scholarly journals Digital Labour in the University: Understanding the Transformations of Academic Work in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Universities have been the site of a variety of shifts and transformations in the previous few decades. Both the composition of students and academics are changing (to a lesser or greater extent), along with the ways in which teaching and research is supported, conducted, and delivered. The effects of neoliberalism, privatisation, precarious employment, debt, and digitalisation have been highlighted as important factors in understanding these changes. However, the ways in which these tendencies are expressed in universities – both in specific and general ways – remain fragmented and under-analysed. In particular, the role of academic labour processes, increasingly mediated through digital technology, remains in the background. There is a risk of viewing these transformations as abstracted, far removed from the day-to-day activities of academic labour on which universities rely. This article will therefore focus on connecting the broader changes in funding, organisation, and digital technology to the labour processes of academics. Rather than seeking a return to a romanticised pre-neoliberal university, this article explores the possibilities of resistance and alternatives to the university as it is now.

scholarly journals Digital Labour in the University: Understanding the Transformations of Academic Work in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Universities have been the site of a variety of shifts and transformations in the previous few decades. Both the composition of students and academics are changing (to a lesser or greater extent), along with the ways in which teaching and research is supported, conducted, and delivered. The effects of neoliberalism, privatisation, precarious employment, debt, and digitalisation have been highlighted as important factors in understanding these changes. However, the ways in which these tendencies are expressed in universities – both in specific and general ways – remain fragmented and under-analysed. In particular, the role of academic labour processes, increasingly mediated through digital technology, remains in the background. There is a risk of viewing these transformations as abstracted, far removed from the day-to-day activities of academic labour on which universities rely. This article will therefore focus on connecting the broader changes in funding, organisation, and digital technology to the labour processes of academics. Rather than seeking a return to a romanticised pre-neoliberal university, this article explores the possibilities of resistance and alternatives to the university as it is now.

scholarly journals On the Alienation of Academic Labour and the Possibilities for Mass Intellectuality

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113
Author(s):  
Richard Hall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
The Core ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Power

As one response to the secular crisis of capitalism, higher education is being proletarianised. Its academics and students, increasingly encumbered by precarious employment, debt, and new levels of performance management, are shorn of autonomy beyond the sale of their labour-power. Incrementally, the labour of those academics and students is subsumed and re-engineered for value production, and is prey to the twin processes of financialisation and marketisation. At the core of understanding the impact of these processes and their relationships to the reproduction of higher education is the alienated labour of the academic. The article examines the role of alienated labour in academic work in its relationship to the proletarianisation of the University, and relates this to feelings of hopelessness, in order to ask what might be done differently. The argument centres on the role of mass intellectuality, or socially-useful knowledge and knowing, as a potential moment for overcoming alienated labour.

scholarly journals On the Alienation of Academic Labour and the Possibilities for Mass Intellectuality

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
The Core ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Power

As one response to the secular crisis of capitalism, higher education is being proletarianised. Its academics and students, increasingly encumbered by precarious employment, debt, and new levels of performance management, are shorn of autonomy beyond the sale of their labour-power. Incrementally, the labour of those academics and students is subsumed and re-engineered for value production, and is prey to the twin processes of financialisation and marketisation. At the core of understanding the impact of these processes and their relationships to the reproduction of higher education is the alienated labour of the academic. The article examines the role of alienated labour in academic work in its relationship to the proletarianisation of the University, and relates this to feelings of hopelessness, in order to ask what might be done differently. The argument centres on the role of mass intellectuality, or socially-useful knowledge and knowing, as a potential moment for overcoming alienated labour.

scholarly journals Stakeholder attitudes towards employability in a Sino-British university

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Speight ◽  
Natasa Lackovic ◽  
Lucy Cooker
Keyword(s):  
Research Literature ◽  
Branch Campus ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Stakeholder Attitudes

In 2004 the University of Nottingham opened its branch campus, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). Degree-awarding powers for UNNC remain with the UK, but there is recognition that Nottingham must understand the specific context of its Chinese branch; provision therefore operates according to the principal of equivalence rather than of replication. This paper explores stakeholder attitudes towards the university's Nottingham Advantage Award. This is an extra-curricular programme designed to support students in the development of their 'employability'. Launched in the UK in 2008, it was piloted at UNNC in 2010-11 and is now nearing the end of its first full year of operation. Twenty-three interviews were conducted with staff and students at UNNC. These were analysed alongside interviews carried out in the UK and with reference to the research literature. This provided an understanding of the role of the Award overall and in the UNNC context. The study shows that while stakeholders hold broadly similar views in the UK and China, there are subtle differences of emphasis concerning the understanding of, and responsibility for, learning for employability. In addition, a group of China-specific themes emerged from the UNNC interviews that indicated recognition of the need to differentiate priorities and provision for each site. The paper concludes that the challenge for the Award at UNNC is to serve both global and local agendas and that it should strive to reduce the 'information asymmetry' existing between stakeholders to promote effective graduate employability.

scholarly journals THE UNIVERSITY LECTURER'S INNOVATION CULTURE IN DIGITAL AGE

PRIMO ASPECTU ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 46-51
Author(s):  
Dang Khoa Mai ◽  
Nikolai M. Borytko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Innovation Culture ◽  
Efficient Processing ◽  
The University

