I sometimes have a hard time explaining my job to friends in US universities. They wonder why it is that I have to take courses such as the PGCert in academic practice, where most others in my class have poor English and are often students, not academics. Why are we all taught together in a course mandatory for "lecturers"?
"Don't UK universities trust their employees to do their job?"
friends ask. I have yet to provide an adequate response.
Thom Brooks
Department of politics
Newcastle University