Over the summer the 2018 National Student Survey results were released, and as usual Kingston management’s bullshit machine swung into action. We all know the NSS bears little relation to teaching quality, but the SMT will extract what it can from the dried tea bag of performance monitoring. So it boasts about an improvement in teaching, feedback and support, although the figures are only a couple of percent or so, a minor improvement at best. Even SS’s effusions can’t make much of the miniscule improvement in student satisfaction from 80.1% to 80.5%. Will any of these vaunted small improvements take the pressure off staff? Almost certainly not. The public face of the SMT is very different to the one turned towards us. Janus is its name.
As usual our bumbling bosses trumpet the 100% satisfaction rates from the handful of courses that get them, while quietly overlooking those who’ve fallen from this perfect score, Nutrition for example, whose students are apparently more fed up (geddit) this year. But let’s celebrate the put-upon mathematicians who, against the odds, have managed 100% for their courses this year. Even here the SMT has resorted to bullshit, claiming the reason is the new way the courses are taught, at its insistence. The NSS figure, however, was obtained before this has been introduced. Regardless, it’s a good result for beleaguered Maths, a last hurrah for the department being absorbed into Computing (not 100% satisfaction). Shame about the third of staff who contributed to that achievement and have been ushered out by the management. Oops.
KU Inc. is looking to appoint yet another staff bully, this prospective headbanger’s role will be to oversee the forthcoming REF submission:
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BMO082/ref-manager
Suspect this post ties in with the above information, re: the soon to be implemented ‘rationalisation’ (a.k.a culling en masse) of Associate Professor and Professor staff.
REFable – in.
Non-REFable – to collect P45s.
Excerpt from ad., riddled with SMT-speak BS:
“The Person
You will have excellent communication, influencing, networking and interpersonal skills as you will be required to work with internal staff across the university to advise on how their systems and processes will be required to inform and improve the REF submission.
You will require the ability to explain and cause understanding in others through disseminating and translating complex research assessment criteria and data requirements, so that the university is able to tailor its research systems and evidence into a quality REF submission.
You will possess an informed understanding of the requirements for reporting university-wide and subject-specific impact and environment in line with REF2021 expectations, in addition to the reporting of research outcomes for Units of Assessment.”
Spew…
Word is Simon Stone had enough of KU agenda and has resigned.
Simon More than Worthless has been favoured with new senior role in the art school.
New posts being created just below SMT.
Rationalisation of profs and APs has started and will ramp up significantly over 12-18 months.
Various appointments at all levels being made through acting roles without interviews.
Bullying higher than ever.
More needs to be done to advertise this criminal activity.
Well, if that is the best the SMT shower of ‘faecal matter’ can achieve – after having terminated courses that had low NSS results (and their staff) – then they have achieved naff all. They are beneath contempt. The spiral of decline continues.