tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post5903901179809931397..comments2024-03-20T08:37:50.011+00:00Comments on Bullying of Academics in Higher Education: A senseless system graduates without honoursUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post-45795741007038767142008-12-23T23:23:00.000+00:002008-12-23T23:23:00.000+00:00Each year, a major magazine in my oountry publishe...Each year, a major magazine in my oountry publishes a popularity survey of universities. This issue is anxiously awaited by administrators as where one's institution places has a major influence on revenue--er, enrollment.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, the place where I used to teach received its bonus government funding based on a set of (vague) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). (Those measured, apparently, such things as "customer satisfaction" with one's "learning experience". In other words, they quantified a lot of educational bafflegab.) Where on the scale one's institution placed determined how much extra money it received each year.<BR/><BR/>The use of these indicators extended to individual departments. Of course, if one has a department head anxious to advance himself, what KPI score his department receives will have a bearing on whether or not he gets the next promotion he desires.<BR/><BR/>Student surveys contributed to the KPI calculations, so the teaching staff were strongly encouraged to give the kiddies what they wanted and, thus, receive good reviews and, in turn, boost the KPI score. Whether they actually learned anything had absolutely nothing to do with the KPIs. It was all about money and status.<BR/><BR/>And people wondered why I got out of teaching....<BR/><BR/>El CidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com