Vodka ironic, please

June 2, 2016

Craig Brandist (“The risks of Soviet-style managerialism in UK universities”, Opinion, 5 May) highlights the striking similarity between Soviet industrial management and the current administration of UK universities. I take exception only to his translation of krugovaia poruka (not porukha) as “esprit de corps”, which surely denotes the positive honour of a group rather than the negative mutual cover-up in which the Soviet staff were engaged.

Melochnaia opeka (not opeika) – literally “meticulous guardianship” – can mean “micromanagement”, but mikromenedzhment is now more usual.

It may be that today’s UK HR staff “generally don’t do irony”, but I found that Soviet university “managers” thrived on it, especially when the vodka bottle was open.

R. E. Rawles
Honorary research fellow in psychology
University College London


Send to

Letters should be sent to: THE.Letters@tesglobal.com
Letters for publication in Times Higher Education should arrive by 9am Monday.
View terms and conditions.

Register to continue

Why register?

  • Registration is free and only takes a moment
  • Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
  • Sign up for our newsletter
Register
Please Login or Register to read this article.

Related articles

Sponsored