[arethuza]

When I worked in a UK university for a Professor (a title which only the most senior academics have) his role was arguably almost entirely "management" - he was a very bright guy and did get involved in the research his team did (about 15 of us) but it was obvious that 98% of his time was effectively "management" responsibilities.

Similarly for medics and lawyers - certainly for lawyers (in the UK anyway) getting past a particular level is more about business development and managerial skills than anything else.

[madcaptenor]

I double-majored in chemistry and math. I remember talking to a few of my chemistry professors and finding that they missed actual lab work; managing their research labs, getting grants, etc. was a full time job. This wasn't true of the math professors; they actually had the time to do the research instead of just supervising graduate students.

[arethuza]

I should be cleared about the use of the term "Professor" in a UK university compared to the US - in the department I worked in that had maybe 50 lecturing staff (i.e. full time permanent academic staff) and 6 or 7 people at the level of Professor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_in_the_United_Ki...

[madcaptenor]

That's a good point. Like most Americans I forgot about the US/UK difference in nomenclature. I'd think the problem would only be bigger for UK "Professors" than for US "Professors" because UK Professors are more senior by definition.