HE explained: Academic Pensions - we are all losers

So, the USS is thinking about stopping its Defined Benefit Scheme?  The direct losers - young academics and those 20 years from retirement who have had security (but not certainty) taken away.  Other losers include the rest of us, relying on the selflessness of most academics, giving up their opportunity to earn large amounts of money in their careers in order to share their knowledge, research and insight with the world.

The outcome could well be a devaluation of University education for a whole generation.  We simply do not value what we have.

But wait, there's a solution:

PICTURE BY WISAAD AT FREEDIGITALPHOTOS.NET

Why not employ old academics beyond their normal retirement age?  Oh, you're already doing that.

OK, why not record all lectures so that the retired lecturer output can be used for future generations of students after retirement? Oh, you're already doing that.

Well, then, why not capture the academics' expertise via a well resourced and serious attempt to go on-line and offer the flexibility and efficiency that students and Universities say that they want?

Can't afford it, did I hear you say?  Haven't got the skills?

We are all losers.