As the nature of education generally, and higher education in particular, changes irrevocably, it is crucial to understand the informed opinions of those closest to the institutions of learning. This book, based on a survey of academics in 19 nations and conducted by leading global scholars, is a thorough sounding of the attitudes of academics to their working environment. As the post-WWII liberal consensus crumbles, higher education is increasingly viewed as a private and personal investment in individual social mobility rather than as a public good and, "ipso facto," a responsibility of public authorities. The incursion of corporate culture into academe, with its 'stakeholders', 'performance pay' and obsession with 'competitiveness' is a matter of bitter debate, with some arguing that short-termism is obviating epoch-making research which by definition requires patience and persistence in the face of the risk of failure.

This book highlights these and many other key issues facing the academic profession in the US and around the world at the beginning of the 21st century and examines the issues from the perspective of those who are at the front line of change. This group has numerous concerns, not least in the US, where government priorities are shifting with growing budget pressures to core activities such as basic education, health and welfare. Drawing too on comparable surveys conducted in 1992, the book charts the actual contours of change as reflected in the opinions of academics. Critically, the volume explicitly compares and contrasts the situation of American academics with that of academics in other advanced and developing economies. Such an assessment is critical both for Americans to chart the future of their indigenous tertiary enterprise, but also for shaping the response of the nations around the world who contemplate applying the American model to their own national systems.

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Over the past 70 years, the American university has become the global gold standard of excellence in research and graduate education. The unprecedented surge of federal research support of the post-World War II American university paralleled the steady strengthening of the American academic profession itself, which managed to attract the best and brightest educators from around the world while expanding the influence of the "faculty factor" throughout the academic realm. But in the past two decades, escalating costs and intensifying demands for efficiency have resulted in a wholesale reshaping of the academic workforce, one marked by skyrocketing numbers of contingent faculty members. Extending Jack H. Schuster and Martin J. Finkelstein's richly detailed classic The American Faculty: The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers, this important book documents the transformation of the American faculty-historically the leading global source of Nobel laureates and innovation-into a diversified and internally stratified professional workforce. Drawing on heretofore unpublished data, the book provides the most comprehensive contemporary depiction of the changing nature of academic work and what it means to be a college or university faculty member in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The rare higher education study to incorporate multinational perspectives by comparing the status and prospects of American faculty to teachers in the major developing economies of Europe and East Asia, The Faculty Factor also explores the redistribution of academic work and the ever-more diverse pathways for entering into, maneuvering through, and exiting from academic careers. Using the tools of sociology, anthropology, and demography, the book charts the impact of waves of technological change, mass globalization, and the severe financial constraints of the last decade to show the impact on the lives and careers of those who teach in higher education. The authors propose strategic policy recommendations to extend the strengths of American higher education to retain leadership in the global economy. Written for professors, adjuncts, graduate students, and academic, political, business, and not-for-profit leaders, this data-rich study offers a balanced assessment of the risks and opportunities posed for the American faculty by economic, market-driven forces beyond their control.

Instructional technology and distance learning have changed the meaning of attending college. Today's students can now learn through various forms of electronic communications media, including radio, television, the computer, and the Internet. But are the costs outweighing the benefits? This new addition to the Series on Higher Education, analyzes and assesses the costs of information technology for teaching and learning in higher education. Containing 15 essays that identify the positive and negative cost implications of information technology, this timely and detailed resource also explores how the increased use of information technology is transforming higher education, the different ways it can be used to teach different kinds of students, and the impact this increased spending has on college budgets.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

