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Ένα σχόλιο για τις εκλογές των Συμβουλίων Διοίκησης στα πανεπιστήμια
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Υπάρχει μια ακόμα πτυχή των εκλογών που πρέπει να σχολιαστεί, και στην οποία νομίζω ότι κανένας δεν έδωσε σημασία, ίσως για λόγους λεπτότητας. Οι υποψήφιοι για το Συμβούλιο, ανεξάρτητα από τις ιδεολογικές τους πεποιθήσεις και το όραμά τους για το πανεπιστήμιο, μεταξύ άλλων αγωνίζονται και για τη διαφύλαξη των ατομικών τους συμφερόντων. Ατομικών με την πολύ στενή έννοια.

Τι εννοώ:
α) Ήδη η υπουργός και άλλοι παράγοντες του υπουργείου, έχουν πολλάκις αναφερθεί σε επερχόμενο “πανεπιστημιακό Καλλικράτη”, δηλαδή συγχωνεύσεις ιδρυμάτων, κλείσιμο τμημάτων και σχολών.
β) Ο νόμος 4009 προβλέπει ως ακαδημαϊκές μονάδες τις Σχολές, αντί για τα Τμήματα που ήταν μέχρι τώρα. Με την πλήρη εφαρμογή του νέου νόμου θα ακολουθήσει σειρά συγχωνεύσεων των Τμημάτων σε Σχολές. Τα μέχρι τώρα Τμήματα υποβιβάζονται σε “προγράμματα σπουδών”. Αρμόδια για την υλοποίηση θα είναι τα πρώτα Συμβούλια που θα εκλεγούν.
γ) Η μνημονιακή πολιτική όλο και εντονότερα προσπαθεί να προχωρήσει σε μείωση των εργαζόμενων στο δημόσιο τομέα, ανά διαστήματα επανέρχονται εν μέσω φημολογιών σενάρια για απολύσεις εκπαιδευτικών Α’ και Β’βάθμιας εκπαίδευσης. Εύλογα μπορεί να αναρωτηθεί κανείς: Γιατί όχι και πανεπιστημιακών;

Έχουμε δηλαδή
πρώτον, μια γενική πολιτική κατεύθυνση “διώξτε κόσμο απ’ το δημόσιο”,
δεύτερον, έναν νόμο που δημιουργεί τις προϋποθέσεις (συγχωνεύσεις τμημάτων σε σχολές),
τρίτον, ένα ήδη ομολογημένο σχέδιο (πανεπιστημιακός Καλλικράτης),
και τέταρτον, τα όργανα που θα κληθούν να υλοποιήσουν την απόφαση: τα Συμβούλια Διοίκησης.

Μπορεί κανείς να συμπεράνει από τα παραπάνω, ότι τα μέλη του Συμβουλίου Διοίκησης θα κληθούν σύντομα να αποφασίσουν την απόλυση συναδέλφων τους.

Άραγε, υπάρχει περίπτωση κάποιος καθηγητής που κατέχει θέση στο Συμβούλιο Διοίκησης του πανεπιστημίου του, να αποφασίσει την κατάργηση της ίδιας του της οργανικής θέσης;
Υπάρχει περίτπωση να αποφανθεί λ.χ. ότι το γνωστικό αντικείμενό του είναι παρωχημένο, ή μη “παραγωγικό”, ασυμβίβαστο με την “αριστεία και την καινοτομία”, ή όπως αλλιώς κωδικοποιηθεί στη νεόγλωσσα που χρησιμοποιούν οι ευρωκράτες;
Υπάρχει περίπτωση κάποιος από τους εκλεγμένους να αποφασίσει να αυτο-απολυθεί;

Θα μπορούσα να είχα διατυπώσει το ερώτημα κάπως διαφορετικά: Ποιος από τους υποστηρικτές της κυβερνητικής πολιτικής θα ζητήσει οικειοθελώς να απολυθεί ο ίδιος, προκειμένου έμπρακτα να στηρίξει το κυβερνητικό έργο;

