160 likes | 174 Views
Explore the impact of institutional profiles on academic careers, teaching-research balance, and the diversity between men and women in higher education. This study delves into the evolving landscape of academic institutions and the roles of teaching and research in different countries.
E N D
The diversifying academic profession: The case of NL on institutional profiles, teaching and research and professional careers Egbert de Weert (CHEPS) International workshop “Academic Profession in Russia: International and Comparative Perspectives” Higher School of Economics Moscow, June 17-18-2013 b Committee on the Future Sustainability of Dutch Higher Education
Russia – the Netherlands in the golden age (1698)Czar Peter the Great (statue and picture in Zaandam)
Diversity in the academic profession Looking at the fault lines between teaching and research at three levels: • Level of institutional types and profiles • Programme level • Personal level: the divide between men and women
Diversity of institutional types • Binary divide: Research universities versus professional (teaching) institutions: eg. Germany, Finland, Netherlands • More diversified: research institutes outside the universities: France (national research centers); Russia (institutes of Academy of Science) • Highly layered systems, including private HE institutions: USA, Japan, Russia Governments to decide: • which institutions ought to do what • define budget allocations
Distribution of working tasks of faculty • Traditional division teaching (40%), research (40%) and administration (20%) • Now more flexible patterns, no formal standards • Also teaching-only and research-only positions • In Russia teaching load determined according to formal standards corresponding to rank and position. On average 8 hours per week research against 29 hours teaching (G. Androushchak & M.Yudkevich 2012).
Binary systems distinguishing Research Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) • Vertical degree level: sub-degree programs, bachelor, master, doctoral programs • Academic versus vocational dimensions • Distinction between research and teaching focused institutions
Profile of research at Universities of Applied Sciences • Practice-based and practitioner research oriented towards utilization and transformation of knowledge and research results into innovation, mainly on the regional level. • It is customer driven and close to the market, responding to requests from enterprises (mainly SME’s) and other social organizations with product and customer-oriented research for the short and medium term. • It should be relevant for the quality of professional education, for curriculum innovation and the professionalization of the teaching faculty.
Views of UAS faculty in NL • Research contributes to innovation of professional practice • Research reinforces the dialogue with business and the professional field • Research benefits teaching and curricular development • Research at UAS is different in nature from university research Higher faculty ranks (strongly) agree more (70-90%) than lower faculty ranks (65-77%)
Relative research time spent by higher and lower ranks and institutional type, (7 countries) • Higher university ranks are homogenous • Lower University ranks high in Norway, Finland, Germany • UAS sector more varied: Norway and Portugal close to university • UAS lower ranks spent more time on reseach in Norway; higher ranks more in NL
Pressures to pull teaching and research more apart in research universities • Financial support for research separated from funding of teaching • Separate organisation of teaching and research: concentration of research in research institutes, centers, graduate schools • Bologna process of two phases creates divide between teaching at BA and MA level Previous research: synergy between teaching and research increases with level of education Separation of teaching and research tasks possible? desirable?
Percent of respondents agreeing with the statement: ‘teaching and research are hardly compatible with each other’by teaching time in BA and MA programs (universities) % • Incompatibility increases in the extent to which the teaching proportion in BA programs increases • For Masters it is the reverse: disagreement with the statement relates with a higher teaching time in masters programs.
Per cent of respondents agreeing with the statement: ‘Your research activities reinforce your teaching’by teaching time in BA and MA programs (universities) % • The link between teaching and research is stronger when the proportion of teaching at masters’ level is larger. • Added value of productive researchers in BA programs is the lowest. • Gap between frontier knowledge and teachable codified knowledge
Diversity on the personal level: men and women in Dutch higher education
Gender bias • Functional distinctions between teaching and research. Do women carry a disproportionate share of teaching loads? • Are women more committed to teaching/ do they have a preference for teaching over research? • Those who spend more time on teaching have lower levels of job satisfaction? However: • CAP data reveal that: • Male and female hardly differ in their preferences for research or teaching • Male and female hardly differ in the proportion of total working hours devoted to teaching and research
Relationship between teaching time and satisfactionby gender and rank
Conclusions • In binary systems research and teaching institutions less demarcated. More diverse patterns emerge • More flexibility of teaching and research tasks at BA and MA level (new career trajectories on the basis of teaching qualifications • Teaching and research dimension as such does not account for gender differences. Current national policies on HE: • Emphasis on international rankings/ flagship universities • Priority research areas (Top sectors) /Skolkovo Innovation Center This should not be detrimental to the UAS given their important contribution in the national research agenda (translating research into practice)