Apoyo a Los Retirados de La Unisversidades

8/11/2019 Apoyo a Los Retirados de La Unisversidades

1/8

Support for Retired Academic Staff: University Policies and PracticesAuthor(s): Barbara TizardSource: Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Jun., 2004), pp. 257-263Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4127176.

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2/8

Oxford

Review

of

Education

Vol.

30,

No.

2,

June

2004

Carfax

ublishing

Taylor

Francis

roup

Support

for retired academic staff:

university

policies

and

practices

Barbara Tizard*

University

of

London,

UK

Following

an earlier

urvey

of

the

attitudesand

activitiesof

academicstaff

who had

retired

hree

to fiveyearsearlier,a surveywasundertaken f the policiesandpracticesof university uthorities

in

relation to

supporting

he

academic activitiesof

their

retired staff. The

sample

included 21

universities n

England

and

Scotland,

and 28

Oxford

and

Cambridge olleges.

Very

few

universi-

ties

had

a

formal

policy, generally

eaving

t to

departments

nd

faculties o

provided

acilities f

and as

they

wished. There

was a wide variation n

the

extent

of

support

offered,

n

the

criteria

or

allocating

upport

and

the

length

of time

for which it

was

provided.

t was

unusual or

authorities

to be

explicit

and

transparent

bout

these

policies.

It

is

argued

hat

a

key

factor

n

the

provision

of

support

s whether t

is seen as a

privilege,

or as a

cost-effective

way

of

contributing

o the work

and

reputation

of the

university.

Introduction

Academics are

living

increasingly ong

and

healthy

lives. As

members

of

social

class

1,

men who

reach the

age

of

65 can

expect

to

live another

17.5

years,

women,

another

20.8

years,

most

of this

time

in

good

health

(Office

for

National

Statistics,

1999).

At the

same

time,

increasing

numbers of

academics

are

retiring

early-the

current

average age

of

retirement

in

the

Universities

Superannuation

Scheme

(USS),

excluding

those

who

retire

early

because

of ill

health,

is

just

under

60.

They

are thus

likely

to

spend

a

quarter

of

their

lives

in

retirement.

On

retiring,

many

take

the opportunity to develop other interests or skills, or channel their

energy

into

voluntary

work,

or

try

to find

part-time

work.

These

demographic

trends,

mirrored in

other

professions,

have led some

to

question

the

future

viability

of

retirement

in

its

current

form. It is

argued

that as a

society

we cannot afford

to

support

on

pensions

people

who have

received

long

and

expensive

training

and

who are

still,

in

what

is now

late middle

age, quite

capable

of

continuing

to exercise

their skills.

Those who look

forward

to

retirement as

a time

of well

earned,

comfortable

leisure,

would

resist such a

view.

There are

some,

however,

whose work is

such a

pleasure

or

passion

that

they

are

unwilling

to

give

it

up at a fixed age. These include actors and artists, who, being self-employed can

*Thomas

Coram

Research

Unit,

Institute f

Education,

University

f

London,

27/28 Woburn

Square,

London,

WC1H

OAA,

UK. Email:

[email protected]

ISSN 0305-4985

(print)/ISSN

1465-3915

(online)/04/020257-07

?

2004

Taylor

FrancisLtd

DOI:

10.1080/0305498042000215557

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3/8

258

B.

Tizard

choose

to work into extreme old

age,

and

a

proportion

of

academics,

most often

professors,

who,

after

compulsory

retirement,

continue their work without remuner-

ation.

In a

recent

study

of 1295

university

academics who had retired three to five

years

previously

it

was

found

that

only

one

in

four

professors

and readers had taken

earlyretirement,comparedwith overhalf of senior lecturers and lecturers(Tizard

Owen,

2001). Although

usually

relieved

to

be free of administrative

responsibilities,

nearly

half

of those who

had been

professors

or readers were

spending

at least half

their

time

on research and academic

writing. Typically,

they

gave

papers

at academic

conferences,

refereed research

proposals,

published

in

academic

journals,

and

edited

and wrote books.

