scholarly journals The Role of Contexts in the Construction of Academic Identity in Selected South African Universities

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1509-1514
Author(s):  
David Matsepe ◽  
Mugwena Maluleke
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
High Level

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.

scholarly journals How Much is a Full Professor Worth? The Challenge of Attracting the Best Talent

2015 ◽  
pp. 15-16
Author(s):  
Marcelo Knobel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Career Development ◽  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Education System ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
The State ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Full Professor ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Higher Education System

There are many factors that motivate the pursuit of an academic career, including academic freedom, prestige, stability, curiosity, among others. However, salary is also key to the future career choices of young talent. In the State of São Paulo, in Brazil, the salary of all public servants is currently tied to the salary of the governor, that, for political reasons, is kept at a rather low value. This fact is already having an effect on thousands of faculty members in the higher education system of the State. In this paper, I discuss how this salary limitation can influence the decision of young talent to follow an academic career and, put at risk a rather well developed higher education system. Furthermore, I discuss this issue in a broader context of strong regulation, a lack of competitiveness to support career development, and how this all undermines the commitment and morale of qualified professors.

The Development and Establishment of Technology in South Africa

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
N.P. du Preez ◽  
P. van Eldik ◽  
M. Möhr ◽  
H.H. van der Watt
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Importance Rating ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Diffusion Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
High Level ◽  
South African Higher Education

In a two-part analysis (Part 2 follows on pp 27–31), the authors discuss the key results of a South African project conducted during 1996 which focused on the factors relating to the development and establishment of technology in a country. The study investigated through a detailed questionnaire survey and a literature survey the various factors that promote the development and establishment of technology by comparing their perceived importance with the actual role they currently play in South Africa. This paper, Part 1, concentrates on the role of higher education. The importance of academic institutions in supplying high-level human resources was rated very highly (90.47%) but the role it is currently playing in reality was rated at 52.8%. Closely connected with this, the availability of high-level skilled technological people was given an importance of 89% while the current reality was rated at only 43%. This clearly shows that the South African higher education system is performing poorly in addressing these vital needs. The availability of entrepreneurs with innovative and creative skills to participate in the development and diffusion of technology was given an importance rating of 84.3% against a current situation of 42.2%, again indicating South Africa's weak performance. The results of the survey and the consequent recommendations are important to all developing countries with newly industrial economies.

scholarly journals Managing the academic talent void: Investigating factors in academic turnover and retention in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marguerite Theron ◽  
Nicolene Barkhuizen ◽  
Yvonne Du Plessis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
The South ◽  
Reliable Measure ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Retention Factors

Orientation: Globally, the demand for academic staff in higher education is expected to continue to increase. The South African situation is exacerbated by the so-called ‘retirement swell’ and turnover and retention problems; measurements to diagnose these factors remain limited.Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the factors that influence turnover and retention of academic and to validate the developed talent retention diagnostic tool for use in South African higher education institutions.Motivation for the study: Limited research currently exists on the retention factors of academic staff in the South African context.Research approach, design and method: Using an investigative quantitative research approach, the tool was administered to a convenience sample of academics (n = 153) in 13 higher education institutions.Main findings: The results showed an array of distinguishing turnover and retention factors and proved the tool to be a valid and reliable measure. Over half the respondents indicated slight to strong dissatisfaction with compensation and performance management practices. Significantly, 34% indicated that they considered exiting their academic institution, citing unhappiness about compensation, as the most likely reason, whilst 74.5% have previously looked for another job.Practical/managerial implications: The research highlights key areas (i.e. compensation, emotional recognition, a bonus structure that reflects employee contribution, performance management systems, mentorship and career development opportunities) that higher education should attend to if they want to retain their key and talented academic staff.Contribution/value-add: The results contribute to new knowledge on the factors that contribute to turnover and retention of academic staff and present a valid and reliable measure to assess these retention factors.

