“Sir, – Rodney Devitt (Letters, December 2nd) highlights the welcome increasing diversity in Irish academia in his letter but suspects that professors are being ‘mass produced’ for the market. He is correct …” (more)
[Brian Hayes, Irish Times, 3 December]
“The fact that there has never been a female university president in 426 years is a sign of how far the sector needs to go achieve gender equality, a Government Minister has said. Mary Mitchell O’Connor, the Minister of State with responsibility for higher education, said latest figures showed that while women made up half of the staff at third level, only a quarter of university professors were female …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 10 October]
“Women in Irish universities make up 51% of those at lecturer level (the entry level for academic posts) but only 24% of those at full professorial level (the highest academic level). There has been an average of 1% increase per annum in women at full professorial level since 2013 …” (more)
[Pat O’Connor, Irish Times, 10 October]
“Professors are several percentage points more likely to be women than they were a decade ago, new figures show. Some 22% of professors – 4,415 out of 19,750 in total – were female in 2013-14 compared with just 15% in 2003-04, according to a report by the Higher Education Statistics Agency …” (more)
[Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 28 February]
“At the top of the tree in academia are Personal or Chaired Professors. Are all created equal? These positions are expensive – they top out at around 130k pa. They should be rare. These, after all are the ne plus ultra of the profession …” (more)
[Brian M Lucey, 19 February]
“The number of women progressing to senior academic posts in universities is ‘unacceptably low’, with women filling less than one in five of professor grades, the Irish Federation of University Teachers has said …” (more)
[Joe Humphreys, Irish Times, 7 April]
“Associate professors at NUI Galway have had an increase in pay reinstated following a ruling of the Labour Court. The case before the court involved a dispute between NUI Galway, represented by IBEC, and academic staff, represented by SIPTU, in relation to the pay of associate professors …” (more)
[The law report is here]
[Dara Bradley, Connacht Sentinel, 1 July]
“Professors at Ireland’s two top colleges – which have both tumbled out of the World Top 100 ratings in the past three years – are receiving higher salaries than those at the world’s 10 highest ranking colleges like Oxford, Cambridge and Berkeley …” (more)
[Mark Keenan, Independent, 27 May]
“The University of Limerick had real cause to celebrate International Women’s day, as it is leading the way in the country with almost double the average number of female professors. On average in Ireland, 18% of professors are female, whereas 34% of UL professors are women …” (more)
[Limerick Leader, 15 March]
“Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of persons in each university at professor grade, by university, in each of the years 2010, 2011 and 2012; where professors have retired, resigned or otherwise left universities, if they have been replaced and if so, at what grade; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil Éireann Written Answers, 16 January]
“… It’s been interesting to watch the approach, and especially, the tone during various state and national debates lately. Words matter. In Massachusetts, for example, Scott Brown refers to Elizabeth Warren as ‘the professor’ – a little like the language used to describe the hapless, loveable egghead on Gilligan’s Island. The listeners are left with the impression of someone who will never be a ‘regular guy’ to whom they can relate …” (more)
[Brian Mitchell, Huffington Post, 9 October]
“So here we go, then. Trinity College Dublin is looking for some junior law lecturers. But that’s not what the College is saying: its announcement suggests they are looking for two ‘Assistant Professors’ …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 20 January]
“I heard an academic introduced on radio recently as ‘a junked professor’, and at first it seemed a bit harsh. Surely they could have allowed the poor man to retire with dignity, I thought. Whatever faults he had, he should have been eased out with an honorary title, for example ‘professor emeritus’ …” (more)
[Frank McNally, Irish Times, 25 November]
“Recently I was asked to describe what professors do day-by-day in 200 words. I declined; I felt it was an impossible task. Some days are spent being ground down by committees of the sort that sap all one’s energy and produce nothing of value but ticking someone’s boxes. Those, fortunately are not that common …” (more)
[Athene Donald’s Blog, 11 November]
“SEANAD REPORT It was not good enough that Trinity College had, with the stroke of a pen, decided to call everybody who was lecturing in the college a professor, Cáit Keane (FG) said. She called on the Minister for Education to ‘have defined in Ireland the term professor’ …” (more)
[Jimmy Walsh, Irish Times, 15 September]
“North Rhine-Westphalia’s state government intends to introduce new legislation to encourage the promotion of more women to professorships. The state is currently below the federal German average. The ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition has proposed a flexible quota that would vary across departments …” (more)
[Michael Gardner, University World News, 11 September]
“The world rankings of Irish universities may be plummeting – but it hasn’t dented the self-importance of the academic elite. In spite of falling 13 places to 65th in the QS world rankings of universities, Trinity College Dublin has upgraded the titles of all its academic staff …” (more)
[John Drennan, Independent, 11 September]
“It is sometimes said, with good reason, that universities are amongst the most hierarchical organisations of any in society. It may well be that in the general run of academic discourse, and in recognition of academic freedom, one opinion is as valued as another (though in fact that is arguable); but in terms of personal recognition, status, support, facilities and general terms, universities celebrate status …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 22 August]
“So it appears everyone is now upgraded to a Professor of some sorts. Quote: ‘Board at its meeting on 15th June 2011 approved a proposal from the Working Party on the Internationalisation of Academic Titles to replace the existing academic titles used in Trinity with the following: Current Title: Lecturer – New Title: Assistant Professor;…'” (discussion thread)
[HT: Terry McDonald]
[Trinity discussion forum, Boards.ie, 15 August]
“As I have mentioned frequently in this blog, this is an age of insecurity in higher education. Faculty are unsure of where the academy is going and are unsettled by today’s odd mixture of public hostility and public indifference; funding is becoming scarcer while its sources are becoming less clear by the day …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 18 July]
