Of Abandoned Staff Quarters in Public Universities

Passed by new construction work inside the campus of a local University, which will remain un-named for specific reasons.

And after a while, also passed by some old residential houses meant for staff that lay abandoned. Apparently so many of them are uninhabitable and some have been overtaken by mother nature and are now homes for rare flora and fauna. While the number of staff queuing up for houses is in hundreds and growing.

I guess the problem is not building enough but rather the lack of maintenance. Or maybe it is cheaper to tear down these decade old houses and build new ones on the same place rather than repairing them.

I simply have no idea.

UK Universities with Malaysian campuses

There are now a total of five UK Universities with campuses in Malaysia. Three are located in Iskandar, Malaysia EduCity, Johor Bahru - the new Malaysian education hub. This indicates the importance of the Malaysian higher education market. These universities not only cater to Malaysian students but students from China, the Indian sub-continent, middle east and African countries.

The five Universities are:

1. The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
They have a 101-acre site in Semenyih, 30 KM south of KL and The Kuala Lumpur Teaching Centre (KLTC) located within the Chulan Tower in KL. One of the oldest in Malaysia with first students in September 2000.

2. Heriot-Watt University Malaysia
Recently opened their £35m 4.8 acres campus in Putrajaya in September 2014.

3. University of Reading Malaysia
15-acre campus at Iskandar Malaysia EduCity and the City Campus in Johor Bahru,

4. The University of Southampton Malaysia Campus
Located in Iskandar, Malaysia EduCity, Johor Bahru.

5. Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed Malaysia)
Also located in Iskandar, Malaysia EduCity, Johor Bahru.

New University New Job

After working for nearly four years as a lecturer with the Department of Marketing and Advertising, Coventry Business School, Coventry University, I have moved several thousand miles away to warm and sunny Malaysia to join the Nottingham University Business School, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. 

I had offers from a few other private educational institutions here but finally decided on Nottingham based on their competitive compensation package and of course their reputation as one of the leading Universities in the World. 

I started in my new role as Senior University Teaching Fellow at the business school in the first week of September and will start teaching from next semester (in February 2015).

Check out my University Profile here.

UK University league table results: The rise of Coventry University

You may not like it, you may not agree with it and you may even hate it but the fact is that, as Academics, we cannot ignore the UK University league tables.

Choice of University is often made on the basis of these league tables and quite often than not, we are also judged by where we work.

I recall not long ago, when I first joined Coventry University, there were a lot "Why?" and "You can do better" just because I had a PhD from Warwick University. The fact is that at that time, I was a foreign PhD student with a wife and 2 kids to support, without a permanent job, running between various part time jobs. So, I was delighted to get a job as a Lecturer after literally hundreds of applications and a few unsuccessful interviews. That was in 2011 when Coventry University was ranked 75 on The Guardian University league tables.

That's why I am delighted that in their latest update - University league table 2015, Coventry University has broken into the top 30 coming 27th overall (6 places up from last year). Coventry University also retains it's position as the UK's top modern university. We are even ranked higher than some of the Russell Group of Universities, considered to be an equivalent of the Ivy League in the US by some.

I quite like the Guardian's criteria as they look at student satisfaction, facilities provided and more important, careers of students after they complete their degrees. I guess, this is where the Guardian's tables differ from other tables, like The Times and Sunday Times Higher Education rankings (ranked 45 in 2014) and  The Complete University Guide - University League Tables 2015 (ranked 51).

If you are a student or academic, would love to hear your thoughts on the University rankings.

Starting salaries of Marketing lecturers at different British Universities

Note: This list has not been updated since 2014 and starting salaries may have changed.

Updated: 4 June 2014 (added Bournemouth University & Keele University)

While glancing at some of the lecturing jobs (in Marketing) coming through my inbox, I was quite surprised at the range of starting salaries at various Universities in the UK. As expected, most of the older and more established, Russell group of Universities, have high starting salaries as compared to most of the younger Universities. However, there were some surprises. The 2nd most highest starting pay is actually offered by the University of East Anglia. So far, the lowest starting pay is offered by the University of Southampton, a Russell Group University.

The starting pay at the University of the West of Scotland, Scotland’s largest modern university, was also much higher than either Coventry University or Swansea University.

If you have a PhD + teaching experience + publications, I would strongly recommend negotiating for a higher pay. DO NOT START AT THE BASE IF POSSIBLE. Nobody told me that I could negotiate my salary when I started and just accepted what was offered to me.

Given below are the starting salaries Lecturers in Marketing of some Universities based on recent ads on Jobs.ac.uk with the highest starting salaries on top alphabetically:

Aston University, Aston Business School
£37,382 - £44,607

University of Bath, School of Management
Lecturer (Assistant Professor): £37,756 -  £45,053

University of Bedfordshire
£31,331 - £37,382

University of Birmingham, College of Social Sciences, Birmingham Business School, Department of Marketing * 
£37,756 - £45,053 (with potential progression to £50,688 a year)

Bournemouth University, Business School, The Department of Strategy and Marketing
£31,644 - £36,661 (with further progression opportunities to £40,046)

University of Brighton, Business School
£32,590 to £38,907

Brunel University - Brunel Business School
£34,223 - £44,607 incl. London Weighting.

