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  1. #851
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    Is it for the same reasons? I can see the point in science, since you might need loads of money, but you have to wonder with humanities research whether not getting the money - but having an extra year to actually do the work instead of writing grant proposals - would be a better trade-off for the majority of funded projects.

  2. #852
    Senior Member Pepe's Avatar
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    No one gets external funding in the humanities over here. Well, at least not in literature. They just write whatever shit they want and the university takes care of paying students, who do most of the teaching anyway.

    In my department it is indeed the case that external funding is the most important metric. The requirement for tenure is to bring in three times what you were given for startup, according to a recently hired professor. The admin loves it since those grants are used to pay the tuition of graduate students (the full $65,000 per year each of us allegedly cost) to the university. That's the reason they were all chimping out at the plan to tax stipends - they would've needed to decrease or completely eliminate tuition, which would've meant less money going from THE TAXPAYER straight into their gold coffers.

    The places I've interviewed for are teaching-focused (they only give Bachelors) so they don't care for external funding, but they do require some publications.

  3. #853
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lewis View Post
    Is it for the same reasons? I can see the point in science, since you might need loads of money, but you have to wonder with humanities research whether not getting the money - but having an extra year to actually do the work instead of writing grant proposals - would be a better trade-off for the majority of funded projects.
    In the end, it's because universities are businesses who primarily prioritise the bottom line, which makes sense to a certain degree. Publications can increase prestige, which can have some limited effect on student enrolments and strengthening grant proposals. But grant money is cash-in-the-pocket bottom line to a university, with no indirectness involved.

    I'm not commenting on whether I think this emphasis is right or not, but across the board in academia, grants have become the primary success measure for an academic. Which is annoying, because there's such a huge element of chance involved.

  4. #854
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    I don't know whether it's true, but we once had the daftness of the system explained to us with the example of Brian Cox almost single-handedly making Manchester the most popular destination for Physics applicants, but none of it actually mattering because BBC work isn't part of their funding equations.

  5. #855
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    I've been told by people who studied there that he's actually not a very good undergraduate lecturer, interestingly enough.

  6. #856
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    Would people know who he is without the telly work?

  7. #857
    DEATH TO THE WEIRD Raoul Duke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lewis View Post
    Would people know who he is without the telly work?
    Err, he was in D:Ream

  8. #858
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lewis View Post
    Would people know who he is without the telly work?
    He's a decent theoretical physicist, so I'd imagine so within his field. But not people outside physics.

  9. #859
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    Just applied to three Masters of Architecture programs in Canada. (Sorry Spoon, but not McGill.)

    I decided to do it a couple weeks ago, and I wound up sending in an 80% complete portfolio where images from the final project don't even match. 😎

    Don't worry--I have a bunch of F's from my most recent degree (that's another story), so that's going to go down well with the Admissions committees.

  10. #860
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    Pepe, is there a way to repackage mechanical engineering as a social justice issue for Mexican-Americans?

  11. #861
    Senior Member Pepe's Avatar
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    There is probably something about a Big, Beautiful Wall that could be said.

  12. #862
    Senior Member Spoonsky's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Panda Bear View Post
    Just applied to three Masters of Architecture programs in Canada. (Sorry Spoon, but not McGill.)

    I decided to do it a couple weeks ago, and I wound up sending in an 80% complete portfolio where images from the final project don't even match. ��

    Don't worry--I have a bunch of F's from my most recent degree (that's another story), so that's going to go down well with the Admissions committees.
    Where'd you apply?

  13. #863
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    UBC in Vancouver, Calgary, and Carleton in Ottawa.

    I'm hoping for Calgary because it'd be possible for my fiancée to keep her job.

  14. #864
    Senior Member Pepe's Avatar
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    Are you an architect now? What does a Masters get you?

  15. #865
    Custom User Title phonics's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pepe View Post
    Are you an architect now? What does a Masters get you?
    If it's anything like the architects I know, a higher quality cocaine.

  16. #866
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pepe View Post
    Are you an architect now? What does a Masters get you?
    Not even close to one.

    You need a Masters to work as an intern architect, which is the only route in Canada to becoming a licensed architect (if you're not already registered in another country, that is).

