When you’re stuck in a rut and dreading each day of work, a change of career seems to be the answer. The grass looks greener and the sky bluer. But is it? These ten crucial questions, answered honestly, will help you to think it through, evaluate your position and view the prospect with a steady gaze.
Academic Careers
5 Advantages of Becoming a Lecturer
Many people find it challenging to choose a career direction. If you are completing a postgraduate degree at the moment, you might be wondering where to take your career. In the following article, I will share with you 5 advantages of becoming a lecturer. I’m sure there are many more,…>
How to Become a Lecturer
There are numerous routes to get into the field of academia. In the following article, I will share with you some invaluable insights into the traditional way of how to become a lecturer. Qualifications If you wanted to become a lecturer fifty years ago, a post-graduate qualification was not necessary. A…>
Top Questions To Ask Your Mentor
Why have a mentor? Wherever you are on your career journey, from starting a PhD to your first permanent academic post or to taking those initial tentative steps as a manager, other people have been there before and are often willing to share their valuable advice and insight. They understand…>
What You Need to Know About Widening Participation
One of the most important government initiatives of the last few years is the Widening Participation agenda. As an academic jobseeker you will have to show that you know a great deal about the job you are applying for, not only about the institution where it is based but also…>
Writing Meeting Minutes
So you have been asked to take the minutes of a meeting? Here are some tips and techniques to do this effectively. 1. Before the meeting If the meeting is one of a series, check the previous minutes for the format expected. Most professional minutes are now in ‘short-form’, with…>
Collaboration, Co-operation and Contribution
Collaboration, cooperation and contribution are the necessary ingredients for a recipe of enriched learning, knowledge consolidation, and active participation in further and higher education. I often reflect on the ever-changing world of learning. Our educational institutions have become somewhat vast yet empty; popular yet disfavoured; necessary yet peripheral. Too often,…>
Report Writing: Some Questions And Answers
Is the report really necessary? Not always. Could the report be replaced by a long-ish but informal email, by a phone conversation followed by a summary email, or by a short oral presentation at a departmental meeting, recorded by ‘bullet points’ in the meeting minutes? You may not have the…>