After the triumphant entry of the Promising Son-in-Law into the University of Madeira, the question arises as to when the daughter will enter, suggesting a pattern of family career planning within the institution. The article ironizes this situation as a "Strategic Genealogical Succession Plan" and states that what is really at stake is Nepotism, nowadays referred to as "strong institutional alignment."
The phenomenon described is not limited to admissions, also encompassing university governance models where husband and wife, legally married, participate in the same meeting where decisions are made by voting. The article questions how administrative impartiality can exist when spouses share life, heritage, and family decisions, and then vote together in academic meetings.
The text also highlights the existence of departments where there appears to be an extraordinary concentration of "serial academic talent" within the same families, with fathers, children, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law all having brilliant careers at the same institution. The article questions ironically whether there might be an as-yet-unidentified "university hiring gene."
Finally, the article states that external candidates continue to believe that competitions are meant for comparing curricula, when in reality there is merit and there are surnames that do not always compete in the same league. It mentions that there are rules prohibiting straight-line relatives from serving on competition juries, but questions how these rules are applied at the University of Madeira.
