University Shambles

Blair's educational reforms of the 1990s. Where glittering new universities arise from the ashes of mediocre former polytechnics; and where egos don't just run departments - they run rampant. Enter Charles Rae, a young, rabidly ambitious particle physicist who is offered a professorship at the newly fledged Evergreen Epstein University (EEU), making him the youngest professor of physics in the world. His elation chills as he rapidly finds himself drawn into a twilight-zone scenario that appears to have been deliberately engineered for his destruction. In 'University Shambles', Chris Rhodes has created a bitingly accurate observational satire which targets the politics of academia, the degradation of the university system in the name of inclusiveness and - inescapably - the foolish vanity of academics. The adept combination of character, sharp satire and comedic humour make good reading and he has given us a new and much-needed phase in the evolution of the campus novel, taking on the hypocrisies and spin of 'education, education, education'.

ISBN 1906561397   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9781906561390 (What's this?)   Pages 216 Publisher Melrose Books   Weight (grammes) 419 Imprint Melrose Books   Published in Ely Format Hardback   Height (mm) 240 Publication date 01 Apr 2009   Width (mm) 175 DEWEY 823.92   Academic level General

"Chris Rhodes' novel perfectly captures the bizarre world of the UK university sector in the late 1990s. The events, behaviour and inverted standards he describes will feel surreal to the inexperienced, but in fact University Shambles is a realistic work. The fictional world it describes will feel grimly familiar to many, although no one could fail to laugh at the absurdity of it." "A highly amusing insight into the university sector as it has recently expanded relentlessly under government edict. It presents a devastating picture of the extent to which the notion of scholarship has been betrayed by a culture of managerialism, where the mediocre is airbrushed into 'excellence', and achievement in research is subordinated to the spurious concept of' 'academic leadership' to engineer bogus professorships for the unworthy. One's heart bleeds for the unfortunate hero lured by an unscrupulous vice-chancellor to throw in his lot with an institution where academic subjects are forced into an endless cycle of mergers with business-orientated units and his research belittled by envious superiors. One wishes only that we are given here a parody of life in some institutions - no such luck. A thoroughly good read, but best taken with a large scotch at hand to dull the pain as Charles' life unravels." "Very funny and true to life." "Deliciously vicious"

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