Research is an expensive practice. Even if supporting funds to gather data are not required the amount of time required to write a review paper for example is phenomenal. Academic time is perhaps the greatest expense of research conducted in universities.
Most academics complain of a lack of time to carry out research. Increased teaching commitments and the ever increasing administrative burden faced by lecturers mean that very little time is left for writing even a conference paper. It would appear that many just give up with research after a year or two of trying to find the time.
Universities should explore ways to reduce the administrative burdern on academics. The percentage of administrative staff seems to be increasing each year but the problem is that, instead of reducing the burden falling on lecturers, they appear to create new administrative work that the academics must respond to. From my own experiences, I seem to be spending a day a week on administrative tasks and that is time that could be spent on research. I don't blame the administrators individually, since once employed they have to justify their existence with new initiatives and these usually involve academics completing new forms, supplying the same old data they have supplied many times, or reporting about some aspect of their activities.
The lean university (administratively) seems to be the way to go and use the money spent on administrative staff and their computers and offices to reduce teaching loads for academics and actually support them in developing their research skills and knowledge. Universities expect employers to train their staff but are often the worst sector for spending on staff development.
www.CompletePhD.com
Most academics complain of a lack of time to carry out research. Increased teaching commitments and the ever increasing administrative burden faced by lecturers mean that very little time is left for writing even a conference paper. It would appear that many just give up with research after a year or two of trying to find the time.
Universities should explore ways to reduce the administrative burdern on academics. The percentage of administrative staff seems to be increasing each year but the problem is that, instead of reducing the burden falling on lecturers, they appear to create new administrative work that the academics must respond to. From my own experiences, I seem to be spending a day a week on administrative tasks and that is time that could be spent on research. I don't blame the administrators individually, since once employed they have to justify their existence with new initiatives and these usually involve academics completing new forms, supplying the same old data they have supplied many times, or reporting about some aspect of their activities.
The lean university (administratively) seems to be the way to go and use the money spent on administrative staff and their computers and offices to reduce teaching loads for academics and actually support them in developing their research skills and knowledge. Universities expect employers to train their staff but are often the worst sector for spending on staff development.
www.CompletePhD.com
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