Letters to the Editor | 3 June 2006

Two kinds of don

From Joseph Palley
Sir: Boris Johnson laments the declining quality of British universities, with growth in student numbers outpacing funding (‘Farewell to the Young Ones’, 27 May). The problem is not just financial but cultural. It has always been assumed that university lecturers, as good teachers, will automatically be good researchers. This false assumption was less damaging 50 years ago, when only a small, self-confident number of school-leavers, better prepared for self-study, went on to university. As staff-student ratios worsen and universities concentrate on research to attract funding, the trend is towards more teaching by postgraduate students, assistant lecturers and part-timers.

Surely lecturers entering the profession for the first time should now have to pass a one-year postgraduate certificate of education teaching qualification? Beyond this, universities should follow Cardinal Newman’s recommendation of a separate career track for gifted lecturers who prefer teaching to research.
Joseph Palley
Richmond, Surrey

From Prof. Geoffrey Sampson
Sir: Boris Johnson’s figures considerably understate the fall in dons’ pay. He also misses the point that unilateral action by senior university managers has converted us from independent professionals into operatives required to work to the detailed instructions of people who, often, could not begin to do our jobs. And, to be blunt, we have become used to our employers lying to us; most recently in reporting what the Commons education select committee said to them when it asked to hear their side of the current dispute last week.

Nobody calls me a leftie beardo and lives to tell the tale — I happen to be a devout Thatcherite. I do not like what our exam boycott is doing to students. But while it is the only means we have of applying pressure to our employers (which it is), I intend to continue boycotting until the employers give serious ground.