The concept of a ‘cohesive educational community’ couldn’t sound more of a painful soundbite if it tried, but when I started to think about what I wanted to discuss in terms of an all-staff-all-student community, it was one of the better phrases I came up with (believe it or not). It’s more than a little …
Thoughts
Challenges for Professional Services Staff: Resilience
“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” (Terry Pratchett) Working in a Professional Services role can be, amongst many other things, incredibly rewarding. The Higher Education sector is filled with many challenges, but that does not (always) detract from the positive aspects of a job well done and overcoming the latest challenges …
Challenges for Professional Services Staff: Resources
“For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.” (Douglas Adams) It is remarkable, given the current strangulation of resources across the entirety of the Higher Education sector, how little prominence is given to the impact this has on Professional Services staff (and, therefore, the wider staff and student …
Challenges for Professional Services Staff: Language
The political (using the term in the broadest possible sense) environment of Higher Education has changed substantially in the last several years, and there is a great deal of uncertainty about the future of Higher Education Institutions across the UK. This has been most recently demonstrated by the (entirely unsurprising) news that several education providers are …
ASF013 Farewell, Substack (and other tales)
I’m up to something. The other day, I found myself using a phrase that my parents used quite often when I was a child. “Auri,” I said in an ominous tone. “You’re up to something.” It is both joyful and terrifying to watch a miniature you grow up before your eyes. There are things that …
ASF012 We All Will Be Together
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices. I am beginning to suspect I have become somewhat immobilised by how much I want to say. Since I last wrote, I have started numerous updates and jotted down fleeting thoughts (increasingly, these days, if said thoughts are not jotted down then they run the risk of …