Those

aged

70 were as much involved in academic

activity

as those

who were

65.

A

number felt that

they

had

inadequate

access

to

the resources

they

needed,

and that their work did

not receive

recognition

within their

university.

Senior scholars have

probably

always

continued to work after

retirement,

but their

current situation differs in a number of ways from the past. On average they enter

retirement healthier

and with more

years

ahead of them than their

predecessors.

Today

their work

requires

more than a

typewriter

and access

to a

library-they

need

computers, photocopying

facilities,

Internet access and international

inks.

Universi-

ties,

too,

have

changed. They

are now

under

constant

pressure

to

produce

more

research,

take

on more

students

and cut their costs.

Arguably,

these

changes might

make universities

reluctant to

incur

the cost

of

providing

facilities for retired staff.

Alternatively,they might

regard

retired academics as

a

useful

extra

resource,

and in

consequence

develop

policies

that

would enable them to make better use of this

resource. Since no evidence was available

on

current

university policies

in

relation

to their retired staff

a

working group

of

British

Academy

Fellows

was set

up

to

look

into this

question.

Method

In a low-cost

exercise,

Fellows

who volunteered were asked to collect information

on

the

retirement

policies

and

practices

of their

own

universities

from the head

of

a

department

or

faculty,

or

from a senior

administrator,

using

a short

questionnaire,

previously

piloted.

The

questionnaire

asked whether the

university, department,

or

faculty had a formal policy of providingfacilities for retired academics to continue

academic

work,

and

if

so what it

was,

and which

of 13

kinds

of

support,

mentioned

as

important

by

academics

in

the earlier

study,

were

provided.

These included ten

facilities:

free access to

university

libraries,

the

provision

of

a

room

or

shared

room,

computer support,

free use of

photocopier, post

and academic email for academic

purposes,

the

possibility

of

applying

to

university

or

department

funds

for

research

expenses,

and for

the

expenses

of

giving papers

at

conferences,

access to

inter-library

loans at

the

same

charge

as

for

staff

in

post,

and the use of the

university

as a base

to

apply

for

grants

from elsewhere. Since the earlier research had found that

recognition was important to retired academics, three forms of recognition were also

enquired

about:

titular

recognition,

invitations to

give

seminars on their current

work,

and invitations

to attend

postgraduate

seminars. These 13 forms of

support

were each scored

0

if

not

available,

1

if the

availability

was

qualified,

and 2 if the



4/8

Supportfor

retiredacademic

staff

259

availability

was

unqualified. Questions

were also asked

about which staff were

offered these

forms

of

support,

and for

how

long,

and whether staff were informed

about them before

or on retirement. Comments were also invited.

Findings

The

completedquestionnaires

ame from

21

academic

nstitutions,

our of which

were Scottish

and the rest

well

spread

out

across

England.

They comprised

17

'old'

universities,

ncluding

London,

wherewe had informants

n

five different

nstitutes.

In

some

cases

there

were

replies

from two

departments

r

faculties within

the

institution,

o that

in

all

there were 29

informants.

The

departments

nd faculties

were

all in

humanities

nd the social

sciences,

he

disciplines

hat

are

represented

n

the British

Academy.

In

addition,

replies

were received from 28 Oxford and

Cambridge olleges.Since some of the questionswere not appropriateor them,

their

replies

were

analysed eparately.

Only

one

university

and

one

faculty

n a

second

university

were said to have

formal

policies

of

facilitating ost-retirement

cademicwork.

They

are described t

the

end

of

this section.

However,

all

described

heir

practices.

All

the universities

surveyed

provided

free access for

retired academics

to

university

or institute

libraries,

but

in most

cases

any

further

acilitieswere said to be a

matter

for the

department

r

faculty

to

provide

out of their funds.

Usually,

departments

were

neither

encouraged

nor

expected

o

provide

acilities,

although

hey

could do

so if

they

wished.

One

of

the most

striking indings

was

the

widevariation

n

the extentof academic

support

offered,

evenbetween

departments

n

the same

university.