  17. #867
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Panda Bear View Post
    Not even close to one.

    You need a Masters to work as an intern architect, which is the only route in Canada to becoming a licensed architect (if you're not already registered in another country, that is).
    I don't know what it's like there, but here, architecture is one of the most arduous professional qualifications you can work towards. Years and years and years of study.

  18. #868
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    In China you probably just need to know how to use a ruler.

  19. #869
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    Quote Originally Posted by ItalAussie View Post
    I don't know what it's like there, but here, architecture is one of the most arduous professional qualifications you can work towards. Years and years and years of study.
    Over here it's two years of studying a Masters followed by 3,720 hours of practice signed off by a licensed architect. The hours are broken down into different categories, which each have their own minimums. It takes most people 3-4 years to get their license.

    So I'm looking at seven years minimum starting from this September at best, which puts me at 38. 😒

    Quote Originally Posted by Lewis View Post
    In China you probably just need to know how to use a ruler.
    Digital rulers.

  20. #870
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    Just had the most awkward/shit lecture ever.

    Meant to be on the start of the Irish free state and the lecturer said it had been a while so she was nervous and would probably stutter a bit. There was more stuttering than coherent language, I also couldn't look at her face when she started stuttering for fear of laughing. She was also from Northern Ireland so didn't know Irish so couldn't pronounce Irish language which was in the lecture which was odd as the main lecturer for the unit is proper Irish and fluent.

    Probably hates her so wanted her to fail.

  21. #871
    Custom User Title phonics's Avatar
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    Mahow laughing at people stuttering when talking in front of a room...

  22. #872
    Senior Member John's Avatar
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    I bet her lecture constituted a better example of the English language than that post.

  23. #873
    Custom User Title phonics's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John View Post
    I bet her lecture constituted a better example of the English language than that post.
    Even the mention of a female in a post causes him to fall apart.

  24. #874
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by phonics View Post
    Mahow laughing at people stuttering when talking in front of a room...
    Surprisingly I don't.

    I get an incredible dry mouth but that's about it. I always seem to be marked well for presentations and such despite me feeling that it's going terribly.

  25. #875
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John View Post
    I bet her lecture constituted a better example of the English language than that post.
    I'd assume so, she has a doctorate and published a number of articles.

  26. #876
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    There is a spectrum that goes across the worth of the subject area and how bad a writer the historian is. You start with people who have to be good writers to make their stuff stand out in crowded fields, and you end up with the frauds who write about the subject itself or race or some other shite and who couldn't tell you their names without confusing or contradicting themselves. Irish history sits more towards the latter end of that spectrum (precise position dependent on how much of a whinger they are).

  27. #877
    Senior Member Pepe's Avatar
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    Where do BOMBS fit in?

  28. #878
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    That sort of thing is well-written insofar as it is normally formal and not full of made-up terminology. Obviously not everybody has six Best Poster titles under their belt, so quality writing is still rare.

  29. #879
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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    Some of the stuff I had to read for politics/IR was properly badly written, but then 95% of academics in that are stealing a living.

  30. #880
    Senior Member Pepe's Avatar
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    Most academic writing in general is awful. Some even do it on purpose, the frauds Lewis mentions. My wife's writing has been criticized for not being 'refined' enough just because it is not full of made up bollocks. I usually get good comments on my writing, but my competition is the Asian crew, so yeah.

  31. #881
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lewis View Post
    There is a spectrum that goes across the worth of the subject area and how bad a writer the historian is. You start with people who have to be good writers to make their stuff stand out in crowded fields, and you end up with the frauds who write about the subject itself or race or some other shite and who couldn't tell you their names without confusing or contradicting themselves. Irish history sits more towards the latter end of that spectrum (precise position dependent on how much of a whinger they are).
    This one specialises in late 18th-early 19th century women's history in Presbyterian families across Ulster.

    Where does that rank on the spectrum?

  32. #882
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    I bet she writes in wingdings and fingerprints.

  33. #883
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    So what you're saying @Mahow is that she had troubles.

  34. #884
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry View Post
    This one specialises in late 18th-early 19th century women's history in Presbyterian families across Ulster.

