scholarly journals Just a Matter of Time? Women’s Career Advancement in Neo-Liberal Academia. An Analysis of Recruitment Trends in Italian Universities

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Camilla Gaiaschi ◽  
Rosy Musumeci
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
The Road ◽  
Demographic Dynamics ◽  
Career Structure

Recently, the Italian higher education system has experienced two profound changes: the strong feminization of its academic staff and the implementation of market-based reforms aimed at fostering cost efficiency and economic productivity. Such reforms include the reshaping of the academic career ladder envisaged by the last university reform, the so called Gelmini reform (law 240/2010), and the adoption of a performance-based funding system. Both elements occurred in parallel with a strong cut in turnover. By accessing unique data on recruitment covering the last two decades, which were provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research’s statistical office, this study aims at investigating these changes from a gendered perspective. More specifically, it firstly aims at analyzing if the feminization of the academic staff is due to an effective improvement of gender equality in recruitment or, rather, to demographic dynamics; secondly, it investigates to what extent the recent neo-liberal transformations, and more specifically the reshaping of the career structure combined with the limitations on hiring, has had any implications in terms of women’s recruitment and advancement. The results suggest that the road to gender equality is extremely slow and non-linear. The introduction, with the Gelmini reform, of the new fixed-term assistant professor has tightened female access to the tenure track. Moreover, female recruitment remained substantially unchanged over the period among associate and full professors, thus suggesting that the feminization of the academic staff is not due to an effective improvement of gender equality in recruitment, but also to demographic dynamics, such as the retirement of men who are concentrated in the older cohorts.

scholarly journals Academicians in Turkey: An Evaluation of Current Status of Academic Staff in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertan Akyol ◽  
Filiz Tanrısevdi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education System ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Turkish Republic ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Turkish Higher Education ◽  
The Status

The history of Turkish higher education dates back to Turkish nations of 1000 years ago. The beginning of higher education institutions are accepted as madrasahs that continue its existence during the Ottoman period. After the foundation of the Turkish republic, rapid changes and developments have been observed in the higher education like in all fields. Since this period of time, Turkish higher education institutions have been grouped in two categories, which are universities producing information-knowledge and vocational schools training people oriented with employment. Considering the both types of these institutions, the aim of Turkish higher education system is to sustain manpower considering the needs of the nation and the public; provide education and training facilities based on the secondary education; maintain the quality and quantity of scientific researches under the control of universities. In this context, the purpose of this study is to present the certain dimensions of Turkish higher education system, which are academicianship, current facts related to academicianship, the stages in academic career, achievements in academy and the status of women academicians in Turkey. Related documents have been analyzed and the current status of Turkish higher education system has been discussed by concluding the results.

scholarly journals Remarks on 40+ Years of Mechanical Engineering Teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-39
Author(s):  
Paulo De Castro
Keyword(s):  
Financial Stability ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Full Professor ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
The Uk

Having obtained my licenciatura in Mechanical Engineering in 1973, I started an MSc in Applied Mechanics at Imperial College London the year after the carnation revolution in Portugal. Later, I prepared my PhD at Cranfield Institute of Technology (now Cranfield University). After 5 years in the UK, I returned to Porto with my MSc and PhD degrees to start an appointment as assistant professor at FEUP in 1980. Portugal was then struggling with a radical change of circumstances: from a country with overseas colonies, impoverished by a dictatorship and wars against liberation movements in Africa, to a European country and democracy with a dramatic lack of infrastructure. Research was certainly not a priority! In 1986 Portugal joined the European Communities, and in 1999 was one of the initial member countries adopting the Euro. Among other setbacks, bad choices of priorities (an excessive emphasis on services with neglect of manufacturing, or heavy investment in motorways with complete neglect of railways) marked the path until todays’ situation. Nevertheless, attention dedicated to scientific and technical research grew steadily in the past decades; and 2020 started with the country displaying good prospects as regards financial stability and renewed interest for manufacturing and exports. Having moved from assistant professor to full professor, with sabbaticals and visiting professorships in several countries, and participation in juries for selection of academic staff in many institutions, I had the possibility of witnessing the transformations in the engineering education scene in Portugal and elsewhere. The communication will discuss lessons learned throughout my 40+ years academic career, put in the context of a highly diversified set of external circumstances.

