RE: Semester is over - some news after being away during two weeks
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Many thanks for this piece @lemouth. The first image reminds me of my time at the MIT in the Fall of 2017, yes Boston is a great place and reminiscent of some European cities in its building architecture. The the only difference I can think of as of now is that the streets/roads are bigger than some places I have visited in Europe (at least I know of Trieste in Italy).
Another aspect of your article that resonates with me is the fact that a Professor in the French system do not get to be assisted in teaching and marking activities. This is what is obtainable in most of the Nigerian Universities, but it’s worse because of the student to lecturer ratio. To put this in perspective, 2 Professors may be teaching a 700-900 class and they are expected to create and mark assignments, create mid semester exam, final exams and mark. This doesn’t stop there, there are some other administrative assignments that could be given to administrative staff, but the system will rather have Professors to take charge of that too….. I envy the American system a lot (in a good way)!
Thank you so much for this piece once again.
Thanks for passing by and your very engaging comment!
I agree. Cars have a much bigger role in America than in Europe, and all cities (and even smaller towns and villages) are built with this in mind. One difference with respect to 2017 (I guess here; please confirm) is that bikes are now quite spread in Boston. There is a very nice bike sharing system that allows you to bike mostly anywhere. However, finding a free bike return spot at MIT is often complicated... It is a crowded area... ;)
The situation is a bit better here, with this respect. For very big courses attended by hundreds of students, there is a full team of professors and PhD students (they teach without being the teaching assistant of anyone in particular) that can share the burden. That softens the task a bit, and everyone may end marking 50-60 assignment sheets, taking care of a small groups of students during exercise and lab classes, etc.
I agree that administration plays a huge part in the job, and this is probably the case all around the globe. I can definitely feel this as a vice-dean for the bachelor studies in physics here at Sorbonne. I however get a small reduction of my teaching load. Whereas it does not cover all the time spent in administration, it helps a bit.
As I said in the blog, there are many differences with other systems, that include both better items and worse ones. For instance, the French system comes with an excellent social security (healthcare) and (mostly) free education for everyone. You can get jobs quite early in the career, the salaries are not huge but very sufficient relative to the living costs in France, etc. On the other hand, there is very few personal grants (which can be taken either as an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the point of view).
From what you said, Nigeria seems to have all the cons of the French system but without having its pros. This is also my guess from past discussions with @gentleshaid. I wish one day the situation will ameliorate in your country, and that a solution to the current problems will be found soon!
Yes, there was the bike hiring system at that time (very nice looking bikes, I must say), but to be honest I didn't understand how the operation was...I would rather be a Charlie on the Boston Bus and Train, and since I was a Fellow at the MIT, this was free for me. The only condition that I must be with my MIT ID to enjoy these facilities.
I envy this in a good way too. Although we do have an health care insurance system, I can only categorize it as basic. Even the health care sector cannot in any ways be compared to a developed country like France. Jobs in recent time is becoming harder to get in the academic system, even with PhD qualification. I guess the economy wasn’t robust enough to absorb the shock of the pandemic….this may be said of many countries of the world though.
On personal/research grants this is next to nonexistent- As an academic staff I write for grant outside the shore of my country. Although, there is a government agency that is trying all it could to get research grants across boards.
Don’t get me started on the cons!
I hope we are able to get together and solve the issues confronting us as a nation. I know for a fact that CHANGE needs to start with everyone of us and our perspective about the country and out it should be run. Every micro community must learn to do its best and this can snowball into something bigger.
Thanks for your time, it was great reading your reply!
Thanks for coming back to me with all these details. I really enjoy the conversation. It is nice to compare countries and systems.
At least this is similar for me:
Such a long time spent in writing long applications. I would prefer using this time for research... but well, this is how it is. We need to play with the rules of the system we are in, or change the system, or move away from it if possible. For this last option, the job market is however quite reduced. This is true in most fields, with the exception of some emerging ones. I hence see so many promising PhD students in particle physics leaving for the private sector right after the PhD. Somehow, this is a good move as there is not enough jobs for them in academia, and the private sector pays better. But at the end, we train students hardly, and then they fly away... I would love to train someone who will manage to stay on board and collaborate with me for the next decades. We will see if one day it will work... :)