many of the women had experienced this sort of exploitation previously (not necessarily at UNSW As a result, some female academics were wary or reluctant to 28). enter into collaborative arrangements. Such cases suggest that a formal clarification of mentoring and collaboration roles and processes is required so that the allocation of responsibility, work loads and recognition is not left to the ambiguities and misunderstandings that can arise in informal arrangements. 5.4.4. Promotion Although it is never official, people [in promotions] will say off the record (Male academic) that they will not take teaching into account. Focus group, survey and statistical data show that career advancement is very much dependent on research productivity and that this is manifest, particularly in the promotions process. All survey responses from staff indicated that they would seek promotion on the basis of research, either exclusively or primarily if in combination with teaching and service. Thus, according to the focus group participants, the general attitude among academics particularly successful academics is that – – Research is the most important thing and teaching is a thing that they have (Female academic) to do. Research is what counts. The academics most negatively affected by the prioritisation of research over teaching are those with heavy teaching loads and/or few “research resources” (including for example a research team of PhD students), such as junior academics and those with high teaching loads (quantitative data shows that women primarily, but not exclusively, fall into both these categories). This is because teaching and related administrative and pastoral care activities compete directly with research activities for time, and teaching holds less weight than research in the promotions process. This is particularly disappointing when the academic is not recognised for the teaching load with a high number of contact hours and associated pastoral duties: When I went for promotion, someone from the committee said [that I’ve] an enormous amount of and that to take on “got teaching” I’m “too eager just say published very that teaching” … they’d “you haven’t much, isn’t terrible, and you get any been penalised for having didn’t grants” … I’ve [Female this enormous load of teaching being varied all the time. that’s Academic] Some more recently recruited members of staff said that despite the issues at UNSW, they felt 28 that UNSW is than their previous place of employment. “better”
many of the women had experienced this sort of exploitation previously (not necessarily at UNSW 28). As a result, some female academics were wary or reluctant to enter into collaborative arrangements. Such cases suggest that a formal clarification of mentoring and collaboration roles and processes is required so that the allocation of responsibility, work loads and recognition is not left to the ambiguities and misunderstandings that can arise in informal arrangements. 5.4.4. Promotion Although it is never official, people [in promotions] will say off the record that they will not take teaching into account. (Male academic) Focus group, survey and statistical data show that career advancement is very much dependent on research productivity and that this is manifest, particularly in the promotions process. All survey responses from staff indicated that they would seek promotion on the basis of research, either exclusively or primarily if in combination with teaching and service. Thus, according to the focus group participants, the general attitude among academics – particularly successful academics – is that Research is the most important thing and teaching is a thing that they have to do. Research is what counts. (Female academic) The academics most negatively affected by the prioritisation of research over teaching are those with heavy teaching loads and/or few “research resources” (including for example a research team of PhD students), such as junior academics and those with high teaching loads (quantitative data shows that women primarily, but not exclusively, fall into both these categories). This is because teaching and related administrative and pastoral care activities compete directly with research activities for time, and teaching holds less weight than research in the promotions process. This is particularly disappointing when the academic is not recognised for the teaching load with a high number of contact hours and associated pastoral duties: When I went for promotion, someone from the committee said [that I’ve] “got an enormous amount of teaching” and that I’m “too eager to take on teaching” … they’d just say “you haven’t published very much, isn’t that terrible, and you didn’t get any grants” … I’ve been penalised for having this enormous load of teaching that’s being varied all the time. [Female Academic] 28 Some more recently recruited members of staff said that despite the issues at UNSW, they felt that UNSW is “better” than their previous place of employment.