Abstract
Universities in the UK, and in other countries like Australia and the USA, have responded to the operational and financial challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritising institutional solvency and enforcing changes to the work-practices and profiles of their staff. For academics, an adjustment to institutional life under COVID-19 has been dramatic and resulted in the overwhelming majority making a transition to prolonged remote-working. Many have endured significant work-intensification; others have lost — or may soon lose — their jobs. The impact of the pandemic appears transformational and for the most part negative. This article reports the experiences of n=1,099 UK academics specific to the corporate response of institutional leadership to the COVID-19 crisis. We find articulated a story of universities in the grip of ‘pandemia’ and COVID-19 emboldening processes and protagonists of neoliberal governmentality and market-reform that pay little heed to considerations of human health and wellbeing.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 651-666 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | British Journal of Sociology of Education |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 5-6 |
Early online date | 5 Jul 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 18 Aug 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Research Groups and Themes
- Covid19
Keywords
- COVID-19
- pandemia
- disaster capitalism
- remote working
- work intensification
- university leadership