left to my own devices – occasional thoughts on higher education

Finances are tight in higher education, and so the squeeze is on in terms of the use of external consultants by universities. Rightly so. (Although the sector’s regulator is bravely bucking that trend).

However, every now and then a generous external consultant offers their services for free. After my blog post last week focusing on the importance of clarity in the information considered in university decision making processes, I was fortunate enough to receive an offer of a piece for the blog giving some free advice on writing papers for committees. From none other than the Jedi Master Yoda.

I probably caught him at just the right time of year, as he called by Earth for his annual visit coinciding with the seasonal airings of his most well-remembered film performances.

He was around; had some spare time on his hands; and didn’t want paying, due no doubt to the hefty residuals he was here to collect from Disney (they offered to transfer it to him via bitcoin, but he’s far too wise to accept crypto and insisted on collecting in person).

Given that the service was provided for free, I’ve assumed that Yoda intended his work to be available to the sector as a whole under a Creative Commons licence, so here it is. The advice of the Jedi Master on writing a good paper for a university committee:

Decision-making bodies, committees are.
Purposeful, they must be.
Decisions, they must make.
Do or do not. There is no try.

Key questions, four there are.
What is the issue?
Why is it important?
What decision is sought?
Why is this the right decision?

Coversheet, brief it must be.
Executive Summary, crucial it is.
Four to five sentences, no more.
Orient the committee, it must.

Main paper, concise it must be.
Four pages, the limit.
Knowledge and expertise, share you must.
Recommendations, clear they must be.
Detail, sufficient there must be.

Action requested, clear it must be.
Focus the committee, it will.

Background and body, structure wisely.
Sharepoint links, avoid.
Appendices, use wisely.
Essential or valuable, they must be.

Implementation, vital it is.
Communicate and execute, you must.

Wisely write, the Force will be with you.

Not perfect, but not bad. Clearly all those centuries sitting in meetings of the Jedi Council taught him a thing or two.

(This was as translated from Yoda’s native tongue by Google Gemini. It took a while for the Jedi Master to accept that his translator wasn’t an agent of the Dark Side of the Force, which ultimately he sort of did but I’m not sure he was entirely convinced).