Page 43 - Transformation Indaba Report

Because it creates division amongst staff who are intended statue within the university but within the discipline which
to contribute to the intellectual project of this university you speak towards /where you involve/ where you invested
and who really is primarily responsible for nurturing young in as an intellectual and why you sometimes need to be a
minds, to equip them for the world out there. We as acade- professor because you are trying to make significant con-
mics then have to say to hell with my core purpose which tributions to your field. So, we don’t only exist as solitary
is to nurture this young mind because my institution tells creatures within the university, but the university thinks that
me I’m not going to be recognized as valuable if I don’t we do, and it’s given us these rubrics and checkmarks which
have a book published, if I don’t have twelve articles pub- are not relevant in an African context / our society.
lished, if I don’t demonstrate that at one these types of re-
wards, or I belong to this professional affiliation and so we We as young black academics who have run the race and won
are caught between a rock and a hard place sometimes be- the battle have also got black tax to pay, e.g., huge financial
cause this also creates division as I said amongst colleagues bills, and the neglect of our own families and the demands
itself where now I’ve got to have the challenging experience of our families who say “you seem to have made it, you need
because my colleagues say to well you see Glenn is just after to pay for this one’s education, you need to try and take
titles and he just wants to climb the ladder and this puts them care of this family member, you need to send money back
off in wanting to work collaboratively with me also because home” – so, these things are all ignored when one looks at
they’re not interested perhaps in wanting to pursue the pro- how do you create an Associate Professor or Professor.
fessorial because they think also it’s part of the corperatisa-
tion of the university and it always points to them that they There aren’t enough mentoring programs, either, because
never good enough and so this is the difficulty we’ve got we are super-swamped with teaching. I am teaching seven
which I think the institution has tried to ignore, push aside. undergraduate courses a semester and I’ve also only been
able to achieve the rank of senior lecturer last year, despite
There’s an added dilemma here which I think has been detri- holding a doctoral degree, being appointed into this uni-
mental to the ideals of the university in wanting to advance versity only at the lecturer level, being offered the most
their profile because they’ve not been consistent in how meager salary and that is a huge problem. Our institution
they’ve done the work of appointments and recruitments offers some of the low salaries to academics, based on
and retention also. It seems to have been on a case-by-case other institutions in the country
basis. Fair enough, I can understand it but it once again cre-
ates division because you’ve got full professors or associate So, if you ask me where did we go wrong? I think there are
professors at some universities including our own, who don’t a number of issues where we went wrong and we also went
hold a PhD and they’re only going to do doctorates late wrong with the idea of just selling dreams to staff members
in their careers, or they’ve negotiated these appointments through this idea of the harmonization process of wages be-
with the institution through HR to say “well if you want to cause that is a huge problem. We are aware that there are
have me at your institution you have to bring me in at the people who are at extreme low ends of the salary scale and
rank of associate professor” and they may not have had a the harmonization process was supposed to address this
PhD. Then there are those of us who have done the full-on but it failed and seems to have collapsed somewhere
heavy load early in our lives, me as example, where before into the ether. HR itself is a big problem.
the age of 32 already I held a Doctoral degree but I’m go-
ing to have to now wait until mid-40s maybe to reach as- You’ve also got management which is another problem
sociate professor. This also creates division between myself on the other hand. You’ve got the conundrum which the
and other colleagues where I look at them and wonder ‘how academic has to face, between saying where do I ultimate-
did you get to be an associate professor, you’re only older ly place my own self-interest, the institutions interests, the
than me. You maybe have a bit more teaching experience’ interests of the student, and advance myself at the same
but I’ve got to go through this whole gauntlet to try and time without being perceived by others as a threat. (Glen)
claim that reward for myself which also gives one not only

NelsoN MaNdela UNiversity • traNsforMatioN iNdaba • 2022 37