After 20 years in academia the time has come to finally step out and commit 100% of my time to my business in 2025. I’ve made steps to leave before so this is third time lucky, but also feels final. My 6mnth notice period means I officially leave in January.
Academia has been kind to me in many ways & I wouldn’t be in a position to leave had I not taken advantage of some amazing opportunities, projects, collaborations and connections with colleagues & mentors. I’ll be forever grateful for these & to everyone who I’ve worked with along the way. My business takes the enjoyable and rewarding parts & I’ll be lucky to be in a position to make them work for me (training in Qual research, coaching/mentoring, & consultancy). & there are some writing projects on the cards. I’ll miss students, how they challenge me, & changed me, as an educator. 🙏
But there are far too many downsides now. (Note: I’m not naming or drawing on any specific universities here, I’ve witnessed all of this and more to various extents at different times/places).
My 10 reasons for leaving: 👋
1. Not being able to teach in a way that aligns with my values as an educator. I feel that the meaning & value of HE is continually chipped away & eroded.
2. Witnessing impact of AI, e.g. Chat GPT, on student assessment. Being able to detect it, but not prove its use. The difficulties in challenging or changing a strategic mindset to learning & assessment (which I also understand given pressures students face).
3. The quest for bums on seats & the way that universities target, recruit (& then fail to support) international students. Also, relatedly, failures of universities to support students more generally; & lack of resources to be able to do so.
4. Budget cuts, hiring freezes and redundancy schemes have made it impossible to deliver teaching & research to the level being asked of us, or even to cover the basics. We (as we always have) rely on colleagues & collegiality to try to get the basics done. Staff (myself included) are burnt out, demoralised & struggling.
5. We are expected to individually shoulder the responsibility to fix what is broken.
6. Research & writing which I love - no longer have time/headspace for.
7. The ‘nothing is ever good enough’ mentality which destroys your sense of confidence & belief in yourself.
8. The way that senior leadership treat staff with disdain & disregard. Consultations are token box ticking & academics often set up as the ‘problem’.
9. Audit culture & performance measurement. And the industry which has grown to promote, sustain & enable this.
10. Inequalities in the system & the way these are enacted & perpetuated, constantly!
I can’t remember a year of my career in which there wasn’t industrial action of some kind, and none of the above is news to anyone. But really, it feels a tipping point has been reached, where (for me personally) the costs outweigh the benefits.
So it’s onward to exciting new beginnings and connections 😊🙏