Cardiff University - Cardiff Business School *
£30,728 - £36,661 (Grade 6)
£38,907 - £45,053  (Grade 7)  BEST STARTING PAY 1

Coventry University, Coventry Business School
£30,426 - £37,386  (Grade 7)

University of East Anglia
£38,522 - £44,607 BEST STARTING PAY 2

University of Glasgow - Adam Smith Business School, College of Social Sciences * 
£32,267 - £36,298

Glasgow Caledonian University - Glasgow School for Business & Society, Department of Business Management
£38,522 - £44,607  (Grade 7). BEST STARTING PAY 2

Keele University, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Keele Management School

Grade 7a: £32,590 to £37,756

Lancaster University - Lancaster University Management School, Marketing Department
£32,267 - £44,607

University of Leeds - Leeds University Business School * 
£33,230 - £36,298

University of Leicester, School of Management
Grade 8 – Extended Lecturer Scale- £36,661 to £45,053 per annum

University of Liverpool * 
£31,331 - £36,298

Liverpool Hope University - Liverpool Hope Business School
£30,728 to £36,661  (Grade 7)

The University of Northampton
£31,331 - £44,607

Northumbria University - Faculty of Business and Law Newcastle Business School
 £32,590 - £36,661

University of Nottingham - Nottingham University Business School * 
(For Assistant Professor): £36,298 - £44,607

Nottingham Trent University - College of Business, Law and Social Sciences, Nottingham Business School
£30,728 - £45,053

Oxford Brookes University
£32,267 - £35,244

Queens University Belfast * 
£33,230 - £48,729

University of Reading, Henley Business School
£37,756 to £46,400  (Grade 7)

Regent's University London, Department of Marketing and Strategy
£34,000 - £36,000

University of Salford, Salford Business School
£37,756 - £45,053

University of Strathclyde, Strathclyde Business School
£33,562

Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Business School, Department of Management
£31,644 to £35,597

University of Southampton, Southampton Management School *   LOWEST STARTING PAY
£27,854 - £57,743

University of Sussex - School of Business, Management and Economics
£33,562 - £45,053

Swansea University - School of Management
£31,331 - £36,298

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School * 
(For Assistant Professor): £37,382 - £44,607

University of the West of England, Bristol
£30,424 - £45,941

University of Wolverhampton - Business School
£32,267 - £45,941

University of York - The York Management School * 
£36,298 - £44,607

* Russell group of Universities


NOTE: I am still building up the list and any input from my readers are welcome.

Past updates:

27 May 2014
9 May 201424 April 2014
6 April 2014 - arranged the Universities alphabetically.
21 March 2014
25 Nov. 2013. I have changed Red Brick to Russell Group of Universities.
7 Nov. 2013: I have added a few more Universities to the list. Thanks to all my friends for their input.

Good Universities or Good Students?

Are the top ranked universities the best places to study or do research?

I ask this because after talking to a number of PhD students studying in the UK, it appears that doctoral researchers in lower ranked Universities get more help and are often better supervised than students in some of the so called "top ranked" universities.

For example, at one doctoral conference I met this brilliant chap who was presenting a poster. He was doing his PhD in one of the "top ranked" Universities in the UK and his supervisor is a leading academics in the field of Marketing. Of course I asked how it was like being supervised by the renowned Professor. Imagine my surprise when I learnt that he had met his supervisor only TWICE ever since he started his PhD and he was already in his second year. And he is not the only one. I know of several guys in top universities narrating their frustration with the lack of good supervision and how their supervisors had sat on their drafts/ reports for months without providing any feedback.

I know that PhD students are supposed to be independent and that these Professors are really busy but I feel that this is very irresponsible - besides carrying out ground breaking research, they are supposed to supervise their students as well. That's why they are paid such huge salaries.Sometimes it appears that the only time the supervisors show some interest is when the students submit journal papers for publication as their names are also included (sometimes as the lead author).

However, despite the quality of supervision (or lack of) these students go on to complete their research and amazingly even do it within the stipulated 3 years + or - a few months. I attribute this to the fact that the students were themselves high achievers, independent and hard working in the first place.

Of course I cannot deny that these top ranked Universities have excellent facilities and offer all kinds of opportunities to the students - opportunities not available to students in lower ranked (and lower funded) universities. However, these top universities put up such high selection criteria and select only the cream of the applicants. In other words Top universities attract Top students and of course, their output is excellent as well.

My experiences were a bit different, I had two excellent supervisors and I could fix an appointment to meet them whenever I wanted to even though they were quite busy and I actually kind of liked being independent in the first place. One of my supervisors went through the final draft of my thesis in just one week and there were comments on almost every page. It is no wonder that he is one of the youngest Professors in Warwick.

If you are currently doing your PhD or have recently completed it, I would love to hear your experiences. Did you receive the level of supervision which you had expected when you started out your PhD.