scholarly journals Transforming finnish higher education: institutional mergers and conflicting academic identities

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jani Ursin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education System ◽  
Structural Development ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Academic Identities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Institutional Mergers ◽  
Finnish Higher Education

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"> </p><p class="RESUMENCURSIVA">As in many other European countries also Finnish higher education system has witnessed several reforms over the past decade many of which originate in efforts to make more competitive and affordable higher education system. The aim of this paper is to describe the changes and institutional mergers in particular that have taken place in Finnish higher education and explore what kind of academic identities are constructed amid changes in Finnish higher education. The paper shows that the mergers followed the objectives set by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for the structural development of the higher education system and that the creation of a joint culture for merged institutions was important yet challenging. The paper also argues that due to these external changes in Finnish higher education there is a tendency to move from a traditional notion of an academic toward more hybrid and dynamic understanding of what it is being an academic in the 21st century.</p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"><br /></span></p>

scholarly journals Job Satisfaction as a Determinant of Effective Performance on Academic Staff in Selected Public and Private Universities in Mongolia

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-145
Author(s):  
Bayasgalan Tsogtsuren
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Private Universities ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
University Professors ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Empirical Survey ◽  
Effective Performance ◽  
Education Culture

The aim of this study is to analyze the requirements for effective performance of employees in higher educational institutions of Mongolia. This paper proposed the use of organizational OCTAPACE /Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Authenticity, Pro-active, Autonomy, Collaboration; Experimentation/culture and workplace structure models evaluate job satisfaction and commitment of academic staff. An organizational OCTAPACE culture model is a fairly new concept and experience in Mongolia. This model has been studied and is wellknown in India, Malaysia and western countries. In Mongolia the subject of study has been developed at a low level. This study proposed that an employee' job satisfaction and commitment influence the effective performance of the overall educational institution. Data analysis results indicated that OCTAPACE culture influences job satisfaction and commitment, workplace structure (support, supervisor support) as well as significantly influencing on the job satisfaction and commitment. Based on the collected data, job satisfaction and organizational commitment significantly influence job performance. Mongolia has 17 public and 94 private universities (Mongolian ministry of education, culture and science website). In terms of participants in this study, a theoretical and empirical survey conducted in 160 Mongolian public and in 143 private universities including university professors. Data was estimated by SPSS 21 and Smart PLS 2.0 statistic programs.

scholarly journals ADVERSITY ENCOUNTERED ON THE ROAD TO GENDER DIVERSITY – WOMEN AND MEN IN HIGH BUSINESS POSITIONS AND IN SCIENTIFIC DOMAINS

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
The Road ◽  
Gender Balance ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
On The Road

The idea for this Special Issue actually originated during a conference devoted to gender equality in business settings: “It’s complicated. Gender balance in leadership” organized in 2018 by Diversity Hub, an organization focused on Diversity and Inclusion. Inspired by Professor Katarzyna Leszczyńska (AGH University of Science and Technology) and supported by Dr Tomasz Dąbrowski (Diversity Hub) the idea of an entire issue of an academic journal devoted to research and case studies on gender equality in science and business came to life. We opened the journal to sociologists, psychologists, cultural studies researchers, anthropologists, journalists and practitioners to share with us their work in this area. We received a broad variety of articles that tackled the notion from different perspectives and chose five articles that in our opinion provide the most interesting and professional contribution to the topic of gender representation in STEM and high business positions.

scholarly journals Threats and vulnerabilities of the academic profession vs university personnel potential development

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 440-450
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Lobova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Profession ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
University Personnel ◽  
Scientific Periodical ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
The University