What makes a professor? The answer depends on where in the world you are. Winner of the CIHE Award for Significant Research on International Higher Education by the Association for the Study of Higher Education In the twenty-first century, universities worldwide have found themselves thrust into a great "brain race" as nations, both developed and developing, seek to enhance their place in the global knowledge economy. As the concept of the de-localized university-one that has radically expanded, perhaps even beyond national borders-grows, competing nations have begun reshaping aspects of their national systems to accommodate global standards and metrics. In Professorial Pathways, Martin J. Finkelstein and Glen A. Jones consider how academic careers vary in countries that are fundamentally different in their organization and dynamics. Building on 25 years of scholarship, the book confronts major questions: What can we learn from the experience of other nations as they seek to balance the seemingly contradictory imperatives of expanding access and ensuring global competitiveness? What are the implications of this rapidly changing policy environment for the health of the academic professions on which university teaching and scholarship depends? And how can we advance the comparative study of higher education and, in particular, of the academic profession? The volume brings together detailed case studies of the latest-and ever-changing-educational developments in ten countries across Europe (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia), Asia (China, India, Japan), North America (United States, Canada), and South America (Brazil). Essays written by respected scholars in the field identify the major structural features of national higher education systems and academic markets that directly shape academic work and careers. Professorial Pathways will be of interest to anyone who toils in the vineyards of comparative and international higher education. Contributors: Elizabeth Balbachevsky, Martin J. Finkelstein, N. Jayaram, Glen A. Jones, Barbara M. Kehm, Dan Mao, Christine Musselin, Peter Scott, Fengqiao Yan, Akiyoshi Yonezawa, Maria Yudkevich

Higher education is becoming destabilized in the face of extraordinarily rapid change. The composition of the academy's most valuable asset -- the faculty -- and the essential nature of faculty work are being transformed. Jack H. Schuster and Martin J. Finkelstein describe the transformation of the American faculty in the most extensive and ambitious analysis of the American academic profession undertaken in a generation. This volume depicts the scope and depth of the transformation, combining empirical data drawn from three decades of national higher education surveys. At once startling and disturbing, The American Faculty provides the context for interpreting these developments as part of a larger structural evolution of the U.S. higher education system.

"The American Faculty is destined to be a classic... The most thorough and thoughtful analysis of its topic in many years." -- Journal of Education Planning and Administration

"A significant resource for data on the American professoriate." -- Academe

"This book and its extensive research appendices are a must-read for scholars who study the academic profession... It will be important for provosts, deans, department chairs, and those who have previously been involved in the 'faculty roles and rewards' movement to read this book and interpret its trends and implications for their own campuses and plans for faculty hiring, professional development, and reward systems." -- Review of Higher Education

"Practitioners and researchers looking for a comprehensive overview of the faculty life with an emphasis on changes in the last 40 years will be well served by reading The American Faculty." -- Journal of College StudentDevelopment

"An impressive piece of work... key reading for anyone interested in the state of academic work." -- Studies in Higher Education

Jack H. Schuster is a professor of education and public policy at Claremont Graduate University. Martin J. Finkelstein is a professor of higher education at Seton Hall University.

As the nature of education generally, and higher education in particular, changes irrevocably, it is crucial to understand the informed opinions of those closest to the institutions of learning. This book, based on a survey of academics in 19 nations and conducted by leading global scholars, is a thorough sounding of the attitudes of academics to their working environment. As the post-WWII liberal consensus crumbles, higher education is increasingly viewed as a private and personal investment in individual social mobility rather than as a public good and, "ipso facto," a responsibility of public authorities. The incursion of corporate culture into academe, with its stakeholders, performance pay and obsession with competitiveness is a matter of bitter debate, with some arguing that short-termism is obviating epoch-making research which by definition requires patience and persistence in the face of the risk of failure.

This book highlights these and many other key issues facing the academic profession in the US and around the world at the beginning of the 21st century and examines the issues from the perspective of those who are at the front line of change. This group has numerous concerns, not least in the US, where government priorities are shifting with growing budget pressures to core activities such as basic education, health and welfare. Drawing too on comparable surveys conducted in 1992, the book charts the actual contours of change as reflected in the opinions of academics. Critically, the volume explicitly compares and contrasts the situation of American academics with that of academics in other advanced and developing economies. Such an assessment is critical both for Americans to chart the future of their indigenous tertiary enterprise, but also for shaping the response of the nations around the world who contemplate applying the American model to their own national systems.

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