As Europe faces the chill of winter, academics may warm to a job in the statistical sciences department at the University of Cape Town, or a post as halls administrator in the West Indies, writes Chris Johnston
Now that winter is upon the northern hemisphere, some academics may begin to debate the merits of living and working in a climate where chipping the ice off the car windscreen every morning is a frequent chore.
A number of jobs in warmer climes are on offer in the recruitment pages of this week's THES . Those prepared to travel to the southern hemisphere may want to consider the University of Cape Town, South Africa's oldest university. It was founded in 1829 as the South African College and expanded between 1880 and 1900, gaining official university status in 1918.
It has become one of the continent's leading teaching and research institutions, employing 4,500 staff, almost half of whom are academics.
Forty-eight per cent of students are black and 52 per cent are white.
Cape Town is advertising for up to six staff in the department of statistical sciences, at lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor and professor level. The department claims a strong record of broad interdisciplinary work in its teaching and research.
But if the Cape of Good Hope does not appeal, the University of the West Indies has a vacancy for a halls administrator at its Cave Hill campus in Barbados.
Applicants for the assistant lecturer/lecturer-level post should have a management degree or postgraduate qualification and at least five years'
experience in institutional/hospitality management.
The university was founded in 1948 in Jamaica as a university college related to the University of London. It became independent in 1962, two years after a campus in Trinidad was established and a year before Cave Hill opened its doors.
Sadly, the option of travelling to the Caribbean island by supersonic Concorde is no longer an option.
Academics not too bothered by cooler temperatures, however, might consider applying for deanships at the Postgraduate School of Development or the School of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Central Asia.
In 1997, an international commission was formed to plan the institution and a treaty was signed by the founders, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the Aga Khan, three years later.
The private, non-profit university will have academic and residential campuses at Tekeli in Kazakhstan, Naryn in Kyrgyzstan and Khorog in Tajikistan. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2005-06 and a project manager is also sought to supervise the work.
All three positions require fluent English, while familiarity with Russian or one of the three regional languages is "highly advantageous".
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