scholarly journals Make the butterflies fly in formation? Management of copyright created by academics in UK universities

Legal Studies ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Rahmatian
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Sensitive Area ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
University Policies ◽  
Copyright Ownership ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Universities have increasingly become aware of the fact that the intellectual property (IP) rights that attach to the work of their academics could become significant and valuable assets to the university as an institution and economic organisation. The study involved analysis of the copyright and intellectual property policies of universities in the UK and the interviewing of specialised representatives of universities in relation to the policies of their respective institutions. The principal question of the study was the way in which university policies deal with the issue of ownership of copyright generated by academic staff, which proved to be a sensitive area. University policies presume that, by default, they own all work that academics create as their employees. There seems to be insufficient appreciation of the differentiated legal interpretation of the employees' copyright rule. At least in relation to core academic work (scholarly books and journal articles in particular), initial copyright ownership by the university, by virtue of the statutory employee-copyright rule, is highly doubtful. As a result of the universities' principal position with regard to ownership, university IP policies have resorted to complicated and artificial assignment and licencing provisions, with questionable enforceability.

scholarly journals Reflections on the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Cecilia Goria
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Emergency Measures

It is widely believed that digitally-driven changes are not welcomed amongst academic staff in higher education. However, when in March 2020, the University of Nottingham went online in response to the UK government’s COVID-19 lockdown, a different picture started to emerge. This contribution reflects on the initial steps taken to respond to the COVID-19 emergency measures, including the support required to implement these steps and ensuing staff feedback. It also reflects on the process of moving forward from a state of emergency to a more thought-through digital pedagogical approach. In this scenario, the ultimate goal of this reflection is to argue that, as a consequence of the educational turbulence caused by COVID-19, the portrait of academics prone to resisting digitally-driven changes needs to be replaced by one that emphasises the significance of making the pedagogical values of these changes meaningful to the staff who eventually implement them.

scholarly journals Intellectual Property Management: European Universities Experience

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
A. Yu. Kalinin ◽  
Yu. V. Nechepurenko
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Property Management ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Intellectual Property Management ◽  
Main Components ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

A comparative analysis of policies in the field of intellectual property (IP) of universities in leading European countries: Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands. As a result of the comparison, the main components of these policies are identified as a single document: the purpose of the policy, the procedure for determining copyright holders, students' rights to IP, material incentives for using IP, and responsible structures. The policy of each university takes into account the features and traditions of its activities. It was revealed that each university has its own approach to material incentives for the creation and use of IP. The conditions are established under which the university does not claim to IP created by students. It is concluded that it is advisable to develop similar IP policies for Belarusian universities.

scholarly journals Desbordadas/os: Rendición de cuentas e intensificación del trabajo en la universidad neoliberal. El caso de Chile

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Vicente Sisto
Keyword(s):  
Academic Work ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Performance Based Financing ◽  
University Policies ◽  
Assessment Systems ◽  
Local Space ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University ◽  
Central Level

In a context of university policies guided by neo-liberal models, the University has been strongly challenged by the increase in accountability and performance-based financing mechanisms. These policies challenge the work of the University and its workers: academics. This study explores, from the position of academics, how the accountability policies implemented from the central level are deployed in the local space, challenging academic work and its workers. A total of 36 interviews were analyzed. Findings showed that certain themes emerged as the most relevant concerning daily work. Among these, curricular assessment systems acquire a leading role in establishing which actions count and which do not. The interviews also allowed an understanding of how participants experience these policies. The intensification of work emerges as the most relevant process accounting for a work that goes beyond its limits occupying personal, family, rest, and social spaces. This also occurs within a context of an increasing questioning of the meanings and values of academic work that are being installed by university policies of high accountability. 

4. How universities and colleges work

2017 ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Palfreyman ◽  
Paul Temple
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Universities And Colleges ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Lay Members ◽  
The University

‘How universities and colleges work’ considers how the university and college actually work in terms of their structures, funding, governance, and management. Universities and colleges are complex operations trying to fulfil a multitude of potentially conflicting tasks and expectations, with a wide variety of demanding stakeholders. Despite facing numerous challenges today, universities and colleges continue to predominantly focus on teaching and research. Many also contribute, through consultancy and the exploitation of intellectual property, to their local economy, pursuing ‘civic engagement’. The balance of power or influence within the triangle of academic staff (faculty), managers (the executive), and lay-members (the trustees) varies greatly from one university and college to another.

scholarly journals Digital Labour in the University: Understanding the Transformations of Academic Work in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Universities have been the site of a variety of shifts and transformations in the previous few decades. Both the composition of students and academics are changing (to a lesser or greater extent), along with the ways in which teaching and research is supported, conducted, and delivered. The effects of neoliberalism, privatisation, precarious employment, debt, and digitalisation have been highlighted as important factors in understanding these changes. However, the ways in which these tendencies are expressed in universities – both in specific and general ways – remain fragmented and under-analysed. In particular, the role of academic labour processes, increasingly mediated through digital technology, remains in the background. There is a risk of viewing these transformations as abstracted, far removed from the day-to-day activities of academic labour on which universities rely. This article will therefore focus on connecting the broader changes in funding, organisation, and digital technology to the labour processes of academics. Rather than seeking a return to a romanticised pre-neoliberal university, this article explores the possibilities of resistance and alternatives to the university as it is now.

