Higher Education Faculty Characteristics and Trends in the United States and Europe

Education ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liudvika Leišytė ◽  
Nadine Zeeman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Higher Education Governance ◽  
Tenure Track ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Higher Education Faculty ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Education Governance ◽  
Faculty Positions

The characteristics of higher education faculty described in the literature include gender, disciplinary affiliation, institutional affiliation, type of contract, and rank. This bibliography will focus on the literature characterizing the faculty in these categories. Specific attention will be paid to the faculty situation in the United States and in Europe, including country cases within Europe. The concentration on the United States and Europe provides interesting insights, as the characteristics of faculty are influenced by the higher education governance model in place. On both sides of the Atlantic, the governance arrangements and working conditions differ to some extent, and this determines the types of faculty positions and their characteristics. In the United States the higher education system is characterized by a departmental model, whereas in most European countries a chair model can be observed in academia. Both employment contracts and the division of labor are influenced by the higher education governance system in place. Faculty employment contracts can take various forms and be permanent or temporary. In the US system, tenure-track faculty positions have been common, where tenure is achieved based on performance within the same institution. In European systems traditionally, faculty and especially professors have been civil servants and had to win an open competition to get the position. Further, variations of contracts appear, as faculty can either have a part-time or full-time position. Faculty are involved in teaching and research, and more recently in service and knowledge commercialization. These employment contracts and faculty activities have changed over time due to changes in higher education governance systems, including the increasing massification, marketization, and privatization of higher education. Studying higher education faculty change over time, we observe a number of trends. An increasing percentage of faculty in the United States are on non-tenure-track appointments with teaching-only responsibilities. In Europe, precarious faculty positions are also on the rise across a number of higher education systems. Overall, a diversification of faculty roles and activities, as well as intensification of work, can be observed.

A Case Study of Transformational Teaching Experiences of Higher Education Faculty in the United States

2014 ◽  
pp. 111-139
Author(s):  
Alex Kumi-Yeboah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Higher Education Faculty ◽  
Teaching Experiences ◽  
Transformational Teaching

This chapter is a study of teacher experience amongst higher education faculty in the United States, drawing on a theoretical framework shaped by Mezirow's transformative learning theory, which first emerged in the late 1970s and has seen subsequent adaptations. Mixed-method research was used to analyze data on the transformational teaching experiences of faculty and examine the narratives of teacher experience based on this transformative learning theory framework. Data collected from 90 higher education faculty members were analyzed with regard to their transformational teaching experiences. Results indicate that the majority of faculty experienced transformational teaching. Mentoring, dialogue, critical reflection, personal reflection, scholarship, and research emerged as the educational factors shaping these experiences while relocation or movement, life changes, and other cultural influences were revealed as the non-educational factors. In addition to this, the chapter entails discussion of the theoretical framework of transformative learning as it applies to this research.

scholarly journals A Study Of Multiple Intelligences And Higher Education Faculty In The United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Denise Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Multiple Intelligences ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Higher Education Faculty ◽  
The Impact

This quantitative research study discovered and identified the degree of relationships between the domains of multiple intelligences: (a) interpersonal, (b) intrapersonal, and (c) linguistic intelligences, and (d) leadership and demographic characteristics such as, (a) age, (b) gender and (c) ethnicity among higher education faculty. Using a survey instrument, primary data was collected from a sample of 205 faculty members within the United States. Furthermore, the researcher examined and analyzed certain aspects of the field of leadership, and the impact Gardner’s multiple intelligences may or may not have on leadership selection, training and development based on the results obtained. This paper provides a summary of the study and its results along with possible implications and recommendations for administrators, managers and leaders in academia.

A Case Study of Transformational Teaching Experiences of Higher Education Faculty in the United States

2018 ◽  
pp. 1367-1388
Author(s):  
Alex Kumi-Yeboah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Higher Education Faculty ◽  
Teaching Experiences ◽  
Transformational Teaching

This chapter is a study of teacher experience amongst higher education faculty in the United States, drawing on a theoretical framework shaped by Mezirow's transformative learning theory, which first emerged in the late 1970s and has seen subsequent adaptations. Mixed-method research was used to analyze data on the transformational teaching experiences of faculty and examine the narratives of teacher experience based on this transformative learning theory framework. Data collected from 90 higher education faculty members were analyzed with regard to their transformational teaching experiences. Results indicate that the majority of faculty experienced transformational teaching. Mentoring, dialogue, critical reflection, personal reflection, scholarship, and research emerged as the educational factors shaping these experiences while relocation or movement, life changes, and other cultural influences were revealed as the non-educational factors. In addition to this, the chapter entails discussion of the theoretical framework of transformative learning as it applies to this research.