scholarly journals Looking over our shoulders: critical thinking and ontological insecurity in higher education

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Christine Jones
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Academic Role ◽  
Five Disciplines ◽  
The Face ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Australian Universities

This paper examines the changing landscape of higher education from the perspective of teaching academics. Critical thinking has been seen as one of the central facets of the academic identity and so this paper uses the notion of critical thinking as a lens through which to explore this changing identity. It argues that the professional identity of the academic is in a state of flux, which has caused uncertainty regarding the academic role, its freedoms and responsibilities. The particular focus here is on teaching and the changes occurring in this arena. The paper reports the findings of a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with academic staff across five disciplines from two Australian universities. In the modern university, the pressures of accountability to a range of stakeholders, both internal and external, are changing the face of university teaching.

scholarly journals Job embeddedness, organisational commitment and voluntary turnover of academic staff at a higher education institution in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-30
Author(s):  
Cebile Mensele ◽  
Melinde Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Voluntary Turnover ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Job Embeddedness ◽  
Normative Commitment ◽  
Organisational Commitment ◽  
Intention To Stay

Academic staff recruitment and retention remain a challenge in South Africa and internationally. Most academics at South African universities are ageing, with fewer younger people entering academia. The objectives of the study were to determine empirically whether job embeddedness and organisational commitment significantly predict voluntary turnover and whether people from different gender, race and age groups differ significantly in terms of these three variables. The measuring instruments used were the Job Embeddedness Scale (JES), the Organisational Commitment Scale (OCS) and the Voluntary Turnover Scale (VTS). A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used to collect data from a random sample of (N=102) full-time academic staff at a South African higher education institution in Gauteng. The findings showed that organisational fit, community links and normative commitment significantly and positively predicted the participants’ intention to stay at the institution. Female participants showed higher levels of organisational fit and sacrifice, hence a stronger intention to stay. White participants had stronger community links and fit, and the African participants had higher levels of normative commitment than the other race groups. The current study adds to the knowledge base on the turnover intentions of academic staff and makes recommendations for retention practices and possible future research.

scholarly journals Reflection on career choices in clinical neurosciences

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 2514183X2096836
Author(s):  
A Restellini ◽  
C Piguet
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Career Choices ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Medical Faculties ◽  
High Level ◽  
Medical Advances ◽  
Level Training

Medical faculties are responsible for high-level training, not only on clinical skills but also on scientific research and medical advances. There is an evident need to promote academic careers to ensure the continuity and improvement of top-notch health care. Even if Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest medical density per inhabitant, the lack of interest for academic careers has increased, resulting in difficulties to form clinician-scientists and ensure succession. In this article, we reflect on the challenges and the potential solutions in the training of an academic career.

An investigation into Dental Technology lecturers' discourses of academic identity formation within the emergence of Universities of Technology in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thobani Linton Gumbi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
South African ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
Dental Technology

Post-apartheid restructuring of the South African Higher Education system has brought about significant changes. Institutions of Higher Learning have implemented minor and major changes in their objectives, delivery of knowledge, functions, accreditations and overall outcomes (Du Pre 2006, Reddy 2006, Department of Education 1997). One of the more significant transitions within South Africa’s Higher Education landscape has been the conversion of technikons into universities of technology (UoTs) (Powell & McKenna 2006). This thesis investigates the discourses of academics within a university of technology, exploring their responses to and constructions of institutional shifts. The study has an ontological focus in that it is interested in the ‘being’ of Dental Technology academics. It is interested in the discursive constructions not only of themselves as academics, but also of their work in this changed institutional context. By conducting interviews with the Dental Technology academics lecturing in universities of technology in South Africa, it was the intention to explore these academics’ discourses on institutional shifts. Adopting discourse analysis as the primary method of data analysis enabled the exploration of how academics constructed the notion of academic identity, how they discursively constructed students and knowledge, as well as other core issues related to their work.

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