Friday, May 24, 2013

An Argument Against Academics Hiring Academics

Not sure that I agree with Istvan Aranyosi's position:
[Academic] hiring decisions should be taken out of academic hands and given to managers who are able ruthlessly to apply genuine market principles when these are called for.
But the article still makes for a good read. 

From what I've observed, most new hires to academic departments come in with skills that are complementary to those that are already nearby, so I'd argue against his opinion that academic people tend to hire those that he considers "pet students and research projects". 

Of course, if you show me the data on this I might change my mind!