We have what is supposedly a 'global market for talented leaders' to serve as highly-paid VCs in UK universities. Their response to the @ucu strikes has again shown why we should be highly sceptical of the claimed talent of our current HE leaders. /1
a) They now tell us that they failed to budget for staff pay rising in line with inflation - an absolutely fundamental part of any sensible employer's financial planning. /2
b) They have led their institutions to become so dependent on a single overseas student market that coronavirus' temporary impact on IELTS testing in China endangers the very financial future of their organisations. /3 theguardian.com/education/2020…
c) The majority of VCs are unwilling to tell their own staff how they responded to national consultations on settling the #ucustrikes - an abject failure of leadership. /4
d) They fail to meet basic legal requirements on equality, and resist efforts by the unions to introduce ways of addressing the gender and ethnic pay gaps. /5
If our current VCs really are the cream of the crop in a global talent pool of organisational leaders, I fear even more for our future as a species... /6
(It's also an amazing coincidence, of course, that thorough trawls of the 'global talent pool' usually conclude that the best candidate for next VC is yet another white man...).@MatthewLBishop @sheffielducu /7 end
