{"id":722,"date":"2023-03-08T16:48:31","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T16:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/?p=722"},"modified":"2023-03-08T16:48:31","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T16:48:31","slug":"top-down-restructure-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/2023\/03\/08\/top-down-restructure-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Top-down Restructure Threat\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Top-down restructure proposal threatens Arts and Humanities at Kent<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The work on restructuring the Division began back in September, and there have been more than a dozen meetings since then to move plans forward. A structure was arrived at by majority consensus, with Heads of school and colleagues having input through the autumn term\u2019s \u2018feasibility review.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There has now been a last minute change of structure presented, which has been introduced top-down without any discussion. Presented only on Monday, this proposal was never discussed as part of the \u2018feasibility review\u2019 and has had none of the same detailed analysis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This new proposal would see all of the Humanities merge in one super-school &#8211; a \u201cSchool of English, History, Classical and Archaeological Studies, Philosophy, Asian Studies, Religious Studies, Comparative Literature, Modern Languages, and English Language and Linguistics\u201d, a merger of nine subjects that would certainly risk more jobs and careers across the Division.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Divisional Leadership team now intend to vote on this new structure themselves, despite a total lack of support and despite potential conflicts of interest.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This change of process &#8211; bringing forward an entirely new structure only one week before consultation closes &#8211; is exactly why the majority of colleagues in A&amp;H voted that they have no confidence in the Divisional leadership team.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This academic restructuring is first taking place in A&amp;H but will be rolled out across the university. As a union, we need to make our voices heard: we need transparent and open processes across the university, not backroom deals that benefit a few select individuals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>What you need to do:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are in A&amp;H:\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/pages\/responsepage.aspx?id=VvqpUTI_mkSnIT4_SapemtXBA5GgFXhGuOq8O-FYJcFUNzA3RDJEQVA0V0o0R0NLSjNWTENMRVhKQy4u\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Submit feedback to the employer\u2019s formal consultation here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Some suggested wording is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1kY8PTfWhQsh-VegY7Hv5gN0GEBL4XnoYHVku7VdKnaA\/edit?usp=sharing\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">email the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1kY8PTfWhQsh-VegY7Hv5gN0GEBL4XnoYHVku7VdKnaA\/edit?usp=sharing\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">same feedback<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to George Randsley de Moura, DVC for Academic Strategy, Planning and Performance, who is chairing the management group overseeing the restructure: g.r.de-moura@kent.ac.uk<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are a member outside of A&amp;H, ensure you come to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">national strike pickets<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> &amp; <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">tell us when you\u2019ve posted your national ballot<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, or if you <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">can\u2019t find your ballot [links in email from Kester 8.3.23]<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top-down restructure proposal threatens Arts and Humanities at Kent &nbsp; The work on restructuring the Division began back in September, and there have been more &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/2023\/03\/08\/top-down-restructure-threat\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78849,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":723,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}