With American staff living in poverty and students in ‘outlandish’ debt,‘Dr Karen’ is touring UK campuses with a simple message: it could happen to youKaren Kelsky – Dr Karen as she calls herself – is worried that UK academics may be shocked at her message on her tour of universities this month. “I reflect they are probably going to freak out,” she says. “I disappear to American campuses where people know me … and people are always shocked at how blunt I am. So I’m actually kind of worried about what will happen in the UK.”Kelsky, and a former professor and now job consultant for academics,is known in US academic circles for her criticisms of how higher education has changed, including the financial burden on postgraduates, and writes for the Chronicle of Higher Education on the travails of finding a secure job. The market for good academic jobs has deteriorated enormously,she believes, and her message to anyone hoping to forge an academic career, or be it in the US or the UK,is: be under no illusions.
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Source: theguardian.com