Post

Patrick Stokes
@patrickstokes.com

Neither of the people in this photograph are qualified for an academic job (see also "Professor" Bill Shorten). I like Ardern a lot, and creating a role using her experience for mentoring is great, but hospitals don't say "we've hired Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman to do heart surgeries this month."

theguardian.comJacinda Ardern joins University of Sydney as lecturer and mentorFormer New Zealand prime minister will focus on leadership, social cohesion and public health in new role

20 reposts79 likes

Karlosity
@karlosity.bsky.social

Hang on... wasn't Ardern at Oxford then Harvard? Must have picked up some skills on the way along with her politics & comms. Degree from Waikato Uni. Though I reckon her stint at the U. of Arizona was probably just a semester sabbatical.

AndrewPaulWood
@andrewpaulwood.bsky.social

With the greatest of respect, that smacks of academic snobbery. Adjunct and non-academic lecturer pathways exist precisely to bring high‑level applied expertise into universities.

Patrick Stokes
@patrickstokes.com

And again, she would make a fantastic adjunct (world class, even). I don’t think it’s snobbery to insist that academia is a highly skilled profession that requires expertise and experience, however, or that it’s a distinctive enough vocation that non-academic VCs are a problem.

Dan Smith
@sirdansmith.bsky.social

"why are we always putting people in intensive care when we could be sending them to ..." [hospital curtains pull back to reveal sequin and mirror-covered room, 100 dancers] "EXtensive care!"

Patrick Stokes
@patrickstokes.com

"But Mark Scott is an administrator, so it's appropriate for him to be VC" - ok: make him Chief of Army then. I'm sure he'll do a great job. Oh what's that? You can't just plunk a civilian with no military training at the head of an ADF branch? That's something you have to earn?

Dan Smith
@sirdansmith.bsky.social

too true ... most other departments/companies are seen by CEOs as fungible, just places where they can move from role to role and use their one transferable skill of "sacking people after doing the appropriate paperwork". I had a CTO once who bragged about not knowing anything about IT

Dan Smith
@sirdansmith.bsky.social

puts me in mind of one of my favourite John Clarke quote from The Games: "A real MBA, or an MBA in remembering the name of the bloke you went to school with?"

Tim Lyons
@picketer.bsky.social

Mark Scott could have used his admin skills in the traditional role of Bursar of course. (But I guess *Vice Chancellor and President Professor* has a better ring to it.)

John Nomiddlename Iser
@johniser.bsky.social

Wait until you hear about Richard Torbay, former Chancellor of UNE (and local state MP). He left school at 16 and his first job at UNE involved peeling spuds in the Union Refectory. (In fairness, they invented an honorary doctorate for him before appointing him Chancellor.)

Patrick Stokes
@patrickstokes.com

Chancellor is a whole different animal. They're basically figureheads, though they do have some power via chairing university councils, so appointing someone who's famous in some other field isn't that big of a deal.