Per Dahl, joint union representative at the Faculty of Arts: staff are nervous

“I can sense that the staff are nervous, both about redundancies and about the deterioration of their work environment caused by efficiency drives.

The teaching staff are already under pressure, and they fear they will have to do more teaching of larger classes as well as having more exams.

I also meet an increasing number of employees who are worried about their career opportunities at AU. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a tenured position, leading young employees in particular to wonder whether it’s worthwhile investing in a PhD because there might not be any available associate professor and assistant professor positions when they finish. In addition, some professorships are not being re-advertised.

This is a problem for more experienced staff who want to take the next step up the career ladder, as well as being a problem in terms of subject profiles.”