Adjuncts in Higher Education in the United States

Education ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Hecht ◽  
Isabel Balseiro ◽  
Daniel Maxey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Tenure Track ◽  
Advanced Degrees ◽  
International Graduate ◽  
Tier System

Although teaching remains the province of tenured and tenure-track professors in some elite colleges and universities in the United States, this arrangement is increasingly anomalous in many other institutions of higher learning. “Contingent professors” (here used interchangeably with the term “adjuncts”) refers to anyone teaching at the tertiary level who is not in the tenure stream. This entry refers principally to those with higher degrees who are paid by the course. The shift away from the tenure system may not have been as rapid as is often thought (it dates back at least some decades), but it is a sweeping change. Contingents now constitute a significant majority of academics. In 1969, over 78 percent of faculty were tenured or tenure-track; by 2009, that figure had declined to about 33 percent. Research faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows are not included in those figures; if they were, the overall representation of adjunct or contingent faculty in higher education would be considerably higher. Most contingent professors teach for a living; some may hope to land a tenure-track position. Others have full-time jobs and teach out of pleasure; yet others, having reached the end of their careers, prefer to teach at a more leisurely pace. Some do it for a short time, whereas others make a lifelong career of it. A considerable portion of non-tenured teachers in the United States are international graduate students or postdoctoral scholars, many of whom have financial, immigration, and communication challenges. What these educators have in common is that their jobs are insecure and can be terminated without review or explanation. The pay is low, sometimes close to minimum wage if examined on an hourly basis; more often than not, those paid by the course receive no benefits. Once hailed as the road to equality, higher education is now imparted in a context of stark inequity—a two-tier system in which some have a job for life, and others can be dismissed at any time. When the policy of paying faculty by the course is defended by institutional leaders, it is often with reference to the purported goal of achieving a certain nimbleness in matching the workforce with changing enrollments, the need to balance budgets, and an alleged surplus of scholars with advanced degrees. However, the inequity in pay, benefits, and working conditions is so stark that discussion of adjuncts has moved beyond the mere denunciation of their working conditions to an increased interest in improving those conditions. Nevertheless, the status of adjuncts raises many questions. How does this policy affect student learning? What does it mean that most professors now lack traditional academic protections of freedom of speech? Is it acceptable that the majority of academics are excluded from institutional decisionmaking while also lacking any clear path toward advancement on the job? Are unions addressing the needs of adjunct professors?

scholarly journals Strategies for Managing Pharmacy Experiential Education During COVID-19

2020 ◽  
pp. 089719002097773
Author(s):  
Cynthia Moreau ◽  
Stacey Maravent ◽  
Genevieve M. Hale ◽  
Tina Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Experiential Education ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Outpatient Clinics ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Online Format ◽  
Difficult Times

In recent months, the coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected almost every industry in the United States, including health care and higher education. Faculty and students at colleges and schools of pharmacy nationwide have needed to quickly adapt as the delivery of curricula has shifted to primarily online format. Additionally, experiential rotations have been significantly affected as practice settings such as hospitals and outpatient clinics have limited students’ interactions with patients or stopped allowing students on-site altogether. Our commentary will explore strategies that have been employed by experiential education coordinators and pharmacy preceptors from various settings to navigate experiential education during these difficult times while ensuring students successfully meet requirements for graduation. These will include descriptions of transitioning advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) to virtual format, how to safely involve students in the care of COVID-19 patients, and managing scheduling issues.

Educational Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu - A Profile

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siluvai Raja
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Education System ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World

Education has been considered as an indispensable asset of every individual, community and nation today. Indias higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States (World Bank). Tamil Nadu occupies the first place in terms of possession of higher educational institutions in the private sector in the country with over 46 percent(27) universities, 94 percent(464) professional colleges and 65 percent(383) arts and science colleges(2011). Studies to understand the profile of the entrepreneurs providing higher education either in India or Tamil Nadu were hardly available. This paper attempts to map the demographic profile of the entrepreneurs providing higher education in Arts and Science colleges in Tamil Nadu through an empirical analysis, carried out among 25 entrepreneurs spread across the state. This paper presents a summary of major inferences of the analysis.

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