Out of a

possible

total score

of

26

for the

provision

f

support,

hree nformants cored

22 or

23,

and

threebetween5 and 8. It should

be

borne

n mind

that,

as

discussed

below,

in all

cases

this

support

was

only

made

availableo

some

of

the

retiring

taff.With

respect

to formsof

recognition,

13

of

the

21

universities nd

postgraduate

nstitutesoffered

titular

ecognition

e.g.

Honorary

r Senior

Fellow).

Only

a

third

of

the informants

said that

they

invitedretiredacademics o discuss their

ongoing

work

at

seminars

and attend

postgraduate

eminars,

lthoughnearly

as

many

said that this

happened

occasionally.

With

respect

to

the

ten facilities

enquired

about,

all

provided

free

access

to

university

ibraries.The

next

most

frequently rovided acility,

cited

by

two-thirds

of

informants,

was the

provision

of

a

room,

usually

a shared

room,

although

he

answerwas often

qualified

by

'if one

is

available'.

One

department harged

ent

for

the

provision

of

a

room. About two-thirds

provided

access to academic

email,

but

rather

fewer than

half

provided

access to

photocopiers

and free

post

for academic

purposes,

or the use of the

department

as a base to

apply

for research

funds,

or the

provision

of

inter-library

oans

at

the

same cost as

for

non-retired staff. About

a half

said that they provided computer support. Unfortunatelythis was not defined in the

questionnaire;

in some cases

respondents

defined it themselves as access

to a

computer

in a

graduate

centre,

in

some as

access

to

a

telephone help

line.

In two

cases there was a

fee

for

computer support. Very

few informants said that retired



5/8

260 B. Tizard

staff

could

apply

for

university

or

departmental

unds either

for

research

expenses

or

for

expenses

to attend

a

conference

at

which

they

were

reading

a

paper.

Although

it

is

widely

believed that retired

Oxford and

Cambridge

academics are

well

supported,

this was often

not the case. Most

of

the

Oxbridge university

departments in our sample provided rather few facilities, the informants often

explaining

that

they

did not

need to do more since

the

colleges provided

facilities.

However,

the

colleges

varied

enormously

in

this

respect,

a few

offering

no

facilities

at

all,

whilst

a few were

extremely

generous

Other

questions

asked which

retired academics were

given support,

and for how

long,

and whether academics

were told before

or on their retirement what

support

would be available

to them.

None of the universities

provided

all of its

retired

academic staff

with

support,

other than the use of the

library.

Some

provided

facilities to a well-defined

group, e.g.

emeritus

professors,

or

those

given honorary

fellowships. In others, heads of departments or faculties gave support to selected

staff

on an ad hominem

basis,

usually

leaving

it to individuals to

approach

them

and

negotiate

for

facilities.

Only

a small number

of

departments

and

institutes,

but the

majority

of

Oxbridge

colleges,

said

that it was their

policy

to

tell academics

before

or on

retirement

what

support

would be available

to them. Informants

often commented that it was

unnecessary

to do

so,

either because

the information was

generally known-'they

pick

it

up'-or

because

it was

up

to individuals to

negotiate

for facilities.

In

about

half the universities

support

was

open-ended.

This meant

that

staff were

not told for

how

long

the

support

would be

provided,

or whether and

in what circumstances it

would be

withdrawn,

although

in a few cases there was

an

upper

age

limit

of 75.

In

other

universities,

support

was offered on a time-limited

basis,

usually

for between

two and four

years,

often renewable.

In a

few instances

facilities were

open-ended

for some

staff,

such as

emeritus

professors,

and time-limited

for others.

We

found two instances

where

policies

had been

specifically

adopted

to maximise

the

potential

contribution

of

retired

staff,

by

providing

generous

support

on

a

quid

pro quo

basis.

In both cases the

support

was offered on a time-limited

basis,

with

renewal

dependent

on

the

academic's

contribution to

their

department

or

university.

One

faculty

had a

policy

of

offering

certain retired staff

virtually

all the facilities

available to staff in post as long as they continued to publish and do an agreed

amount of

teaching.

