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Strategizing to Strengthen Research
Culture: Towards Developing World
Class Higher Education
Propelling Academic Excellence
through World Class Practices
Andreas Bender, PhD
[email protected]
Department of Chemistry and Fellow of King’s College
University of Cambridge
Facts, beliefs and values I would like to
share...
1. Disclaimer regarding this presentation
2. How Cambridge works
3. My personal opinion what is relevant as an
academic and a graduate student
4. Performance assessments and trust
Disclaimer regarding this presentation
Attention:
The following will all be
Personal Opinion
- It will often be required to adapt through the
‘cultural lens’ what I have to say, feel free to do
that. Same for ‘science’ – adapt to your field.
- What I say is just a selection of topics I would like
to share, a collection of ideas. Pick what you like!
Regarding the contents
- I will leave out all the usual discussions:
- Where does the ‘Global Research University’ model fit?
- Defining features of ‘excellent’ universities (talent,
ample resources, good leadership/policies, etc.)
- This presentation will give my personal impression
instead, based on experience as a group leader
- “The Challenge of Establishing World-Class Universities, Jamil
Salmi.
- “Leadership for World-Class Universities: Challenges for
Developing Countries”, Philip Altbach (Ed).
- “Building World-Class Universities - Different Approaches to a
Shared Goal” Qi Wang, Ying Cheng and Nian Cai Liu (Eds.).
My own career
- 1997-2002 MSc in Chemistry (Berlin, Dublin,
Frankfurt)
- 2003-2005 PhD in Drug Design (Cambridge/UK)
- 2006-2007 Postdoc with Novartis (Cambridge/MA)
- 2008-2010 Assistant Professor in Leiden
(Netherlands)
- 2010 – today Group leader at the Chemistry
Department of Cambridge University
- 2007 – today Affiliated with Institute of
Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB),
Bangalore
Transcending culture lets you pick
the best aspects for yourself
- Germany – Integration of research and
teaching; teaches you systematic learning
- UK – Excellent clusters (Oxford/Cambridge/
London); teaches you interdisciplinary thinking
- US – Innovations; teaches you to come up with
novelty
- Netherlands – egalitarian; teaches you to think
in balanced ways
- India – High personal motivation; teaches you to
focus on individual abilities
How Cambridge Works
- The University, the Departments, and the
Colleges
- Admissions
- Research
- Teaching and Teaching Load
- Administration
- Embedding
The University, the Colleges, and
the Departments
Admissions: Selective – It is Work
(and Worth It)!
- Majority of students (ca. 80% are longlisted)
gets interviewed (2x2)
- Interviews based on potential
- Extending known concepts
- “If cleaning up your room means you decrease its
entropy, then how is this possible to do?”
- 10-40% admissions rate at King’s College
Cambridge (mean ca. 20%), depending on
subject)
- Admissions based on overall student profile
- No quota of any type
Research: Individual Freedom
- The individual scientist is the driving force – the
department etc. mainly coordinate efforts
- Aim is to attract excellent individual scientists
- Hardly any monitoring afterwards; selfmotivation is key!
- No ‘Performance Audits’ of any kind (!)
-> Need to attract the right people in the first
place! Motivation needs to be intrinsic,
otherwise you will fail
Teaching: Choice & Guidance
- Broad ‘Tripos’, students can pick different courses
(e.g. ‘Natural Sciences Tripos’)
- Supervisions – close (weekly) contact, multiple layers
of support (Senior Tutor etc.) to prevent students
from failing
- Course based on ‘too much information’, teaches
students to prioritize. (Still few fail due to close
contact.)
- Not particularly modern courses and teaching styles
– student selection and close support network are
key
- >>90% completion rate
Teaching Load:
~10-20%% of working time
- 16 (+4) weeks of term time (teaching only in term)
- In term
- 6 hours of practicals / week
- 4 hours of supervisions/week
- Overall: 25% of work time, ca. 35% of the year,
for teaching (~10% of FTE)
- Administration differs, but generally <20% (except
HoDs etc.)
- Overall ca. 50% of time for research
Administration: Guidance and
Assistance
- Bottom-up university – Individuals drive the
agenda. Gives you a lot of personal freedom!
- Problems e.g. with larger grant applications
(same conclusion as Rojas and Bernasconi, Leadership
for World-Class Universities: Challenges for Developing
Countries. Philip G. Altbach (Ed.). 2011. New York &
London: Routledge)
- The individual is able to excel (and fail)
Cultural Embedding
“What an Oxford tutor does
is to get a little group of
students together and
‘puff smoke’ at them. Men
who have been
systematically smoked at
for four years turn into ripe
scholars. (The smoke
kindles the torch in the
heart of students.)”