scholarly journals Academics and Intellectual Property: Treading the Tightrope

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 759-774
Author(s):  
Tom Reid
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Fiduciary Duties ◽  
Valuable Source ◽  
Copyright Ownership ◽  
The University ◽  
Australian Universities

Most Australian universities still uphold the tradition that an academic's work is performed for the greater public good, and that it is therefore necessary to donate back at least the copyright in the academic's scholarly work to the academic, so that the work may be freely disseminated. However, faced with tighter and tighter budgets, the same universities are increasingly turning to commercial partnerships to add to their revenue. The intellectual property created by academics in the course of their employment, if commercially exploited, is potentially a valuable source of revenue to the university. As a result, there is the prospect of growing conflict between academics and their universities over copyright ownership, and the erosion of the tradition of academic ownership of copyright in scholarly works. Simultaneously, the notion that an academic is paid for the whole of his or her time is being eroded by the trend toward sessional teaching. Nevertheless, the recent case Victoria University v Wilson illustrates that an academic can still owe fiduciary duties to his or her university capable of covering work performed outside the academic's scope of employment.

scholarly journals Academics’ experience of copyright

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 601-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikee Chauhan ◽  
Peter Willett
Keyword(s):  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Single Institution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Training Programmes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Better Than

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to obtain a snapshot of attitudes and comprehension of the University of Greenwich (UoG) academics towards copyright and the impact of same on their teaching, complementing this with a survey of the experience of academic librarians (ALs) throughout the UK when dealing with faculty and copyright. Design/methodology/approach Two questionnaires were created and circulated to capture information from two sampled groups: the UoG academic staff and UK-wide ALs. A total of 55 responses were received to the questionnaire distributed to the former, and 83 responses were received to the questionnaire distributed to the latter. Findings The majority of the UoG academics believed they possessed a fair, or better than fair, understanding of copyright, with numerous respondents self-taught on the subject. Nevertheless, a significant number thought they might have broken copyright when teaching, while also revealing the belief that copyright was a limitation on their teaching. The AL survey suggested an average comprehension of copyright among academics, while noting that some of the latter felt a degree of antipathy towards copyright. Originality/value Although focused on a single institution, this study implies that copyright instruction for academic staff needs to be substantially improved, and it suggests the need for greater visibility of training programmes.

scholarly journals Digital Labour in the University: Understanding the Transformations of Academic Work in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Universities have been the site of a variety of shifts and transformations in the previous few decades. Both the composition of students and academics are changing (to a lesser or greater extent), along with the ways in which teaching and research is supported, conducted, and delivered. The effects of neoliberalism, privatisation, precarious employment, debt, and digitalisation have been highlighted as important factors in understanding these changes. However, the ways in which these tendencies are expressed in universities – both in specific and general ways – remain fragmented and under-analysed. In particular, the role of academic labour processes, increasingly mediated through digital technology, remains in the background. There is a risk of viewing these transformations as abstracted, far removed from the day-to-day activities of academic labour on which universities rely. This article will therefore focus on connecting the broader changes in funding, organisation, and digital technology to the labour processes of academics. Rather than seeking a return to a romanticised pre-neoliberal university, this article explores the possibilities of resistance and alternatives to the university as it is now.

scholarly journals Walter Eric Spear. 20 January 1921 — 21 February 2008

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 267-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Adams
Keyword(s):  
Academic Staff ◽  
Amorphous Semiconductors ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Basic Physics ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
Computer Monitors ◽  
Physics Department ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Walter Spear was a multi-talented individual who decided to make a career in science in the UK. After his studies in London he joined the academic staff of the Physics Department in Leicester in 1953. In 1968 he was appointed to the Harris Chair of Physics at the University of Dundee in Scotland, where he stayed until retirement. Although his work was primarily driven by a desire to understand the basic physics of electrical conduction in solids, his discoveries had considerable impact on the electronics industry. For example, he will be well remembered for his research on amorphous semiconductors, which resulted in a variety of applications within the optoelectronics industry, including solar cells and the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used in televisions, computer monitors and a wide range of hand-held devices. His work was characterized throughout by high experimental skill, felicitous choice of materials and full theoretical understanding. Walter won many international prizes during his career, including the Royal Society Rumford Medal in 1990.

Spin-out fever: Spinning out a University of Oxford company and comments on the process in other universities

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Savage
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Technology Transfer Office ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
University Of Oxford ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
External Equity

University spin-out companies are increasing seen as a favoured route for commercialisation of university intellectual property. There has been criticism in the Lambert Review of Business–University Collaboration in 2003, commissioned by the UK Government in 2003, that there have been too many spin-outs of low quality and that a measure of quality is the amount of external equity they attract. This has been refuted by Dr Williams of the University of Warwick technology transfer office. Oxford University has created 42 companies with no failures. The rigorous process involved in the creation of an Oxford spin-out is given in some detail. The author then goes on to discuss his experiences of other university spin-out models. Finally, some of the tax problems that caused universities across the UK to stop spinning-out companies recently are discussed. In conclusion despite the criticisms, the author believes the process of creating companies to commercialise university R & D is critical to the overall success of UK plc in the long term.

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