AUSTRALIA: Ageing academics set university time bomb

Universities face a new crisis: up to 40% of academics and lecturers are expected to retire over the next decade, with no one to replace them, writes Sarah Whyte for the Sydney Morning Herald.

As the higher education sector prepares for loss of revenue caused by falling international student numbers, government figures show universities are also under threat from within. Half the full-time academic workforce is over 50, according to the Department of Tertiary Education. Experts said the best students are being put off an academic career by limited job security and poor pay.

National Tertiary Education Union President Jeannie Rea said international surveys showed job satisfaction of Australian academics was among the lowest in wealthy countries. Ariadne Vromen, a political science lecturer at the University of Sydney, said the pathway to a lecturer's position was a "really tough road". It required a decade of full-time study and then casual contracts until a permanent job came up.
Full report on the Sydney Morning Herald site

Comment
Surely this is not news - I've been hearing the same story since I started my PhD in 1987! The aging academic workforce has been retiring ever since, and many of their tenured positions have either not been filled or replaced with casual staff.

Cally Guerin,
University of Adelaide

Comment:
Protesters are only a handful. Most students have paid the new quota (US$400 a semester) and are taking their finals. Tuition costs in the University of Puerto Rico are unbelievably low: US$1,200 a semester for undergraduate studies and you can get a JD (Juris Doctor) for approximately US$10,000 in tuition costs for all 92 credits required! Where else can you get a BA paying only US$4,000 in tuition and on top of that finance it with Pell Grants (US$5-6k a year), student loans, and work-study programmes?

Undergraduate students eligible for Pell Grants will not have to pay a penny from their pockets as the Obama administration has increased the grants. Bottom line is the Puerto Rican and the American tax payer will be footing the bill.

Myrisa Fuentes