    Where does that rank on the spectrum?
    Specialisms are always going to be narrow like that though.

    And Presbyterianism at that time is important and interesting.

  35. #885
    Custom User Title phonics's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Panda Bear View Post
    So what you're saying @Mahow is that she had troubles.
    That joke was so bad you've broken the tagging system.

    edit: Oh that's not his name

  36. #886
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    😎😎😎😎

  37. #887
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry View Post
    Just had the most awkward/shit lecture ever.

    Meant to be on the start of the Irish free state and the lecturer said it had been a while so she was nervous and would probably stutter a bit. There was more stuttering than coherent language, I also couldn't look at her face when she started stuttering for fear of laughing. She was also from Northern Ireland so didn't know Irish so couldn't pronounce Irish language which was in the lecture which was odd as the main lecturer for the unit is proper Irish and fluent.

    Probably hates her so wanted her to fail.
    Being a university lecturer is a bit of a rough gig, especially when you're starting. You're basically untrained as a teacher, and you're not even remotely hired on your ability to teach. You've had extensive training as a researcher, been hired on the basis of your research record as a researcher, to do research. Oh and by the way, you'll have to teach basic elements of your field - a task you've never been trained for - in front of a hundred students, the vast majority of who don't care and will never understand the real subtleties. And, while we insist that it's an important part of your job, you're on a hiding to nothing, because good teaching has little career impact, but bad teaching scores can scupper your promotion and career opportunities.

    Now, I actually enjoy teaching, and my scores suggest that I'm decent at it. But it's still a really weird feeling for me to be doing a job I'm largely untrained to do.

  38. #888
    DEATH TO THE WEIRD Raoul Duke's Avatar
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    How much research do you do versus teaching?

  39. #889
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raoul Duke View Post
    How much research do you do versus teaching?
    My job is 60-20-20 between research, teaching, and administration. Most jobs are 40-40-20, and mine will probably get there once I move past the early-career researcher stage, depending on grant success.

  40. #890
    Senior Member randomlegend's Avatar
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    Pretty sure I'm going to fail finals which is a pain. Only allowed one resit which would be in June I think.

    Had an absolute bitch of a first term with migraines so although they are under control really well now, I've been playing catchup all year and am not prepared enough.

    Oh well, give it my best and see what happens.

  41. #891
    Romulus Augustulus ItalAussie's Avatar
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    Best of luck with it! Hope it goes better than you think.

  42. #892
    Senior Member randomlegend's Avatar
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    Well I don't think the first two days went as disastrously as expected, other than one station which was being examined by the consultant who supervised my previous placement and will haunt me for the rest of my life.

    My thought was I'll be resitting and that this was a practice run so if I do scrape a pass it'll be a nice bonus.

  43. #893
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    It's election week and usually I either skip Uni those days or I somehow miss it all.

    Yesterday I did not. Loads of dickheads with flyers and some proper shit school-esque posters all the place to try and garner votes. There was either one twat dressed as the blue Power ranger (green or black only ffs) but with no helmet.

  44. #894
    mischamischaracterisation Dquincy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry View Post
    It's election week and usually I either skip Uni those days or I somehow miss it all.

    Yesterday I did not. Loads of dickheads with flyers and some proper shit school-esque posters all the place to try and garner votes. There was either one twat dressed as the blue Power ranger (green or black only ffs) but with no helmet.
    How old are you and what university do you go to?

  45. #895
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    31, Hertfordshire.

  46. #896
    Administrator SvN's Avatar
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    I'd love to know what nickname the other students have secretly given you.

  47. #897
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    All good I'd imagine.

  48. #898
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    This is more likely though:


  49. #899
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    Mahow being older than me surprises me every time I hear it.

  50. #900
    Senior Member randomlegend's Avatar
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    I'm not getting too excited yet but I think there's a slim possibility I might actually pass this.

    We had a ridiculous station today though. Had to talk about 3 different types of catheters (tubes for going up piss holes) and answer questions on them. Just not something we'd ever need to know, have ever been taught or would have thought to look up.

    I'd be surprised if I got more than about 10 out of 25. One guy reckoned he saw his marksheet and he'd got 4

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