get asked again’. It is not just about saying no, but about understanding how opportunities can contribute to your overall career, ‘be strategic, understand the game and where you can fit in it, understand that a career is a long time, you don’t have to do everything at once’.
Have a plan B
The overwhelming advice was to either not become an academic, or to have a back-up plan. For example, people said to ‘try to find something else’ and ‘have a plan B, C, and D’. The high levels of precarity within academia led others to caution that now is not the time to enter academia, ‘Don’t, this is a sector in decline with uncertain future and few opportunities’. Many responses highlighted the difficulty in securing ongoing work.
A concerning element of this type of advice was the suggestion that to thrive in academia you need to have alternative, secure sources of income to navigate the precarious landscape of insecure work:
‘Get a thick savings account and/or a partner/someone who can support you while you are writing your papers, books, invest [sic] in conferences and memberships, and juggling your casual jobs’.
Another suggested ‘don’t. Unless you are wealthy and can work part time in which case you can be outside of the politics of institutions’.
Others suggested that many of the positive elements of academic work only came with persistence and a rise to more senior positions. One academic cautioned that entering an academic career:
‘Will be very difficult. You will probably be in insecure employment for some years and if you do get an ongoing job you will be exploited for excessive teaching and punished for not being able to get research done as a result. If you can get established you will be quite well paid and the work can be rewarding but it will take enormous discipline and hard work to have any kind of life beyond your job.’
Find mentors and communities early
Although participants in our study warned it was important to be realistic, they also regarded the academic community as an invaluable source of support and help.
Networks and communities were highlighted as a way of navigating academia, ‘find supportive people in academia who will sponsor you, advocate for you, and help you to navigate the complexities of the sector, for success’.
Importantly, networks are positioned as a source of support, with one academic suggesting ‘having a good network. Find good, reliable people to work with. Have good systems in place to support each other’. This type of advice aligns with our survey finding that collegial relationships were a critical source of satisfaction in academic work.
What does this all mean?
The good news, which is not unfamiliar for any of us, is that there are great people in academia, who are passionate about their teaching and research and work to support each other. The bad news is prospective academics are advised to learn how to compete, to fail, to navigate precarious employment and to protect themselves from overwork, excessive administrative loads and university politics.
There is no hiding the negativity that imbued the advice in our data. When asked if they would recommend academia as a career to others over forty percent either strongly disagreed or disagreed. For those considering academia as a career, it is important to be realistic but also hopeful. As one person identified, ‘Academia is a wonderful wonderful job – if you can get a job’.
Kathleen Smithers is a senior lecturer at UNSW whose work focuses on education systems, academic labour, and issues of equity and justice in higher education. Jess Harris is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle. Her research includes school change, educational leadership, and the study of talk and social interaction using Conversation Analysis methods. Sarah Gurr is a lecturer in the School of Education at Charles Sturt University where she teaches foundations of education and research methods subjects. Her research includes the philosophy of education, educational ethics and sociology of education.
This article was originally published on EduResearch Matters. Read the original article.