Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - PhD and diminishing job opportunities

The situation is indeed dire. Our graduate student slots have just been cut and there is no promise that our previous number, already small, would be restored. There is also the problem of mismatch between graduate fields where most students are being admitted and fields where there are still some jobs. That accentuates the anxiety about job prospects.

On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 10:36 PM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

The projection for jobs in the humanities is not looking good. This year has been particularly bad, even for those who finished from private universities.

Before you encourage anyone, try to understand the trend. Universities are doing drastic cutbacks in admissions as the opportunities continue to diminish. Jobs are drying up everywhere. If a global economic meltdown occurs this year, those planning to retire will need to work for at least 5 years to recoup major losses from their 401K.

 

Coronavirus is also producing an unexpected outcome: students in cities that are shut down are being taught online, with professors drawn from different parts of the world. While the impact of technology has been realized, it is now clear that professors can stay in one country and produce students in another. I have had to withstand pressure to teach hundreds of students in two other countries from my home office.

 

The person you encourage today may become your enemy tomorrow! You can device your ways, but you cannot control your steps:

 

 

TF

 

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220, USA

http://toyinfalolanetwork.org/

 

 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/81559B28-71A6-4508-83C8-74A5414413BF%40austin.utexas.edu.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAAHJfPpSx5ONBMUm5grYeEQsiY1y_4ZMHd3%3DLi6Kb42keFotZA%40mail.gmail.com.