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Queen's University Belfast

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Minimal support and unreasonable demands on output - Lecturer Queen's University Belfast Employee Review

1.0
May 8, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Location: Northern Ireland is a beautiful place and Belfast as a city has improved a lot. Infrastructure: The university has some nice buildings, ranging from old architectural gems (Lanyon Building) to modern new buildings (like the ones behind the MBC on Lisburn Road). Dedicated and hard-working staff.

Cons

The management (at the university, faculty and school levels) is the weakest spot of this place. Beware especially if you are a new lecturer - at this university your career may go up in smoke before it has properly started. They will be happy to take you onboard and will promise you beautiful things. Make sure you get them all in writing, otherwise the chances are they won't materialise. The management will be happy to include you into the REF return (this is probably the primary reason why they got you) - your publications from your previous place of work is what they need. But the support you may get to develop your own research and lab there may be ridiculous compared to what you would get elsewhere. However, their demands on the output and grant income will be unrealistically high and out of touch with real life. All that counts is the grant money you can bring. Don't bother with investing too much time and energy into teaching - it doesn't count for much in the eyes of the bean counters sitting in the administrative building. The administration of research is painfully slow, so don't be surprised if it takes weeks or even months to arrange relatively straightforward matters. Tough luck if you have to explain this to your collaborators overseas. To paraphrase one of the previous reviews, at Queen's it means a lot who you know and who knows you. It is a small world in Northern Ireland and those who were born there either all know each other or are related to each other (or go to the same church - that too seems to play a role). Avoid if you can.

Explore other reviews about Queen's University Belfast

5.0
Jun 30, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of learning, meeting new people and working on innovative technologies.

Cons

Not applicable for this role.

1.0
Nov 26, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

money stretches well as Belfast is one of the cheapest cities in the UK, the staff tend to be friendly and inclusive and welcoming. The gym is great, easy to get to and runs good classes at quite a fair monthly fee for membership (that can be paid directly from salary).

Cons

Where do you start? It is hard to recruit to Belfast, so the quality of staff is poor. On both the academic and the admin side the staff would simply not have that job/level outside of NI. It is skewed heavily local, so there is bias and interconnection between people that is not helpful. Everyone is either related, grew up together, or know the same people and in an effort not to offend nothing moves forward. It is Russell Group on paper only, the quality is at best 2nd or 3rd tier (and in some areas that is being generous). The University is complacent and reliant on government funding so it is there is help local people get some form of education and pay local people to be academics or well paid administrators as they want to stay near home- nothing more, nothing less. It is now struggling with the beginning of a hiring freeze. Bullying is rampant and no matter how many complaints are levied no one wants to upset a distant relative or relatives ex-school mate. The new VC is causing huge disruption due to new policies but it is unclear if it is the right kind of shake up. It needs to be reshaped and reorganized to move with the times- but you need to have the skills or vision to do that.

9
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