scholarly journals What’s happening with women leaders in higher education: Understanding careers for women in the higher education sector of Pakistan

Author(s):  
Nishat Riaz ◽  
Shahida Sultan ◽  
Nida Dossa ◽  
Faisal Aftab

Despite funding opportunities to PhDs and Post-Docs, as well as various faculty recruitment programmes, there are still a number of issues facing academics in Pakistan, especially in building a successful and productive academic career. According to HEC Medium-Term Development Framework II, the HEC is still facing ‘low quality and lack of employability of college and private graduates; lack of appropriately qualified high quality research faculty for universities and lack of capacity for continuous faculty and staff development’. This study aims to provide evidence to support the development of informed strategies for career development for academics in Pakistani Higher Education Institutions, in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC). This paper delineates key findings and suggests strategies to promote academic careers and scholarship among faculty of HEIs with a specific focus on promoting women.   Keywords: Academic careers, higher education, women leadership, mentoring, gender issues.

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Teeter ◽  
Nancy Fenton ◽  
Karen Nicholson ◽  
Terry Flynn ◽  
Joseph Kim ◽  
...  

Communities of practice are becoming more widespread within higher education, yet little research has explored how these social learning networks can enhance faculty development. The focus of this paper is to describe the first-year experience of a community of practice initiative at McMaster University that was designed to engage groups of faculty, staff, and students to share ideas and foster learning. Four communities were initiated: Teaching with Technology, Teaching Professors, Pedagogy, and First Year Instructors, all of which provided a forum of safety and support, encouraging new ideas and risk taking that in turn contributed to individual and collective learning. Though in its early days, we consider communities of practice an innovative way to regenerate current learning and surface teaching practices that can build dynamic academic communities to foster faculty and staff development. Communities of practice have enabled us to reach beyond formal structures (e.g., classrooms) to create connections amongst people from different disciplinary boundaries that generate learning and foster development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Joseph C. Hermanowicz

The present work represents an extrapolation of W.I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki’s study, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, on behalf of the development of sociological theory. The article focuses on careers and institutions in higher education. The curriculum vitae serves as the novel human document by which to investigate both social and personal change. Academic careers are studied by virtue of their objective and subjective dimensions. Objectively, the institution of education is revealed through the shifting expectations that govern work in academia in specific historical times (indicated by the cohort in which academics earned their Ph.D.s) and in specific socially bound places (indicated by the type of university in which academics work). Major social change in education is likely to spell personal change for the way in which people subjectively experience the contemporary academic career. The data come from U.S.-based academics; parallel transformational changes are observable globally. The global change discussed in the work centres on the diffusion and institutionalization of the research role. The sources and consequences of this change are problematic. Akin to Thomas and Znaniecki’s larger analytic aims, patterns of change are used inductively to formulate theory: the paper culminates by postulating a theory of increasing tendencies in the way knowledge is produced in higher education institutions throughout the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1509-1514
Author(s):  
David Matsepe ◽  
Mugwena Maluleke

Using qualitative interviews and document analysis, that is, national and institutional policies, the study is embedded on the assumption that the purpose of the academic career is knowledge creation, dissemination, and the acquisition and promotion of high-level skills that contribute to scholarship and the support of the economy of knowledge. This implies that academics create knowledge in pursuit of the academic career to develop scholarship. Given the identity-subjectivity-agency theory, the study set out to examine the global and local contexts or dynamics that affect the academic career in constructing academic identity and how they apply to the South African higher education landscape. We argue that the legacy of apartheid affected academic careers differently as higher education institutions were divided, separated, and segregated along racial lines with different purposes. They shaped the roles of academics in different ways, with some enjoying academic freedom and autonomy while some are operating as public servants. Moreover, university academic staff should be encouraged and enabled to advance knowledge. Thus, the study recognizes the need for high-level skills and knowledge creation, which require greater attention to the nature of academic careers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-162

Academic career-making in the era of globalizing knowledge and a globalized knowledge enterprise is not only an individual undertaking but also a social process. It impacts individual academicians as they meet requirements, secure resources, find opportunities, follow procedures, and build structures to make their careers. It has consequences for society as it establishes institutions, opens markets, provides media, creates values, and enforces rules to connect individual academicians and their products to the larger social system. This paper explores academic careers, and career-making as knowledge and the knowledge enterprise become globally hegemonic. Specifically, it examines how academic career-making makes demands on individuals in the form of brainwashing, emotion rechanneling, life-simplifying, and social isolation. It also investigates how academic careers place constraints over individuality by way of socialization, massing, fashion, and lifestyle. Received 16th October2018; Revised 10th April 2019; Accepted 20th April 2019


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan O’Sullivan ◽  
Yvette Watt ◽  
Fiona Probyn-Rapsey

AbstractDeveloping an academic career can be exciting, rewarding and stimulating. It can also be challenging, disheartening, and highly insecure. Results from a survey of Animal Studies (AS) scholars identifies reasons why pursuing a career in AS might generate additional challenges, over and above those experienced by academics generally. For example, 44 percent of respondents stated that in their view, undertaking research in AS “creates challenges for an academic career.” This is compared to just 16 percent who thought that it is an advantage. Yet despite the challenges, there is much that is positive about AS. Participants described being in “dialogue with clever colleagues,” viewed their work as “totally engaging,” and reported feeling “morally useful.” This in turn affords AS scholars an authenticity that may be of long-term benefit in the competitive and constantly transforming world of higher education.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Barbara E. Ainsworth

This paper provides reflections on my academic career in kinesiology and public health from an autobiographical perspective. Themes include the importance of movement and physical activity in my development and career choices, a recognition of the importance of physical activity for health outcomes, experiences in studying physical activity in a public health framework, and observations on kinesiology in higher education. I also reflect on the importance of the physical education and physical activity environment that brought me a sense of belonging, enjoyment, and accomplishment that has lasted throughout my career. As in sports and professional activities, I have tried my best and never given up until I felt the task was done.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fathima Azra Fazal ◽  
Rupak Chakravarty

Purpose This paper aims to discuss with an introductory narrative on the models and its role in the context of librarianship. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the relationship between researcher development and library research support. The authors observed the interconnectedness of the two concepts and how this should be studied more with respect to librarianship. Five major higher education and researcher development–related models are examined to assess which would be more suited for library’s research support activities. Accordingly, Prof Linda Evans’ conceptual researcher development model, the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF), the Research Skill Development Framework, Society of College, National and University Libraries Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model and Association of College and Research Libraries’ Standards for Libraries in Higher Education were reviewed. Review and examination of the frameworks, along with relevant literature on the topic, were examined. Findings The authors found that the Vitae RDF seemed most ideal, as it was comprehensive and detailed in presentation and could be used not just by the academic staff but also by librarians and researchers to their benefit. Research limitations/implications Further studies and thorough review of recent educational and library-related frameworks and models are required from the lens of library research support. Practical implications Application of frameworks needs to be actively adopted by librarians. Originality/value There are few studies that have examined researcher development and research support in librarianship in conjunction. The present study has aimed to bridge this gap.


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