And one

university

had instituted

two-year,

renewable

Senior

Research

Fellowships

for retired

staff,

distinct from emeritus

awards,

appointed

by

the

university

rather than the

department,

on the basis

of

formal

applications

from

retiring

staff.

Fellows

may

claim

up

to

?500

per

annum towards research

expenses,

and those

in

the Arts

Faculty may

also

apply

for research

and conference

grants.

Other

facilities,

for

instance a shared

room and

computer support,

are

matters for

negotiation

with

departments,

usually

given

in

return

for a small amount of

teaching

and

postgraduate supervision.

Discussion

The

sample

in

this

study

was not a scientific

one,

hence too much

weight

cannot be



6/8


7/8

262 B. Tizard

recognition,

invitations

to

discuss

work

in

progress,

access

to

academic

email,

but

many

universities

do not

provide

them.

Moreover,

in

those institutions

where

retired staff

are

regarded

as

a

potential

resource,

and

their work is

seen as

materially benefiting

the

institution,

the cost

of

facilities is considered a good investment. Facilities are providedon an explicit quid

pro

quo

basis,

their cost

being

offset

against

the value

of

the contributions made

by

retired staff

to the

university'spublications

list,

research

reputation,

and to

a

certain

amount

of

teaching

and

supervision.

The

university

in

our

survey

which

provides

generous

research

expenses

for

selected

retired

fellows

has

estimated

that the

annual

cost of

their current 55 senior research fellows is

about

equivalent

to the

cost

of one

university

lecturer.

It

seems

likely

that

if,

as

in

this

instance,

facilities are offered for

a

time-limited,

but

renewable,

period,

and

related

to the contribution made

by

the

individual,

the

problem

of

the

ageing

and

unproductive

academic

who 'will not

go

away' would be avoided. Siting retired academics outside their old departments,

their contractual

relationshipbeing

with the

university

rather than their

department,

might

also

help

avoid

problems.

It is worth

bearing

in

mind that

from 2006

legislation

will

prohibit compulsory

retirement

by age. Experience

in

the

USA of

such

legislation

has

been

that whilst the

majority

of academics continue to retire at the

same

age

as

before,

the

most senior

staff often

choose not to retire.

Our earlier

research

(Tizard

Owen,

2001)

suggested

that few British academics want

to

continue with their

administrative

responsibilities,

and retirement

with the

provision

of

adequate

research facilities and

appropriaterecognition

for their work

might

well

prove

an attractive

option.

Acknowledgements

I

would

like

to

acknowledge

the

support

of

the British

Academy,

the

working group

of

Fellows,

and all the

Fellows,

academics and

university

administrators

who

contributed

to this work.

Notes

on

contributor

Barbara Tizard is

former Director

of

the Thomas Coram Research

Unit,

and

Emeritus Professor of the Institute

of

Education,

University

of London. Most

of

her

previous

research has been

with children

and

adolescents.

Note

On

the basis

of the

survey findings reported

above,

which were discussed at a

meeting

of

senior

academicsand

university

dministrators,

he British

Academy

and the

RoyalSociety

of

Edinburgh

decided to write

to

Vice-Chancellors

ointing

out that

retired

academic

taff

who wish to continue

to contributeto scholarshipand researchare an importantpotentialresourcefor universities.

They

can enhance

earning, trengthen

esearch

performance

nd

publications,

and advise

junior

staff,

and their contributioncan be

greatly

facilitated

by transparent

and

explicit policies,

by

recognition,

and

by

access

to

certain

facilities,

the

provision

of which is

likely

to

prove

cost-effec-

tive.



8/8

Support for

retiredacademic

staff

263

References

Office

for National

Statistics

(1999)

Trends

in

life

expectancy

by

social class-an

update,

Health

Statistics

Quarterly,

Summer,

16-24.

Tizard,

B.

Owen,

C.

(2001)

Activities

and

attitudes

of retired

university

staff,

Oxford

Review

of

Education, 27(2), 254-270.

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