Ironically at universities in the UK we seem to have more "professional services" staff than ever. Part of what they do is really valuable: customer services h

Ironically at universities in the UK we seem to have more "professional services" staff than ever. Part of what they do is really valuable: customer services helpdesk/helpline for students for example, every question they answer is one that doesn't end up taking academics' time. But then there's also all the "quality control" where you really wonder how we ever managed to run a degree without every decision going through at least three different committees. And you need someone to sit on these committees, because academics will avoid them whenever they can :)