The Academic Profession and the Managerial University: An International Comparative Study from Japan

Traditionally, academics like to think that they further society by furthering their academic disciplines. The managerial university focuses on rationalization and efficiency, and believes in market mechanisms. These different viewpoints lie at the root of many conflicts. Moreover, one cannot see these issues in isolation. The logic of the managerial university reflects a shift from knowledge communities to knowledge enterprises. This conflicts with the logic of the academic profession, valuing academic autonomy and academic freedom. In the 2007 Changing Academic Profession survey, Japanese academics regarded the threats of the looming bureaucracy as almost as dangerous as did the academics surveyed in 1992 in the context of the Carnegie international comparative study on the academic profession, which was carried out in Europe and the US. This report intends to analyse the results of the CAP survey in order to compare the similarities and differences of academic staff’s reactions to the managerial university from an international perspective. More specifically, the focus will be on the following topics: (1) the role of knowledge and academic vision; (2) decision making; (3) the role of institutional missions and profiles; (4) the impact of incentives and sanctions; (5) supervisory mechanisms; and (6) cooperation.