Hi, I’m pleased to see that someone is writing about this, because I know myself how painful it can be. In the 80s in the U.K. Thatcher was savaging the universities and our Vice Chancellor was one of the worst trying to get rid of a third of the staff to “improve” the university, and he was leading the struggle to break tenure in British universities. At that time I had come into university to teach after 10 years practice as an engineer. I had tenure although my PhD was still unfinished and in a subject my head of department couldn’t understand (energy policy).
In the end I left, after finishing my PhD. I saw no future when I got no support. Since then I have had several careers in different fields, the latest working as a well-paid EU consultant where my PhD is valued.
But now I see my daughter struggling to live through her PhD research in Palestine, with little or no support from her supervisors and reducing public grant. She fears there is no future in academic life, and she will never be good enough, and I see the cycle all over again. She complains that it is fatal to talk about mental health, as there is no sick pay for that.
She spends a lot of time complaining about old white men, (writing the books, making the decisions, setting the standards, controlling the money). Even her (white) female supervisor is not supportive.
Why is it that there is so little mentoring? It seems that the rule is: we had it like that, so you must too! Incredible so little teamwork! Nobody could work like that in the real world.