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| PICTURE BY XIANG GAO VIA UNSPLASH |
Let us rehearse the properties of money by comparing cash with academic goodwill, defined here as that warm glow of satisfaction following a successful PhD examination at (obviously) a different University to your own. The warm glow is often extended during the period between the viva examination and receipt of the Princely sum of (as much as ) £200 for almost a week of your time:
Quality
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Money
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Academic Goodwill
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a medium of exchange
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Cash is generally accepted by most in society – except bus drivers (exact change please) and internet retailers (that’s a USB port, not a coin slot grandma…)
It is divisible, easily recognisable and now fully washable.
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PhD examination can be a series of bi-lateral exchanges between colleagues in cognate areas of study. You pass my student and I’ll pass yours.
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a liquid store of value
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Apart from notes going out of circulation in order to issue currency with pictures of the Duchess formerly known as Megan Markle on the obverse, cash retains its nominal value and is easily turned into, well, cash.
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If that liquid is Scotch or Gin then the External PhD Examiner is an excellent storage vessel. Some academics have a very limited capacity before they begin to spout nonsense, others show no difference in this capacity even after a few swift ones.
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a unit of account
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We do tend to value what we can measure and even more so if that measurement unit has a £, $ or € sign.
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The number of PhD supervisions and even examinations on an academic CV can often be used as evidence of scholarship and reputation for such vaguely defined areas like promotion criteria.
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a standard of deferred payments
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Net Present Values reflect the value to the lender of payment deferment. Lenders give up current liquidity for a price (interest).
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Storing up goodwill here on earth may make a nice insertion into your obituary in the Times Higher. There’s no longer deferment than that…
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