As job cuts loom, academics are worried – but there is life after redundancy, as one lecturer explains
"It felt like facing a firing squad at two in the afternoon. It was like someone had shot me. There were people crying, it was very upsetting." If fear over jobs or redundancies is stalking the corridors of your department or faculty, these words from former Cardiff University lecturer Liz Mayor will probably be the last thing you want to read.
But Mayor, 54, is also living proof that, for academics worrying about what the government's 6% teaching budget cuts from April will mean for them (not to mention the uncertainty about what will happen after the start of the new fees regime), there can be life after redundancy.
After 16 years as a part-time lecturer at Cardiff's Centre for Lifelong Learning, Mayor was one of around 100 people made redundant in the summer of 2009.
"It was completely unexpected. I had been on the committee trying to sort out a settlement, which ... we had expected to be accepted. Instead, everyone was called to a meeting with the dean of the faculty and told they were going to be made redundant," she says.
"The fact that I did not have a full-time contract meant all I got was my back pay and the minimum redundancy payout. I was just coming up to my 53rd birthday and my subject area is ancient history and Latin, so I realised that getting another job in academia was going to be very difficult. But in a way I was lucky. Because I was part time, I was already doing some other bits and pieces, and so I sat down and had a good think about where to go," she says.
Her answer was to set up a company called the Classical Education Forum, which offers community-based higher education courses in areas as diverse as Egyptology, journalism and ancient history, among others. "I got some ex-colleagues from the university to lecture for me. By the September, we had put a programme together, and we're still going. I also got help from the Welsh Assembly's business advisory service.
She combines this with tutoring. "Although the security of being in a university setting has gone, I now feel in charge of my own destiny. I had trusted the university to look after me until I retired at 60 or 62, but this feels new and exciting," says Mayor.
The twin pressures of steep cuts this year and uncharted territory next are combining to create a hugely uncertain climate on many campuses, agrees Mark Taylor-Batty, theatre studies senior lecturer at Leeds University and a representative of the University and College Union.
"We have no figures with which to cut our cloth beyond 2012 and do not know if we are going to have to cut more staff or, in fact, employ people," he says. "But I think we will see a continuing contraction, with some departments closing around the country and even some institutions closing, too," he says.
Taylor-Batty was among those at the forefront of protests when job losses were announced by the university in 2009, with lecturers publicly burning "Section 188" notices of redundancy. The university reviewed many cuts, but around 650 jobs have been lost over the last year, he says.
Similar rearguard actions have been fought over the last 18 months by the UCU at Wolverhampton, Sussex, Glasgow, Plymouth and Cardiff universities, among others. And union ballot papers are going out this week nationally over job security, pensions and pay.
Even where compulsory redundancies have been avoided, arm-twisting leading to enforced "voluntary" redundancy or retirement is becoming an increasingly worrying issue, argues Dr Jim Wolfreys, UCU representative at King's College London and a lecturer in French history. "We're also getting a situation where universities are starting to cut voluntary redundancy payments, so they will not be as generous," he says.
The university hit the headlines last year when it emerged it was scrapping the UK's only chair of palaeography – the study of ancient writings – which had been held by Professor David Ganz, a world authority. The decision led to protests and petitions on both sides of the Atlantic, and the university announced it would be appointing Ganz professor emeritus of palaeography, to ensure that "King's will be able to carry forward studies in the discipline".
Ganz, though now limited under the terms of his agreement with King's as to what he can say publicly, admits he is still, in effect, out of a job and that "because it was the only established chair of palaeography in the UK, my chances of getting any post in this country are minimal".
Regrouping or recovering after redundancy is never easy, and some will find it harder than others. But Mayor, for one, believes that most of us somehow find the resources within us to come back fighting. "The main thing I've learned is that it is not the end of the world, though it might feel like that at the time. There are opportunities if you have the courage and the drive to take them. You just have to dig deep and not be afraid," she says.
Worst-case scenario: what to do if it happens to you
Learn to negotiate
"A lot of the academic world these days is structured around short-term contracts, which may help people to deal with things better," says Professor John Arnold, occupational psychologist at Loughborough University Business School. "Moreover, academics on full-time contracts who find themselves made redundant should speak to part-time colleagues to learn how to handle insecurity or negotiate contracts. It is also worth recognising that the university careers services is not just for students, so go and speak to them," he adds.
Apply lateral thinking
"Psychologically, most people do come out of it and turn things around, and often in ways that are hard to predict," says Arnold. "Even just a little lateral thinking can result in a jump to something that looks completely different but may actually use many of the same core skills.
"But you do need to expect there will be pain, that you will feel some sort of trauma, often especially a numbness at the beginning followed by feelings of anger. Then there will be bumps along the way before you start to find yourself thinking in new ways and defining yourself in new ways."
Adopt the graduate mindset
When it comes to applying for jobs, just because you've held down senior academic roles doesn't mean you can overlook the same sensible, basic advice a job-hunting graduate might be given, stresses Neil Harris, a former director of the careers service at UCL who now runs a careers and training consultancy called Lifelines Personal Development. "It's a common problem we come across that people see a job, decide they want to apply for it, yet don't take enough notice of whether they meet the criteria. So you do need to do your research thoroughly beforehand."
Highlight other skills
"Academic roles are about not just teaching and research, but an ability to be a good administrator," says Harris. "Often, academics will neglect the administrative skills they have built up, whereas they can be popular with employers of all sorts.
"It is also important to be flexible in your approach and outlook. So don't discount teaching as an option if that's what is available or consider looking at another, complementary subject area where there might be more jobs. And you need to be getting out there, making contacts, seeking out vacancies, even ones that have not been formally advertised," he adds.