The formation and development of the university's personnel potential is one of the conditions for joining the project to support higher education organizations announced by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in June 2020. The project is called the Strategic Academic Leadership Program. The fulfillment of this condition cannot be carried out without overcoming the limitations and effective responses to the challenges that are associated with the academic profession. The article is a review. Its purpose is to study threats and barriers to the development of the university’s personnel potential. It is shown that as internal threats one should consider the high stressfulness of faculty activities, violation of their personal safety and low loyalty; the barrier is the vulnerability of the academic profession. The research focuses on the current staff of Russian universities. The main research methods are analysis and synthesis of relevant scientific periodical literature. The main result of the study is the position that the presence of threats and vulnerabilities in the academic profession entails consequences that have a devastating effect not only on the personality of the teacher, the university, the academic community, but also on the higher education system as a whole, catalyze the departure of teachers from the academic profession, and prevent the preservation of and the development of the university personnel potential, ensuring the competitiveness and attractiveness of the university.

scholarly journals Quotas and Gender Competence: Independent or Complementary Approaches to Gender Equality?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Wroblewski
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Paradoxical Situation ◽  
Short Period ◽  
And Gender

Austrian gender equality policy in higher education is characterized by the successful implementation of a comprehensive set of gender equality policies and persistent gender imbalances. After the introduction of a legal quota for university bodies, for instance, female representation in decision-making bodies increased significantly within a short period of time. However, this did not lead to a cultural change or the abolishment of barriers to women’s careers. Research has attributed this paradoxical situation to a lack of reflexivity because the current gender equality policies do not force institutions or individuals to challenge traditional practices, which are perceived to be merit-based and therefore gender neutral. To overcome this paradox, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research launched a policy process aimed at strengthening gender competence in all higher education processes—management, administration, teaching, and research. This paper provides a critical discussion of the Austrian quota regulation and its implementation. It also introduces the concept of gender competence and outlines the underlying assumptions as to why the new policy is expected to contribute to change. Following a critical reflection on these assumptions, the paper also discusses how existing steering instruments have to be adapted to support individual and institutional reflexivity.

scholarly journals Menn, maskuliniteter og faghierarkier

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-74
Author(s):  
Lotta Snickare ◽  
Øystein Gullvåg Holter ◽  
Knut Liestøl
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Masculine Norms ◽  
Informal Communities ◽  
University Of Oslo ◽  
The University

Abstract: Men, Masculinities and Professional Hierarchies Research on gender equality in academia only addresses men’s experiences to a limited extent, and the significance of masculine norms is also poorly elucidated. In this chapter, we present our results on the effects of male dominance in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. We first discuss whether it is an advantage to be a man at the faculty. The simple answer, based on our data, is “yes”. However, although we could not identify a specific “male” pattern of problems, a significant proportion of men experience problems – some feel “as affected as women” and oppose specific measures for women. There are also indications of informal communities of men, a poorly-considered majority position, the notion that an academic career is incompatible with family and caregiving – not just for women, but for men too – and tendencies toward an unyielding connection between men, masculinity and professional hierarchies.

scholarly journals Impact of Perceived Academic Advisor Support on Academic Motivation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Li Sun ◽  
Ning Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Autonomy Support ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Academic Advisor ◽  
Student Autonomy ◽  
Significant Negative Impact

Improving the credit system is a new requirement of the Ministry of Education of China. The academic advisor system is an essential part of the credit system management and plays an important role in the planning and guidance of students’ academic career. Therefore, this paper studies the influence of students’ perception of academic advisor support on academic motivation. It surveyed 455 undergraduates from universities and colleges in Henan Province that implemented the academic advisor system, and found that students have a high degree of academic motivation. The main results of the research are as follows: 1) Freshmen’s perception of academic advisor support is higher than that of senior students; 2) Perceived autonomy support and engagement support have a significantly positive impact on intrinsic academic motivation; 3) Perceived opportunity support has a significantly positive impact on extrinsic academic motivation; 4) Perceived relationships support has a significant negative impact on amotivation. This research can help higher education workers to value student autonomy in learning, actively communicate with students, and provide resource support for the realization of student goals.

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