8 February 2018Times Higher Education 33OPINION
rant rhetoric is already hurting US higher education
odbury University in Burbank, California
Don’t pity stressed students too much – academics have it worse
Sam Christie, associate lecturer in media production, Southampton Solent UniversityMore and more students are
reporting significant mental health
issues. This should not come as a
surprise; life seems to have become
more complex, more information
intensive.
It’s clear that the young are responding to
the society in which they find themselves,
having to navigate social media, financial diffi-
culty, increasing expectation and competition- the list can go on.
However, although this may sound harsh,
students at least have options.
If they find their study to be either “a waste
of money” or “bad for their health”, they can
move on. According to the government, some
491,300 apprenticeships started in 2016-17;
I recently noticed an apprenticeship available
for a trainee skydiving instructor earning £240
a week, which I would gladly have applied for
if I wasn’t 45 with a PhD.
Academics are not so mobile. Once you
have completed your PhD, you have often
been outside the workplace for several years
and your research most likely points you
towards a university career, whether or not
this is likely to damage your mental well-being.
And damage mental health it does. Many
academics are simply unable to cope with
increased workloads and university strategies
that force them to be both dynamic teachers
and researchers, but with no time to actually
do either role well.
It is likely that few will shed tears for academ-
ics who up until fairly recently had it quite good.
But my own experience in a new teaching
job has made clear to me that those times are
long gone.
I am an associate lecturer, which means
that I am paid by the hour. I am well
paid for one hour of work, but
this must include preparation
time, holiday pay and any sick
pay; and if calculating contact
time and preparation time
alone, I can confidently say
that I am paid less than the
minimum wage. For the nearly
full-time contact hours I work,
I am paid less than two-thirds
what I would receive if in
contracted employment.
There is also the issue of actually learn-
ing the practical details necessary to get the
job done. When I joined my university, there
was no time for, or inclination to give, any
induction into the labyrinthine computer
systems that house such critical items as time-
tables and pay sheets. If you don’t understand
the system by some lucky osmotic transfer of
knowledge, you won’t find your classrooms,
won’t be able to operate your classroomtechnology and – this was the killer – won’t
get paid; I wasn’t paid for two months.
You would imagine that the experience of
the associate lecturer must have some benefits.
After all, we get more choice about when we
work, surely? This is also not the case.
Most of the time a university’s attitude is,
“if you can’t fit into the timetable, you
won’t get the hours available” and
“if you turn down hours, you
might find yourself being side-
lined completely”. The more
hours you do, the more
students you teach, and,
therefore, the more marking
you must do. I recently spent
the entire Christmas holiday
marking, which my university
claims is time included in my
hourly rate. Every time you take
on more hours, you require more
preparation; so all in all, many lecturers
now, whether sessional or not, are working
well over full-time hours for part-time money.
So where does this leave the students? They
are, after all, paying for this privilege. In
short, it leaves them short-changed, and
because the sessional lecturer is not provided
with a desk or computer (at least I haven’t
been), they can’t find me when they finally do
have a mental health crisis.The number of international
students, however, started to flat-
ten in 2016. And in many states
it is on the decline.
Moreover, new enrolment data
support the notion that the
current administration’s proposed
travel ban and the rhetoric
behind it are contributing to the
downward trend. A preliminary
survey of 500 colleges anduniversities by the IIE estimated
an average 7 per cent decline in
autumn 2017, with nearly half
the campuses reporting declines.
It is only recently, however,
that our nation has focused on
these dual negative trends in
both domestic and international
enrolments in higher education.
The current administration’s
policies on immigration (particu-
larly when it comes to approval
of visas) have made it more chal-
lenging to be an international
student – or prospective inter-
national student – at educational
institutions across our nation.
And future enforcement measures
that may follow, as well as the
anti-immigrant rhetoric in
Washington DC in general,
have created a climate of fear.
Thus, this political uncertainty
coupled with the increasedcompetition abroad is likely to
further reduce international
demand for US education.
This is even more problematic
given the fact that more than half
the foreign-born founders of US
technology companies originally
came to the US to study engineer-
ing and computer science. Foreign
nationals already account for
more than half of all US doctoral
degrees. This additional “bonus”
has not been factored into our
nation’s political dialogue and
the potential future loss to our
economy.
As the president of a small,
private, non-profit university
in California, Woodbury Univer-
sity is fortunate to continue to
attract a high number of inter-
national students – some 24 per
cent of students.
Apart from the financialbenefits, gender and ethnic diver-
sity provides a fundamental bene-
fit to a university education in
the US, with the social impact of
international students invaluable
in this regard. The culture of
college campuses has been
strengthened by their diversity of
opinion and innovative spirit.
Thus, our higher education
system has to put in place
processes to continue to attract
international students, ranging
from more aggressive inter-
national recruiting practices,
including international scholar-
ships, to improving international
student support services.
It is critically important to
provide a welcoming and support-
ive campus climate for these
students who may have travelled- far less lived – abroad for the
first time.
PICTURES: ALAMY