Academic recruitment – Beware, predators at large

Durham University, which is on a mission to recruit 40 big-hitting academics, is not the only university out poaching big names, writes Anna Fazackerley for the Guardian. Leeds is investing £23 million (US$37 million) in up to 50 new professorial posts; Manchester has hired 120 stars; Surrey has a target of 75; and East Anglia brought in 100 new academics this year and 100 the year before.

An element of musical chairs in academia is nothing new. But talk to university leadership teams and the advisors they are calling in to help them, and it becomes clear that the stakes have risen. Recruiting the right talent has never been more important: and holding on to your own bright things has never been more crucial or more challenging.

In part this fierce battle is being driven by the looming Research Excellence Framework, which will distribute somewhere in the region of a billion pounds of government research funding annually.
Full report on the Guardian site