"POOR SALARIES IN ACADEMIA: TRY THESE OPTIONS"
"1. Academics can organise themselves into multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research groups and apply for grants. From the grants, they can get paid for the extra hours they put in the project. To access foreign grants, they can collaborate with colleagues who are teaching in Euro-American universities to do Africa based research. There are tonnes of money for doing research in Africa to address global challenges such as climate change, energy crises, gender issues, migration, environmental degradation, sustainable development, peace and conflict management, biodiversity conservation, anthropology, history, and cultural studies etc. Academics can leverage their international publications and conference attendance to create networks and partnerships. A single publication that is widely read and cited can open many doors for collaborative research, that is why publishing with impact is necessary.
2. Consulting: Academics are thinkers and problem solvers in their chosen fields of study. They are equipped with in-demand ideas, methods, policy administration, monitoring and evaluation knowledges that companies, governments, individuals, and non profit organisations are looking for. Through their publications, they can demonstrate deep analytical skills to offer solutions to many problems that clients need. They can use university consulting platforms or registered private companies to offer those services for lucrative fees. I did a similar thing with ABUCONS and was able to get a World Bank consulting project that was equivalent to my net salary for years. Just make sure what you are teaching and publishing has a real world application and find a way to speak to a potential network of clients.
3. Sell an online course: there are many platforms for creating and selling online courses that academics can utilise. Platforms like Thinkific, Teachable, Udemy etc have easy to learn and deploy procedures for selling online courses, and course developers can charge fees ranging from 5-200 USD per user. Check out YouTube and see how people with zero degrees are making hundreds of thousands of dollars from Udemy. For example, Phil Ebiner has over 2 million students on Udemy and has sold courses worth over 500,000 USD since 2015.
4. Private practice: several academic skills like medicine, pharmacy, law, and veterinary medicine can be used to run a private practice. After teaching hours, academics can run their personal businesses by attending to clients at home or from their personal offices if they can afford to rent a place. A lot of people have made money doing just that.
5. Move out: if academia doesn't pay good money, they have the options to quit and move out. There are several opportunities for people with research and analytical thinking skills in the industry and development organisations. The working condition is conducive and the pay is excellent. Others who want to continue teaching can find jobs abroad. Websites like www.jobs.ac.uk are places where academic jobs are published regularly for those who want to move to the UK. Also, www.indeed.com have variety of foreign jobs for academics and professionals. There is no point sticking to a job that is frustrating while you have options.
There are many ways our academics can supplement their meagre salaries if they actually want to do something about it. If your discipline is not selling, learn something else that sells. If you dont know any potential clients, partner with someone who does. If you dont have a business or grant application experience, learn from friends and colleagues. There is no excuse. The worst thing that will happen to an educated person is to accept whatever life throws at him. Education is a tool for personal liberation, and our teachers must learn how to use it to navigate their poor remuneration and neglect. Waiting and calling for the government to do something is an old strategy that has failed!"-Anonymous author.
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