Reconciliation is a Dish Best Served Lukewarm, QUB says
by Ellie Somers
Allow me to preface this piece by wishing all readers a prosperous new year! Academically, that is, as the autumn semester is now well and truly underway. To new students, I extend my sincere albeit envy-tinged greetings; to final-year students such as myself, my deepest condolences.
Whether you be a new or returning student, or whether you favour the corridors of the PFC over those of the QFT (said no-one, ever), my fellow arts and humanities students may revel in the jubilant announcement of Queen’s University Belfast’s inaugural Creative Industries Week. Let us rejoice, for our days of aimlessly perusing the floors of the South Dining, Whitla, and Mandela Halls during the biannual Careers Fair – only to discover that beyond a sea of aspiring STEM graduates, financial advisors and lawyers lies… oh, no, nothing – are surely behind us. Unless, of course, you are pursuing a degree in Anthropology and Philosophy on the off chance of snagging the coveted position of PowerPoint Creation Assistant at Deloitte, in which case, you may wish to stop reading here.
Time and time again, we are gentle parented by lecturers and careers consultants alike, who assure us that, despite what anyone in our phones (or extended families) say, we are employable. Seriously, the Big Four are tripping over one another to recruit us, what with our affinity with critical thinking and our, erm, you know, other transferable skills. Forgive me, then, if I would rather not upheave such qualities, instead preferring to redistribute them within the field from which they were cultivated, or to retain whatever remains of the soul I have spent the last twenty years grappling with.
Anyhow, from the 19th of October to the 23rd, Queen’s will metamorphose into a creative haven, or rather, room, utilising The Cube (the largest of the ambiguously named conservatories overpopulating the Students’ Union) for a five-day programme of events. Indeed, at the time of writing, registration for three out of five events has already reached maximum capacity, certainly indicating the desperation with which students – who famously, according to staff, never sign up for anything – have campaigned for a function of this kind. Five workshops over five days, overseen by a series of expert panels, will explore the wide range of opportunities available in the industries of publishing, curation, screen, and game development (the latter, ironically, will take place on Microsoft Teams, surely to decipher the digital literacy of its participants rather than compensate for scheduling conflicts consequent of poor planning).
The move, on paper – not this one, but one intended for external viewing, I imagine – may only be interpreted as commendatory. Make no mistake, at first glance, even I felt a brief respite, a sentiment that all hope is not lost, that we actually do exist in the eyes of our educational overlords! Even so, familiarity breeds contempt, I suppose, and when considered over three years on from a statement in which Vice-Chancellor Ian Greer avowed that “unless we invest in our young people’s education and provide them with the opportunities to stay at home to contribute positively to our society and economy then the next generation face a bleak future,” it warrants a more tepid response [1]. It seems that finally, a mere 41 months later, the university is graciously willing to extend such generosity towards even the most problematic of its problem children: arts and humanities students.
Regrettably, MyFuture, QUB’s online careers management tool, is where the fruits of this labour go to decompose. Of 658 jobs currently listed on the platform, a filtered search within the aforementioned ‘Creative Industries’ swiftly reveals a lamentable three openings: social media content creator (naturally), cruise ship musician (niche, but alright), and music teacher (worrying that an individual as musically inept as me could even feasibly apply). Now, not to get bogged down by numbers (we’ll save that for our acquaintances at Deloitte) but that amounts to a deplorable 0.46% of total job posts on the platform. Could be worse, could be 0%, right, Mam? Right?
Walk with me here while I deduce that, in summation, the university has benevolently curated a five-day programme of exploratory workshops designed to prime us for opportunities that it seemingly holds no claims to itself; like one who dangles a stick in front of a horse and realises that they forgot to acquire a carrot. Also, precariously, the horse had already exchanged £14,955 for that particular carrot. Quite the blunder, really. Mind, horses are mercurial, arbitrary creatures, they’ll have you know; though what they fail to consider is that while horses can drink, they may only do so on the condition that they are led to water in the first place. QUB would do well to remember that.
References
[1] Queen’s University Belfast. “Education cuts will inflict long lasting damage to our economy says Queen’s Vice Chancellor.” News. 16 May, 2023. https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/StaffGateway/News/NewsArchive/2023/education-cuts-inflict-long-lasting-damage-to-economy-vice-chancellor.html