Κι επειδή η αποθέωση των “αντικειμενικών κριτηρίων” και των “ποσοτικών δεικτών” κινδυνεύει να λειτουργήσει φετιχιστικά, ας δούμε ένα πολύ χαρακτηριστικό παράδειγμα. Συμβαίνει πολλές φορές μέλη ΔΕΠ να έχουν ίδιο, ή παραπλήσιο γνωστικό αντικείμενο. Δεν είναι “λογικό”, όμως, εάν ξεκινήσει μια διαδικασία απολύσεων μελών ΔΕΠ, ένα από τα πιο αντικειμενικά κριτήρια να είναι ο πληθυσμός που συγκεντρώνεται σε κάθε επιστημονική περιοχή; Έχεις λ.χ. σε ένα τμήμα 9/45 μέλη ΔΕΠ στα σύνορα μιας ευρύτερης επιστημονικής περιοχής, και το υπουργείο απαιτεί (είτε με άμεση διαταγή, είτε μειώνοντας τη χρηματοδότηση τόσο ώστε το ίδρυμα να μη μπορεί να τους συντηρήσει όλους) την απόλυση 9 μελών ΔΕΠ. Δεν είναι “λογικό” ένας να προέλθει από αυτή την ομάδα; Εάν όμως ένας από αυτούς είναι μέλος του Συμβουλίου Διοίκησης, υπάρχει κανείς που θα αμφισβητήσει ότι έχει de facto εξαιρεθεί από τους υποψήφιους προς απόλυση; Και ποιος μπορεί να εγγυηθεί ότι οι υπόλοιποι δεν θα ξεκινήσουν (δικαίως!) μία προσπάθεια προσεταιρισμού του εν λόγω Συμβουλιακού, ενδεχομένως και υποσχόμενοι ανταλλάγματα, προκειμένου να διαφυλάξουν την εργασιακή τους θέση, ήτοι την επιβίωσή τους; Ή, ακόμα χειρότερα, ότι ο ίδιος ο εκλεγμένος δεν θα παζαρέψει με τους συναδέλφους του, ή δεν θα στραφεί εναντίον “απείθαρχων” πολιτικών (ή ότι άλλο) αντιπάλων του;

Το χειρότερο όλων είναι ότι πλέον δεν υπάρχει κανένας θεσμός για να προσφύγει κάποιος που αδικείται, δεν υπάρχει εντός του πανεπιστημίου κανένα όργανο. Το Συμβούλιο Διοίκησης δεν ελέγχεται από κανέναν, παρά μόνο μετά την παρέλευση 4 ετών όπου θα ξαναγίνουν οι εκλογές. Εκτός αν επιλέξει το γνωστό, κραυγαλέα διασκεδαστικό ανέκδοτο της “προσφυγής στη δικαιοσύνη”.

Δεν προκαλεί καμία έκπληξη το γεγονός ότι, συνολικά, το θέμα αυτό δεν θίχτηκε ούτε παρενθετικά. Λογικό καθώς η ξύλινη γλώσσα των υποψηφίων βρίθει γενικολογιών***. Δεν χρειάζεται άλλωστε να καταφύγουν σε παράνομες πράξεις, όπως π.χ. να παίρνουν σβάρνα τα γραφεία των συναδέλφων τους και να παζαρεύουν ψήφους, με σχεδιαγράμματα επί χάρτου και σκαριφήματα της νέας διάρθρωσης του πανεπιστημίου (κάτι που προφανώς δεν θα άρμοζε στο ακαδημαϊκό ήθος των πανεπιστημιακών δασκάλων, και μόνο ανυπόστατες φήμες προερχόμενες από σκοτεινά κέντρα και διεστραμμένους εγκεφάλους θα τολμούσαν να υπονοήσουν ότι ένα απ’ αυτά τα χαρτάκια ίσως και να παράπεσε και να κατέληξε σε λάθος χέρια – έλεος, τι άλλο θα ακούσουμε!!) Μπορώ εύκολα να βάλω τον εαυτό μου στη θέση ενός μέλους ΔΕΠ με επισφαλή τη διατήρηση της θέσης του στα επόμενα χρόνια, που δέχεται επίσκεψη από κάποιον υποψήφιο. Ότι κι αν μου αραδιάσει για τα οράματα και τις θέσεις του, τις αναπτυξιακές προοπτικές του πανεπιστημίου μας, την ποιοτική αναβάθμιση, αυτό που θα θέλω να ουρλιάξω στα μούτρα του είναι απλά:

“Πες μου σε παρακαλώ ρε συνάδελφε υποψήφιε, εγώ θα έχω δουλειά στο πανεπιστήμιο μετά από 4 χρόνια, ή να αρχίσω να ψάχνω από τώρα;;;”

*** Δοκιμάστε να διαβάσετε τις δημοσιευμένες θέσεις των υποψηφίων κρύβοντας το όνομα του συγγραφέα, και κάντε σύγκριση των κειμένων. Ή ακόμα καλύτερα, ανταλλάξτε μεταξύ των κειμένων τυχαία παραγράφους, και προσπαθήστε να εντοπίσετε ανακολουθίες και λογικά άλματα στους “κειμενικούς Φρανκενστάιν”…


http://publicuniversitas.wordpress.com/%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CF%80%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%8D/

Απ' το Διάλογο-ΔΕΠ
http://diafaneia.ee.auth.gr/%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CF%83%CF%87%CF%8C%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%82-%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AD%CF%82-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%B2%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7%CF%82-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%B1

Και σε απάντηση:


http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/02/university-of-sydney-sackings-trigger-academic-backlash.html
 
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3822688.html#
 
Nature News Blog

University of Sydney sackings trigger academic backlash

23 Feb 2012 | 12:10 GMT | Posted by Mark Peplow | Category: Uncategorized

Posted on behalf of Stephen Pincock

One hundred academics at the University of Sydney, Australia, have this week been told they will lose their jobs for not publishing frequently enough. The move is part of wider cost-cutting plans designed to pay for new buildings and refurbishment to the university.

Letters were posted to researchers on Monday 20 February, informing them their positions were being terminated because they hadn’t published at least four “research outputs” over the past three years, Michael Thomson, branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union, told Nature. It is unclear which research fields the academics work in.

Another 64 academics were told they had a choice between leaving and moving to a teaching-only position, he said. According to a report in The Australian, around 200 administrative positions are also going to be lost, bringing the total number of cuts to 340 out of a staff of 7500.

The university has justified the cuts by saying they are needed to cover an unexpected shortfall in student fee income. Instead of the $828.1 million expected for 2011, the university only took in $792.3 million, and predictions suggest this downward trend will continue. “As our planned income reduces, there nevertheless remain pressing needs for capital expenditure,” the university said in a statement.

The move has left university staff furious. In a statement, the National Tertiary Education Union rejected the rationale for the cuts, saying the university was continuing with plans for “a massive building expansion at the cost of students’ education.”

The union also accused the university’s senior management of failing to properly consult with staff over the moves, which were first proposed in November 2011. “At no point has there been any recognition of the feedback that the unions and staff have given,” th union says.

“The mood is bloody,” agreed Jake Lynch, Director of the university’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. “The union accurately reflects the frustration of many researchers.”

In an open letter published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on 10 February, Lynch and 67 other academics said that sacking researchers on the basis of their research output hastened “the importation into universities of the ‘target culture’ so drearily familiar in other fields”.

They also pointed out that staff had been told in late 2011 that a much lower rate of publication – an average of 0.8 publications a year – would be deemed “satisfactory”.

The union is now in a formal dispute process with the university, which Thomson predicted would probably reach the national workplace relations tribunal next week. A staff meeting is planned for the first week of March – the beginning of the academic year – and Thomson says industrial action is a possibility.

