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Academic promotions are Faustian bargains

By Dianna Kenny - posted Tuesday, 6 April 2004


There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequals.
- Vincent Lombardi

Vincent Lombardi, football coach, was no academic scholar but he demonstrated a much better grasp on how best to manage a diverse group of people than senior personnel in universities. Lombardi’s goal, and indeed the goal of any good sport’s coach, was to recognise and nurture the individual skills of each member, thereby creating a strong and unified team, in which players can simultaneously excel individually and contribute to the higher purpose of team victory. Members of football teams have specific roles to play – centre forward, back, wing – they are assigned these positions and maintain and enhance them throughout their football careers.

Makes good sense? Perhaps to the lay man but in universities, academics are expected to excel in a range of diverse and complex areas, such as teaching, research, administration, and contributions to the profession and community in order to gain promotion through the ranks. To attain promotion to professor, one must be deemed outstanding in all areas.

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Internal promotion is a time-consuming and gruelling process, opaque and probably of merely fleeting interest to anyone outside our academic institutions. Perhaps it is time to inform the community about such processes. For promotion to professor (pdf 166Kb), one must first gain the support of one’s Head of School and Dean of Faculty. One must then compile a document that addresses dozens of dot points in each of the substantive areas and provide corroborating evidence of achievement. One must enlist the support of five referees of high international standing (whatever this means) to support one’s application. Once submitted, two independent assessors are assigned to comment on the merits of the application and to provide written advice. The applicant is called for interview before an eight-member Faculty Promotions Committee (FPC), which makes a recommendation to the Central Promotions Committee (CPC), after having considered the application, the interview, the referees’ reports and the written reports of the independent assessors. The ten-member CPC essentially duplicates the functions of the FPC with added roles:

". . . to ensure that standards are equitable across The University and to make the final recommendations for or against promotion. The CPC will be guided by the advice of the FPC (Levels C, D and E)."

The problem with the CPC is that it has no first-hand knowledge of the applicant or his/her work, has not been present at the interview and frequently has no representation in the applicant’s substantive area. On average, the CPC rejects the applications of about a third of those seeking promotion to professor each year. Many of those rejected would have had the support of their Faculties, their referees, and the independent assessors.

In October 2003, Gavin Brown wrote a piece in Sydney Uni News (reproduced in On Line Opinion) in response to negotiations with Brendan Nelson regarding the conditions specified by the government before additional funding would be forthcoming. He stated:

"After eight months of hard but constructive enterprise bargaining we found that our agreement with the Unions violates many clauses suddenly imposed by the government one day before its signing . . . There are many other protocols that must be satisfied before we qualify for the additional funding, which the Minister has frankly stated is necessary for higher education. It is my opinion that we have been offered a Faustian bargain and that it would be better for the sector to face lower quality arising from an inadequate resource base than to place ourselves in a state of total impotence."

These words ring strangely ironic to those who have suffered at the hands of the CPC. Gavin Brown enters into Faustian bargains with staff every year at promotion time. In overturning their recommendations, he and his CPC discount the integrity and good judgment of their own Deans, Heads of Schools, referees and assessors. How could they all be so wrong? The psychological damage wreaked on career academics by a system that offers no satisfactory appeal process is immeasurable but the CPC is comfortably removed from these consequences of their actions.

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The University of Sydney has a Resolution of Complaints Policy. It states:

"In the case of the Vice-Chancellor, any complaint shall be routinely referred to an appropriate external organisation or individual, free of any real or reasonably perceived conflict of interest, unless the Chancellor is satisfied that the complaint can be resolved by the Chancellor, without there being any real or reasonably perceived conflict of interest, and should, having regard to the nature of the complaint, be so resolved."

However, this policy does not apply to the appeals process in academic promotions. A Deputy Vice Chancellor is assigned by the Vice Chancellor to hear the appeal, which may only be made on procedural grounds. How can academics have any expectation of a fair hearing from a staff member who reports directly to the Vice Chancellor, who is simultaneously his boss, Chair of the CPC, and ultimately responsible for the decisions of the CPC? In most jurisdictions, this would be considered a serious conflict of interest. Not so in the university! This reprehensible practice is not only considered appropriate; it is apparently unassailable in law.

Further, the notions on which these decisions rest, that of "international standing" and "equitable standards" are at best social constructions and at worst chimeras. International standing is often measured by the number of invited or keynote presentations you give. If you are on the conference club circuit, you get invitations from your mates and give the same paper 20 times, using a slightly different title each time. How are equitable standards defined? Academics seeking internal promotions are required to satisfy much more stringent criteria than those applied to academics seeking appointments to positions either within or outside the university. There are also demonstrably different standards applied across disciplines. The standards for equity also seem to change with the composition of the committee. A little like judges – some are hanging, some more lenient. Internal promotion is worse than a lottery. A winning ticket remains a winning ticket, regardless of the committee who scrutinises it.

These procedures surrounding internal academic promotions create learned helplessness in those subject to them and, like Gavin in his dealings with the government, "failed" academics come to know the feeling of "total impotence" he describes.

The following letter from Michael Thomson, President of the NTEU to the Vice Chancellor (18th February 2004), deplored the new organisational structure in the university in which staff have become the responsibility of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Infrastructure).

"In view of your previous comments lauding the contribution of staff as the most important asset of the University, the categorisation of the organisational structure in these terms sends a somewhat inappropriate message to staff. Staff are in effect reduced to the status of inanimate objects. In view of your declaration that staff are the University's greatest asset, the Branch believes it would be appropriate to encapsulate explicitly this sentiment in the organisational structure. At the very least, it would be fitting to rename the position 'Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Infrastructure)' 'Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Staffing and Infrastructure)'."

Perhaps our relegation to inanimate objects is strategic and sensible. Inanimate objects cannot complain, argue, protest, challenge or change the rules. Above all, as inanimate objects, we will not undergo "a magical transformation from prince to frog" and like Dr Nelson, "throw the university into a state of industrial chaos"!

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Article edited by Eliza Brown.
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About the Author

Dr Dianna Kenny is Professor of Psychology at The University of Sydney.

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