Nearly half of university staff do not think their vice-chancellor is an effective leader, a Guardian survey has found.



More than 1,000 academics and administrative staff responded to the survey about working life. Many felt that their vice-chancellors were too focused on lobbying and external relations, with not enough time spent on understanding how the institution runs on the ground.

“His vision is so far away from the day-to-day reality of teaching staff that it is as though he is managing a different institution,” said one respondent. Others drew attention to high vice-chancellor pay, which according to an annual University and College Union survey averaged £277,834 in 2015-16: “He is so highly paid he could never be value for money.”



Staff tended to think that their institution cared disproportionately about internationalisation and research activity, while they saw issues like learning and teaching, student employability and widening participation as more important.

‘Feathering their nest’

A quarter of respondents described management of their department as very poor, and a half scored it below a six out of 10. The results were similar for institutional management, with 26.2% giving it the lowest scores of one and three out of 10, and half rating it six or above.



One staff member said that after a radical restructuring, the new management was perceived as “feathering their own nest” through pay increases and offices located away from the rest of staff. Another commented that “more needs to be done” to break down barriers between academic and support staff, and to address hierarchical attitudes.



One director of studies highlighted “a severe lack of communication” across their institution. “The general feeling is everyone is pulling in different directions. The directorate don’t understand the issues on the ground, or try to communicate their motivations for change to the wider staffing body.”



Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they had less than an hour’s contact time with senior management on a weekly basis. While half said they were happy with the level, 40% wanted more access.



The findings are similar to a recent survey of University College London academics seen by the Guardian. Staff complained that the rapidly expanding institution is “being run as a business and not as a university”. Seven out of 10 disagreed with the statement “UCL is well managed”, compared with just 13% who agreed with it.



Held back by a lack of opportunities

Echoing findings from the 2014 edition of the survey, two-thirds of respondents cited a lack of job opportunities as the primary barrier to career progression. There was also a perception that most promotion opportunities were in administrative rather than academic work. Respondents further warned of a lack of professional training and inequality of opportunity.

Asked to name the biggest equality challenge in higher education, a third cited gender and a fifth selected ethnicity.



Problems managing workload were also highlighted, with some academic staff saying they lack sufficient time to do the research they needed to progress in their career. Indeed, 46% of respondents warned their workload was unmanageable.



Staff said lack of career and pay progression were the factors most likely to motivate them to leave their institution. Many also stressed the importance of full-time contracts for staff retention.

Brexit uncertainty

Brexit – particularly the uncertainty around funding mechanisms, access to EU networks and the status of EU colleagues – has made many university employees apprehensive about working in UK higher education. However, some remained sanguine. One respondent said: “Brexit has made me more determined to continue to work in higher education and to help students develop critical thinking skills.”

In terms of what their institution is doing to respond to the implications of Brexit, some staff felt that they had been offered just “lip service”. Others, conversely, praised their leadership teams for bringing in immigration lawyers to advise staff and strengthening internationalisation strategies.



These findings are based on responses from 1,079 people who completed an online survey on the Guardian’s Higher Education Network.



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