The world is witnessing dramatic changes in the digital age, marking the advancement and rise of digital technologies that enable more efficient processing, transmission, storage and review of information. As digital technology is increasingly affecting all aspects of social life, innovation is considered the key to making competitiveness and sustainble development of individuals, organizations and the whole society. Innovation is the process of creating new values by applying new solutions to existing problems. And innovation culture is an enviroment that nurtures, promotes and realizes innovation. This shows that the formation of an individual’s innovation culture is essential to be able to build an innovation culture of the organization and even of society. Higher education is also not out of this trend. Therefore, it is necessary to study the innovation culture in the field of higher education, first, the university lecturer’s innovation culture. The article aims to clarify some issues related to innovation culture. On that basis, the content of the concept of university lecturer’s innovation culture will be analyzed, simultaneously, the impacts of the digital age on higher education in general and university lecturer in particular will be mentioned to highlight the role of university lecturer’s innovation culture in the new context of society.

How Spanish Universities are Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Your Own Lines of Teaching and Research?

2017 ◽  
pp. 1344-1368
Author(s):  
Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez ◽  
M. Luisa Pajuelo-Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
New Creation ◽  
New Business ◽  
Spanish Universities ◽  
The University ◽  
A Company

Two lines of research focus on this chapter: University Social Responsibility and entrepreneurship. Once Univesrities are aware of the importance of introducing socially responsible actions, we refer to the need of Universities to foster the creation of new business, establishing the best conditions for entrepreneurs. In this sense, we study what entrepreneurship means and how it is initiated. At the same time, we set the education on entrepreneurship and how gender differences condition the new creation of firms. Some examples of promoting entrepreneurship are discussed, from the initial actions until the maintaining and growing a company already created. Later, chapter concentrates on the particular case of Spanish Universities, offering a lot of actions for the promotion of entrepreneurship, like projects, awards, chairs, masters, conferences and meeting. It is also important to consider the support of public administration and the role of cluster. The chapter finishes with some considerations about spin off, as the result of entrepreneurship from the University.

International Association for the Study of Popular Music (UK Branch) 2000 Conference

Popular Music ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-274
Author(s):  
Peter Symon
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
International Association ◽  
Popular Music Studies ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Politics ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

For some reason, the working lives of music makers are not often given the attention in popular music studies which might be expected. The launch of the UK Year of the Artist – celebrating the role of artists in society – immediately before the 2000 conference of the UK branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), meant that it was especially timely, then, for the IASPM event to address this state of affairs. The conference, The Popular Musician: Performance, Poetics, Power, was held at the University of Surrey, 7–9 July 2000, and took as its central theme the position of musicians – in the music industry, in relation to fans and audiences and in the media, politics and society.

scholarly journals Make the butterflies fly in formation? Management of copyright created by academics in UK universities

Legal Studies ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Rahmatian
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Sensitive Area ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
University Policies ◽  
Copyright Ownership ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Universities have increasingly become aware of the fact that the intellectual property (IP) rights that attach to the work of their academics could become significant and valuable assets to the university as an institution and economic organisation. The study involved analysis of the copyright and intellectual property policies of universities in the UK and the interviewing of specialised representatives of universities in relation to the policies of their respective institutions. The principal question of the study was the way in which university policies deal with the issue of ownership of copyright generated by academic staff, which proved to be a sensitive area. University policies presume that, by default, they own all work that academics create as their employees. There seems to be insufficient appreciation of the differentiated legal interpretation of the employees' copyright rule. At least in relation to core academic work (scholarly books and journal articles in particular), initial copyright ownership by the university, by virtue of the statutory employee-copyright rule, is highly doubtful. As a result of the universities' principal position with regard to ownership, university IP policies have resorted to complicated and artificial assignment and licencing provisions, with questionable enforceability.

scholarly journals Creating a copyright literacy strategy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Academic Library ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Creative Commons ◽  
Literacy Strategy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
High Level ◽  
The University

This presentation reports on the University of Kent’s development of a copyright literacy strategy. This has been developed to raise awareness of copyright amongst staff and students in order to minimise the risk of copyright infringement, as well as prevent copyright being a barrier to innovative teaching and research. This work builds on a multinational research project to assess the copyright literacy of information professionals (Todorova et al, 2017) and further research in the UK to understand copyright literacy within higher education institutions (Morrison & Secker, 2015; Morrison & Secker 2017; Morrison, 2018). The research has found that copyright is a source of anxiety for library staff who are often expected to have a high level of knowledge of copyright issues. This proves challenging when copyright presents a barrier to teaching and research, and there is a need for nuanced conversations about application of copyright exceptions and risk managed approaches (IFLA, 2018). Copyright has also been identified as a key issue at the intersection between information literacy and scholarly communication (ACRL, 2013). This is particularly relevant when advocating for open science and open scholarship such as identifying and using Creative Commons licensed content. The University of Kent copyright literacy strategy will set out a vision for raising awareness of copyright issues (University of Kent, 2019). It is being developed in collaboration between academic, library and other professional services staff and is intended to encourage its staff and students to take a critical yet responsible approach to managing use of copyright material. This presentation will explain the methodology used to consult with relevant stakeholders and address the tensions between different elements of the University. It will outline the key principles and values behind the strategy and report on practical benefits of adopting a strategic approach to copyright literacy.

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