The Displaced Academic

Academics live for admin work, says no academic ever. Tweeting sarcastically on the broken system & life from a #HigherEd institution in Asia. She/Her

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

Congratulations, you are now a one-entity department in charge of running and teaching a degree programme! #21stCenturyUniversity #NeoliberalAcademia

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

What’s the problem when you’re surrounded by people in mid-management who aren’t research active? They take their time with sending you docs which YOU’RE supposed to handle because they don’t mind doing it over the weekend. Weekends for me are for academic work.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

Very tired of caring about other people’s research projects and being expected to “mentor”. In general, it’s a great thing but not when one has to do everything alone: teach, admin, student care AND on top of that, supervise as well as research.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

If you work at a university and is afraid of admitting anything you do or organise is academic, then you need a reality check.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

The expertise for men in academic administration (at least for my institution) appears to be making bad decisions and creating shitstorms which - predictably - women will now have to solve or be more severely affected by it. #EqualityInHigherEd

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

It’s not a big uni at the end of the day. Feeling threatened that students are opting to do a newer degree rather than a traditional business degree is both petty and frankly, stupid. Shouldn’t you celebrate the fact that students are enrolling here rather than a rival uni?! 🤦🏻‍♀️

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

The least you could do, previous Discipline Leader, is to do a proper handover. Instead, I'm now being told there are certain documents I'm supposed to have access to, which I had no idea about. Because handover wasn't done properly.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

A note about leadership: if you’re already in upper management, don’t make your overworked staff who’s in one of your postgrad student’s committee take notes when you’re supposed to do it, all to make yourself look good in front of your postgrad.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

When I first joined this institution, I was told not to even dare dream of being a proper academic & basically just shut up & teach. Yes, that’s the kind of micro-aggressions I have to deal with. And now same institution is insinuating I must drop teaching to care only for audit

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

@PhD_Genie I chose my own topic. There was realistically no way I could have endured the journey if it wasn’t a topic I was passionate about and willing to shed tears, blood and sweat over. The institution I’m currently working for though, believes in the latter, which can be problematic.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

People from the workplace expect that when they forced me into this middle management position, that I’d be thankful to them for the “promotion” & that I magically, immediately know *everything*. Newsflash: I didn’t get a PhD just to do administrative tasks.

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

@AcademicChatter

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

Also, no. I don’t want to spend more time than I already need to among sharks and backstabbers. How about you just give me more leave days?

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

At a meeting with upper management:
Colleague: How is the management planning to reward & incentivise our continued productivity?
Me: *insert Chris Pine astral projection mode*
Management: We’ll have an annual dinner with lots of prizes for everyone!
#OnlyInAsianUniversities 🙄

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

Open Days at higher institutions in the Asian country I work in: everyone told mandatory to show up in “corporate t-shirt” so you can be devoid of any diversity at all. Because that is always a good message for universities in the 21st century. 🤦🏻‍♀️😑

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

The concept of capability in #HigherEd is toxic. You’ve a PhD, therefore you are capable. You’re capable, therefore you can take on greater workload/multiple portfolios. You’re capable, therefore you don’t need much help. This assumption needs to be corrected. #AcademicChatter

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

But in reality, when it comes time to actually help, it’s all silence. I’m not disappointed. I expected this when I was forced into the discipline leader position, as it’s a message to say “you’re all alone, we won’t help”. Message received. Loud and clear. 3/3 #HigherEd

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

Someone in my household tested +ive for Covid, so I opted to be responsible, and isolate; moving meetings online and withdrawing from a marketing/outreach event. Emailed colleagues, & as expected no assurances of “we can help with promoting your degree programme” 1/3

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

It’s not that I was expecting that, or I had been looking forward to the event. It’s more about collegiality. And I realised of course, in dept meetings, the very same colleagues wouldn’t hesitate to mansplain what my expertise + degree programme is to me. 2/3

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

What it feels like to be a one-person department: marketing, student engagement, department & faculty meetings, teaching prep, student queries. You’re the only one doing all that. Oh, let’s not forget HoD asking how’s it going with publications. Why is it slow-going. #highered

[The Displaced Academic @DisplacedAca]

The state of the institution I work for: during appraisal meeting, HoD informs me that my research achievements is none of his business, and to take it up with the research dept for “what I deserve”. Which was less teaching time, but of course there’s no acknowledgement of that