Disappearing jobs at Sydney University
142 Comments
Open Letter
 
There is an Australian workplace in a strategic industry where 350 jobs are in imminent danger.
Management is pleading poor, and pinning part of the blame on the high rate of dollar exchange, for a shortfall in financial projections.
Staff are nervously discussing their future, not above the din of an assembly line at the Altona car plant - where that same number of redundancies, announced by Toyota, sent politicians and journalists a-flutter - but in the sedate, even august surroundings of Sydney University.
There's been comparatively little comment from the outside world, but within its venerable sandstone walls a 'change proposal' has been drawn up that sees 750 academics on a 'hit list', with one in five of those due to be pushed out by the end of this year.
Safety is only for colleagues who've published at least four 'research outputs' in three years, for an annual average of one-and-a-third. It hastens the importation into universities of the 'target culture' so drearily familiar in other fields. And, oddly, it came just weeks after staff were told that a much lower average, of 0.8 per year, would be deemed 'satisfactory' and in line with 'university expectations'.
Add in plans to axe nearly 200 general staff and, unions say, an already overstretched workforce will be left to spend more of its time plugging gaps in basic teaching and administrative provision than concentrating on improving the service for students.
Although university management seem adamant that money will be saved, they admit to having no idea what it will cost to fire staff on this scale.
'Early career researchers' are exempt from the plans, so the brunt will be borne by more experienced lecturers, whose contracts stipulate redundancy payments that will almost certainly average well in excess of a year's salary. The National Tertiary Education Union estimates the cost at around $45 million, even before 'extras', such as buying out entitlements to long service leave, are allowed for.
While the projected growth in student fee income has been revised downwards from an annual 9.6 per cent, it is still expected to come in at just under 7 per cent per year in the next three years. The rate of fee inflation will be less than that, so everyone is working on the assumption that we will have more students to teach.
Sydney fares reasonably well in international comparisons among universities, but a frequent caveat in league tables such as that published annually by the Times Higher Educational Supplement is that our adverse staff/student ratios militate against a higher ranking. If that situation is allowed to worsen still further, it will harm the university's reputation, and justifiably so: students deserve more attention, from both lecturers and admin staff, not less.
Of course, gaps will be plugged by hiring yet more casuals (higher education is already the country's second-most casualised industry, after catering). Once the cost of those arrangements is included, it becomes difficult to see how any savings will accrue, certainly in the first two years. And by that time, there will be hundreds, even thousands more students, so staff will then need to be re-hired.
Looming over the cool cloisters of the university's famous quadrangle is the shadow of a massive new building project, the Centre for Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, with a price tag of $385 million and scheduled for completion in early 2014. (It is, of course, axiomatic with a Sydney building project that costs will rise along the way, as anyone who's extended their house could testify).
Feedback in the consultation process on the proposed job cuts has unsurprisingly included many suggestions to cut back or scrap this project, to save money. In response, in the 'formal change proposal', the claim is made that 'much of the funding which is being used to pay for [it] has been provided specifically for… capital works, and cannot be diverted to other uses'; also that 'significant government funding' has been received.
In fact, the government money, from the Higher Education Endowment Fund, covers only a quarter of the cost. The press release put out at the time boasted that 'the university and its partners' would be making 'substantial investments', but a ring round the partners named - mainly medical research institutes - yielded no evidence that they are paying any of the construction costs.
So the vice chancellor, Dr Michael Spence, apparently pulled down cash from the Rudd government's stimulus package, created to fend off recession in the Global Financial Crisis, by dint of committing $300-odd million of the university's own money… to one building. One can imagine the sound of jaws hitting the floor in Canberra: surely the intention was for this seed funding to be used to parlay contributions from other stake-holders? The centre's website draws attention to the spiralling cost of these diseases to the community at large: surely someone, a big pharmaceutical corporation for example, could have been tapped for funds?
Unlike previous VCs, Spence has contact only with a close circle of top managers. The 'Senior Executive Group' is not always completely of like mind, however: reports say some of its members have called for the University to hand back the government's money, and declare the Obesity Centre unaffordable. For the moment, Spence has faced them down, citing the consequential reputational damage the University would sustain. But as the fight over job cuts becomes more bloody, the perceived balance of advantage, on reputational grounds alone, may shift.
From:
Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Nick Riemer, Senior Lecturer, English and Linguistics, University of Sydney
