What is life really like in the UK’s universities? Do you feel overworked, underappreciated and underpaid? Or are your work life and your home life balanced, with your gainful employment in higher education giving you sufficient time and remuneration to enjoy some of the finer things?
This week we publish the Times Higher Education Best University Workplace Survey 2015, our second annual overview of how the people who work in UK universities – across all levels of seniority, and in a wide range of roles – feel about their employers.
Between September and December 2014, more than 4,150 higher education staff from nearly 140 institutions across the UK completed our online survey, sharing their thoughts on a wide range of employment issues.
“The results of the second annual THE Best University Workplace Survey give a fascinating snapshot of the reality of working life in our universities, with employees of 136 universities participating, including academics and administrative staff at all levels,” says John Gill, editor of THE. “Thank you to the thousands of higher education staff who participated.”
Respondents also volunteered detailed commentaries on the UK higher education sector, writing more than 5,750 appraisals of the issues that matter to them. “The huge number of detailed comments add rich context about the specific areas where universities are doing well, or where improvements are needed,” Gill adds.
We verified all survey participants as working in UK higher education institutions, with 46 per cent identifying themselves as “academics” and 54 per cent classifying their positions as “professional and support” roles.