“Lecturers in Ireland are often denounced as overpaid slackers. This assumption of having a cushy job seems to be a perpetual one in Irish society – a recession-busting salary in exchange for working only a few hours a week, which generally entails reading out the same script as last term to a bunch of hungover students …” (more)
[Andrew Haworth, Studenty_Cork, 17 April]
“Sir, – Grainne Faller (‘How qualified is your lecturer?’, Education Today, March 6th), has given us a clear picture of where third-level institutes interested in achieving university status stand in regard to the required staff qualifications …” (more)
[Michael O'Dwyer, Irish Times, 20 March]
“Madam, – In response to Dr Florence Craven’s unfounded and inaccurate assertions (January 10th), the following facts might be of interest …” (more)
[Mike Jennings, Irish Times, 12 January]
“Madam, – Dr Florence Craven seems to have several fundamental misunderstandings when it comes to both lecturers and academia in general …” (more)
[Lorcan Sirr, Irish Times, 11 January]
“And I don’t mean the people. Well, maybe a few (I have a little list, they never will be missed…). It’s the title I’m on about. OK it’s a Pet peeve, but why do we have to call them Lecturers? Why should the job title, right there on the contract, on the business card, explicitly specify a pedagogy? It would be like calling Doctors ‘Bleeders’ …” (more)
[Robert Cosgrave, Tertiary21, 9 November]
“Students are reporting lecturers who arrive late or skip class by texting a hotline set up to stamp out academic tardiness. Lecturers’ unions have denounced the practice at Manchester Metropolitan University as ‘snooping’ but student leaders say they just want to improve the learning experience. The students’ union set up the ‘Late’ hotline after repeated complaints about cancelled lectures and students sitting around waiting for their teacher. The university also rated 12 points below the national average for organisation and management in the latest National Student Satisfaction Survey – a drop of 3 points from the previous year …” (more)
[Joanna Sugden, Times, 30 April]
“Are online academic rating sites even useful? A lot of attention has been focussed recently on a series of new ‘grade your professor’ web sites (Pick-A-Prof and Rate my Professors) and, while many academics believe the basic idea is good, others have mixed feelings about their ultimate usefulness. In several Irish Universities, students have rated their lecturers and professors and their classes on everything from level of interest to workload to the professor’s presentation and teaching style. The information is not normally disseminated and no such database is available for graduate students opting for higher degree programmes leading to a MSc and/or Ph.D. When the information is disseminated, it is deemed incredibly useful …” (more)
[Watchdog on Higher Education in Ireland, 11 April]
“‘Grade-grubbing students’ and ‘awkward departmental cocktail parties’ are among dozens of academic bugbears exposed in a revealing list published online. It may be meant as a bit of fun, but the list by academics on the social networking site Facebook also lays bare the betes noires of long-suffering lecturers. The targets for their frustration and ridicule include their students, peers, managers and institutions, as well as the world of higher education in general. Students, unsurprisingly, are given a hard time, from the ‘annoying, know-it-all grad student’ to those who send text messages during classes and those who come to lectures when they are ill. Also on the list are ‘students with a crush’ and ‘ultra-religious students’ …” (more)
[John Gill, THE, 15 January]