Dr Peter John Chen, Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney
Dr Frances M. Clarke, Senior Lecturer, History, University of Sydney
Dr Sheleyah Courtney, Lecturer, Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney
Dr Bill Dunn, Senior Lecturer, Political Economy, University of Sydney
Dr Melissa Hardie, Senior Lecturer, English, University of Sydney
Dr Laleen Jayamanne, Senior Lecturer, Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney
Mr Mark Johnston, Software and Assets Officer, School of Letters, Art and Media, University of Sydney
Dr Kate Lilley, Senior Lecturer, English, University of Sydney
Dr Louise Marshall, Senior Lecturer, Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Nicola Parsons, Senior Lecturer, English, University of Sydney
Dr Michael Paton, Teaching Quality Fellow, Economics and Business, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Peter Slezak, School of History and Philosophy, University of New South Wales
Professor Paul Redding, Philosophy, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Vanessa Smith, English, University of Sydney
Dr Susan Thomas, Director, Writing Hub, Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney
Dr Lawrence Warner, Senior Lecturer, English, University of Sydney
Dr Sue Woolfe, Lecturer, English, University of Sydney
Dr Huw Griffiths, Senior Lecturer, English, University of Sydney
Dr Karl Maton, Senior Lecturer, Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney
Dr Sarah Gleeson-White, Senior Lecturer in American Literature, Department of English, University of Sydney
Dr Jennifer Dowling, Educational Designer, Arts eLearning, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney
Dr David Bray, Senior Lecturer, Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney
Dr Damien Cahill, Senior Lecturer and Chair of Department, Political Economy, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney
Wayne Isbister, Teaching and Curriculum Coordinator, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney
Dr Beatriz Carrillo Garcia, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney
Lucy Fiske, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Wendy Lambourne, Senior Lecturer and Academic Co-ordinator, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
Associate Professor John Grumley, Department of Philosophy, University of Sydney
Dr Rebecca Johinke, Lecturer, Department of English; Director, Student Support Programs, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Dr Michelle Royer, Senior Lecturer and Chair, Department of French Studies,
University of Sydney
Dr Alice Caffarel, Department of French Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Carolyn Stott, Senior Lecturer, Department of French Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Ahmar Mahboob, Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney
Dr Anna Hickey-Moody, Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney
Richard White, co-editor, History Australia; Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Sydney
Dr Tom Barnes, Lecturer, Political Economy, University of Sydney
Dr Andrea Bandhauer, Senior Lecturer, Germanic Studies, Director of International and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Sydney
Ms Judith Beveridge (Dept of English - Creative Writing), University of Sydney
Dr Toni Borowsky, Senior Lecturer, Linguistics, University of Sydney
Dr Benjamin Miller, Associate Director, Writing Hub, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Bronwyn Winter, Department of French Studies, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Michael McDonnell, Department of History, University of Sydney
Dr Christopher Hartney, Lecturer, Studies in Religion
Dr David Kelly, Senior Lecturer, Department of English, University of Sydney
Honorary Associate Professor Ahmad Shboul, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Cynthia Hunter, Senior Lecturer, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
Dr Jadran Mimica, Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney
Dr Jennifer Wilkinson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney
Dr Antonio Castillo, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney
Dr Victoria Grieves, Australian Research Council Indigenous Research Fellow, University of Sydney
Dr Melissa Gregg, Senior Lecturer, Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney
Annabel McGoldrick, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, Senior Lecturer, Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney
Professor Margaret C. Miller, Arthur and Renee George Professor of Classical Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney
Ms Frances Muecke, Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Sydney
Dr Chris Chesher, Senior Lecturer, Digital Cultures, University of Sydney
Dr Nicholas Eckstein, Cassamarca Senior Lecturer in Italian History, Department of History, University of Sydney
Dr Antonia Rubino, Senior Lecturer and Chair, Department of Italian Studies, University of Sydney
Dr Julie-Ann Robson, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney
Dr Mark Byron, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Sydney
Dr Neil Maclean, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney
Dr Brigid Rooney, Senior Lecturer, Department of English, University of Sydney
Dr Nerida Jarkey, Senior Lecturer, Japanese Studies, University of Sydney
Professor Eric Csapo, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney
Dr David Macarthur, Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Sydney
Dr Christina Alt, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of English, University of Sydney

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