“What Makes a Good
University? Thoughts
and Suggestions”, Yang
Fujia
Conclusions
- In Cambridge you have a concentration of
driven people with talent, resources, a suitable
embedding (start-ups, venture capital, cluster
formation, ...), the ‘spirit’, and generally a strong
support network for students
- You don’t have (or less so) the latest
technologies in teaching; control/push from
above (it is a ‘bottom up’ environment)
A few words of what worked for me in ...
Research
Group Leadership
- Live what you expect from your students
(cannot be an expert in all, but be believable)
- If you want your students to work hard, work
hard yourself
- It’s about belief into you as a leader!
- Frequent, small meetings beneficial
- (I have them once per week, for all 12-15 PhD
students)
- ‘Open door’ policy (with few ‘closed periods’)
- Organize social events (e.g. ‘Intercultural
Lunches’), good for ‘resonance’/rapport
Recruitment and leadership styles
- People, people, people!
- No one can ‘supervise’ everyone and everything
around you – but if you have good students they
can (to some extent) ‘supervise themselves’!
- Empowerment, trust, allowing mistakes...
1. The student has the right to lead his/her
project
2. The student has the duty to lead his/her project
Synergism in your group
- From ca. 5 –> ca. 10 PhD students I could
strongly feel synergies emerging
- Makes entry for new students easier, the group
more productive
- Strongly recommended, also with other groups
Common Core
Dividing the day: Mornings are golden
- Most people are more productive in the morning
- Good idea to set the morning aside for work –
e.g. check email once in the morning, then work
from 9-12pm or 9-1pm
- Schedule meetings in the afternoon, fits rhythm
of most people better
‘Be present’!
- Life is incremental, and about ‘market share’!
- The more present you are, the easier you find a
job, get invited to conferences, are asked as an
expert, ...
- What you do tomorrow is based on what you do
today
->Believe into your goal! (Or otherwise change it.)
- Hence: Think long term, it will pay off!
(Don’t reply to emails if you can better get work
done in the same time... It’s the important things
that matter in the end!)
A few words of what worked for me...
Supervising Research Students
Students
- In the following I am summarizing some of the
key slides I present to newly starting PhD
students in the group (currently 15 students)
- Objective: they should grow scientifically, but
also personally
What is a PhD actually?
- Piece of your own work
- German definition: “A PhD represents
independent scientific work that leads to novel
insights”
- You are meant to grow scientifically and
personally (!)
- Give and take of student and supervisor – both
parties contribute, both parties learn and
advance!
- Every student is different, supervisor should
adapt to that – please help him/her by vocalizing
your needs!
What is required for successful
completion of a PhD?
- From the side of the student, probably
intellectual ability, dedication, interest in the
subject, ability to communicate and to learn
- From the side of the supervisor, the ability to
‘read’ the student and his needs, making time
available to supervise, to give intellectual input
and moral/psychological support
- ‘A supervisor is (also) responsible for the
success of a PhD student – he/she is more
experienced, with respect to intellect and life
experience’
Typical time course of a PhD
- 1st year – Getting familiar with your subject,
preliminary studies (review, in particular cases
first publication); CPGS after ca. 10 months; not
too many results can be expected
- 2nd year – Productive phase, all tools in place,
should result in proper results (write up results
early and publish!)
- 3rd year – Transfer of methods to other areas,
‘Quick wins’ (and papers), budget 3-6 months
(part-time) for writing
Input
Contribution curve into your project – take
responsibility for yourself and your project!
PhD Student
input
You are the
expert in
your area
(even
worldwide)!
Supervisor’s
input
A PhD prepares you to lead other
people, personally and
scientifically!
Time
Relationship to your supervisor and
collaborators
- ‘Your supervisor is your assistant’ (!)
- Don't take what he/she says literally, check and
revise (life is learning from one another!);
criticise and question him/her as well (!)
- Actively search for collaborators, data,
publications, software, ... that support your
project and discuss with your supervisor
- Check relevance/applicability with supervisor –
he/she can often put things into context
The Hype Cycle and Disappointments
- Put yourself on the point in the hype cycle
- Helps judge the current situation better
The knowledge curve in a PhD
Knowledge
Objective
Knowledge
Discrepancy is mostly due to realizing the
limitations of the methods used – which is a sign
of intellectual maturity!
Subjective
Knowledge
Time
Failures and long-term planning
- If you are emotionally attached to your project
disappointments can and will be tough
- Distance (in time and emotionally) allows you to
see things clearer
- You will realize that you learned something
- Recommendation: Take half a day or an evening
off now and then (e.g. every other month), and
write a high-level summary of your project on
paper (bullet points, timeline, very short). This
helps you focus on essentials.
