Coping with cuts
Coping with cuts
复制标题
应对削减
作者：
G. Brindley
英国大学面临着日益增加的成本和日益减少的财政支持，甚至可能取消或降级的“多余”大学的悲惨困境，促使我提出一种在美国大学中并不罕见的安排，即大学教师的任期为9个月而不是12个月。这意味着教师在一年中有3个月的时间可以自由参加其他活动。科学家和工程师经常可以在政府和工业实验室找到暑期工作，在那里更广泛的经验可能对他们的大学教学和研究有益。无论如何，这种经验对于与象牙塔的观念作斗争和与真实的世界保持联系可能是有价值的。人文学科的同事可能会发现，在暑期找到其他工作会更困难，但他们可以自由地写书、画画、作曲，从而练习他们所教授的艺术。在许多情况下，”9个月的科学家”可能没有必要放弃他的实验室。美国大学研究的很大一部分是由政府机构和行业的赠款资助的。这是一种常见的做法。这种建议不仅包括对博士后助理或研究生助理的支持，而且还包括一年中两三个月教职员工50%甚至100%的时间。这种支持绝不是自动的，而是取决于建议的质量，即建议者的质量。
SIR-The sad plight of UK universities facing increasing costs and diminishing financial support, possibly even the elimination or demotion of" redundant" universities, moves me to suggest an arrangement not uncommon in American universities, whereby members of university faculties have 9-month rather than I2-month appointments. This means that faculty members have 3 months in the year free for other activities. Scientists and engineers can frequently find summer employment in government and industrial laboratories, where the broader experience may well be beneficial to their university teaching and research. In any case, the experience may be valuable in combating the ivory tower outlook and maintaining contact with the real world. Colleagues in the humanities may find it more difficult to obtain alternative summer employment, but they would be free to write books, paint pictures, compose music and thereby practice the arts they teach.In many cases, it may not be necessary for the" 9-month scientist" to forsake his laboratory. A large part of American (meaning US) university research is funded by grants from government agencies and from industries. It is common practice for a rese. uch proposal to include not only support for a post-doc associate or a graduate student assistant, but also an item for 50 per cent or even IOO per cent of the time of a faculty member for two or three months of the year. Such support is by no means automatic but depends on the quality of the proposal, that is, on the quality of the person making the proposal.