Tag Archives: News Roundup 21 February 2019

A weekly roundup of Cardiff UCU news and announcements

Workload and its effects

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This week was the anniversary of the death of our colleague Malcolm Anderson, who sadly took his own life on 19th February 2018. Many of you will have seen the BBC’s report into workload and stress that was screened on Wednesday night. It includes a moving interview with Malcolm’s widow, who describes the impossible workload that Malcolm was trying to manage, and how it pushed him too far.

For those who have not seen it, the report is available on the BBC’s website and on YouTube.

Staff in Cardiff Business School (CARBS), where Malcolm worked, continue to fight against unmanageable workloads and in November carried out a survey of academic staff in CARBS whose workload is allocated through the Workload Allocation Model. The survey was designed by the CARBS Workload Group and the UCU Workload Health & Safety team and provides evidence requested by the University Workload Governance Group to support staff claims of excessive work demands.

The report of its findings is now available:

Re-Thinking the University: Past, Present, and Possible Futures

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A group of CU academics from various disciplines has recently formed a new initiative “Re-Thinking the University: Past, Present, and Possible Futures”. The aim of the initiative is to increase the understanding of CU governance structures and to provide a platform to reflect on current governance practices at our university.

For the Spring Semester 2019, the group has organised a seminar series to provide historic and contemporary perspectives on how universities are run. The series will be kicked off by Dr Eric Lybeck (University of Manchester) in A Tale of Two Universities: Critical & Institutional Perspectives on the Civic University on Thursday 28 February 2019, 1-2 pm, Beverton Lecture Theatre, Main Building.

The seminar series is organised independently by CU academics, supported by UCU. For further information on this initiative can be found on the Rethinking the University website.