7 Breaths of the Samurai
- ‘In the words of the ancients, one should make
his decisions within the space of seven breaths.
If discrimination is long, it will spoil. When
matters are done leisurely, seven out of ten will
turn out badly. A warrior is a person who does
things quickly.’ (Hagakure)
- Meaning:
- A) When you have your hypothesis it’s time to test it
- B) Do important things first – and before that decide
what’s important and what is not!
Key principles
- Growing Up – taking responsibility
- You are leading your life, you are leading your PhD
project!
- Don’t blame others – identify what can be done
differently, learn from mistakes
- Mistakes are part of life – everyone makes
them, everyone needs them (feel free to even
love them, just learn from mistakes)
Dealing with problems
- There are only three ways to deal with any
problem in life
- Escape (‘is it really necessary I do this?’)
- Modify (‘ok, generally sound idea, but let’s do it a bit
differently’)
- Accept (‘embrace what you cannot change’)
- The worst choice is to complain, but not change
anything – simply don’t do it
Wise man said:
“Those who want look for ways;
Those who don’t want look for reasons”
Focus on relevant output:
Results/papers, not (!) the thesis
- There are ‘formal’ results (the ones you need to
deliver, but they do not have impact in the long
term) – e.g. your PhD thesis
- There are ‘visible’ results – publications,
presentations, etc.; those are the ones that give
you the next (e.g. Postdoc) job
- Achieve the formal goals, but don’t spend too
much time on them
- Work for the really relevant goals
Grow yourself!
- Identify the areas you are strong in, and how
you would like to develop
- I was always afraid of presenting – my decision
was to submit abstracts for as many oral
presentations at conferences as I could
- Was (very!) painful, for ca. 5 years, but over the
years solved the problem
- However: Everyone learns differently, take this
into account!
Performance assessments... and trust
Performance assessment
- If done, best so in a balanced way
- Should take different contributions (research,
teaching, funding, administration, plus e.g.
outreach, ...) into account
- Promotions in Cambridge need to tick all the
boxes to advance to the next level
- But to be honest... Many contributions are not
measurable, in practice most promotions are
made on the (subjective) ‘overall impression’
If a university wants to follow the
‘Global Research University Model’...
- Resources for this shift are crucial
- The question is here how to create ‘space’
(mainly time) for research
- UiTM historically closer to ‘New Universities’ /
Teaching Universities in the UK
- Compare to Cambridge workload - >50% time
for research (mainly spent on organizing
research in fact)
Experience with the Research
Assessment Exercise
BMJ 1998 (316) 1079-1088
Convergence of the messages
- When writing this talk, I realized that a coherent
message emerges
- Formalisms (benchmarking etc.) will never
achieve true excellence – people do. Excellent
people do excellent work.
- It is important to get good people in place, to
give them a good environment, and to trust
them
The university as a
‘self-critical living being’
- “Liz Reisberg discusses quality standards [...] in
which she explains that these are often
overemphasized and meaningless, functioning as a
distraction from a true consideration of excellence.
The competition for prestige can also have negative
effects, as it favors superficial indicators of quality.
For Reisberg, the best approach to quality
enhancement is the existence of an institutional
culture of self-criticism.”
- Reisberg in Leadership for World-Class
Universities: Challenges for Developing Countries.
Philip G. Altbach (Ed.). 2011. New York & London:
Routledge
All you need is... Trust
Wefald:
“Management guru Peter Drucker said that incoming
leaders should never say, “What can I do?” The
question always has to be “what needs to be done.” If
you follow that mantra “what needs to be done”
instead of just unilaterally imposing your will, that
means you are asking faculty, students, deans,
department heads “‘ok, what are the issues here?” [...]
In addition, trust people. You know, Ralph Waldo
Emerson always said that if you trust people they will
trust you back 20 times over. Emerson well sums up
my beliefs. Once trust is gone, the relationship is
over.”
– Wefald, Journal of Management Inquiry 2012 21:
- Happy to follow-up: [email protected]
Further Reading
- The Challenge of Establishing World-Class
Universities, Jamil Salmi, The World Bank,
2009.
- Leadership for World-Class Universities:
Challenges for Developing Countries, Philip
Altbach (Ed), Chestnut Hill: Boston College,
2010.
- Building World-Class Universities - Different
Approaches to a Shared Goal, Qi Wang, Ying
Cheng and Nian Cai Liu (Eds.), Sense
Publishers 2012.