UCT response to Prof Tim Crowe

Emeritus Professor Tim Crowe makes disparaging remarks that have no real bearing on the ad hominem promotion process for the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It’s important to set the record straight on this matter.

Contrary to Prof Crowe’s assertions, the Humanities Faculty is one of the most difficult places to get an ad hom promotion, with some of the toughest criteria. Fifteen people were promoted in 2015 and of these, only five were promoted to full professor.

While Prof Crowe does not refer to any humanities professor by name, he does refer to two recently promoted professors who are fairly easy to identify from the context of his remarks. Both of these academics have a solid publishing record of six or seven books, as well as scholarly articles and chapters in academic publications. Some of these works have been translated into an impressive range of languages, indicating the global reach of the relevant author’s work.

The citation indices, including the H-index to which Prof Crowe refers, are commonly used in the natural sciences and health sciences. No South African university uses the H-index as a criterion for promotion in the humanities. Criteria for promotion in the Faculty of the Humanities have never insisted on citations or citation index scores. This has been the case for years.

Although many of our humanities academics are rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the humanities criteria have never made NRF rating a condition for promotion.

Statement issued by UCT Communication and Marketing Department, 19 May 2016