The university is not just buildings, halls, or stored educational plans, but a living entity that depends on the minds of those who work within it. Professors and staff, each person carries a part of its spirit and the responsibility for its continuation. What matters to this group is not summed up in a paycheck at the end of the month or a strict work schedule, but extends to an integrated system of professional dignity, psychological stability, institutional fairness, and the true meaning of the role they play.
The primary concern of a university professor is to be regarded as a messenger, not merely an instructor or a number in the teaching load table. They need to feel that their research time is protected, their scientific effort appreciated, and their academic path clear, governed by transparent criteria devoid of whimsy, personal relationships, or sudden decisions. What provokes a professor most is the changing of rules without announcement, or the disruption of promotion despite meeting the criteria, or using evaluation as a tool of pressure rather than a means of development. An environment that respects critical thinking, rewards diligence, and separates personal disagreements from professional evaluations is an environment that unleashes creativity instead of forcing individuals to continually defend themselves.
The university staff member, on the other hand, is the silent backbone of the institution. Invisible on platforms and unspoken of at conferences, yet they are the true daily stability. What matters to them is having clear tasks, defined authorities, and responsibilities not open-ended. What exhausts them most is being assigned work outside their job description without recognition, or changing instructions depending on the person rather than the system, or the absence of a fair career path that links performance with advancement. Administrative justice for them is not merely a slogan, but a guarantee that protects them from marginalization and from the burden of mistakes they did not contribute to making.
Both professors and staff share fundamental needs, foremost among them respect. Respect for time, expertise, and official channels. Nothing exhausts the university environment like administrative chaos, overlapping of powers, ambiguity in decision-making, and duplicity in applying laws. Institutional stability does not mean stagnation, but implies that change is comprehensible, announced, and considered, and does not come at the expense of people or their dignity.
Transparency in appointments, promotions, and rewards is also critical, as is involving employees in making decisions that affect their professional lives. A lack of involvement creates a feeling of isolation and transforms the university from a space of cooperation to one of waiting and apprehension.
It matters to everyone that the university is a psychologically safe space, not a permanent tension zone. That the workday ends without being carried home, that professional disputes remain within their frameworks, and that offices do not become grounds for complaints, murmurs, and side conversations. Academic and administrative output does not flourish in a charged environment but in an atmosphere where people feel they are working not to be drained, but to achieve.
As well as it matters to professors and university staff to see the fruits of their work in better students, stronger programs, and advancing institutional reputation. They want to feel that what they do today will leave a mark tomorrow, and that the university is not just a temporary station but a meaningful and valuable lifelong career project.
In the end, a university that listens to its professors, protects its staff, and balances requirements with capabilities, is a university capable of continuing and innovating. A university that neglects humans in the name of the system, or exhausts energies in the name of commitment, slowly loses the most important asset it possesses. Everything that matters to professors and university staff can be summarized in one deeply meaningful word: to be treated as partners in construction, not as tools in operation.
