The diversifying academic profession : the case of the Netherlands on institutional profiles, teaching and research, and professional careers

(1)

Egbert de Weert (CHEPS) International workshop “Academic Profession in Russia:

International and Comparative

The diversifying academic

profession: The case of NL

on institutional profiles,

teaching and research and

professional careers

(2)

Russia – the Netherlands in the golden

age (1698)

Czar Peter the Great (statue and

picture in Zaandam)

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Diversity in the academic profession

Looking at the fault lines between teaching and research at three levels:

 Level of institutional types and profiles  Programme level

 Personal level: the divide between men and women

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Diversity of institutional types

 Binary divide: Research universities versus professional (teaching) institutions: eg. Germany, Finland, Netherlands  More diversified: research institutes outside the universities:

France (national research centers); Russia (institutes of Academy of Science)

 Highly layered systems, including private HE institutions: USA, Japan, Russia

Governments to decide:

 which institutions ought to do what  define budget allocations

(5)

Distribution of working tasks of faculty

 Traditional division teaching (40%), research (40%) and administration (20%)

 Now more flexible patterns, no formal standards  Also teaching-only and research-only positions

 In Russia teaching load determined according to formal standards corresponding to rank and position. On average 8 hours per week research against 29 hours teaching (G. Androushchak & M.Yudkevich 2012).

(6)

Binary systems distinguishing

Research Universities and Universities

of Applied Sciences (UAS)

 Vertical degree level: sub-degree programs, bachelor, master, doctoral programs

 Academic versus vocational dimensions

 Distinction between research and teaching focused institutions

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Profile of research at Universities of

Applied Sciences

 Practice-based and practitioner research oriented towards

utilization and transformation of knowledge and research results into innovation, mainly on the regional level.

 It is customer driven and close to the market, responding to requests from enterprises (mainly SME’s) and other social

organizations with product and customer-oriented research for the short and medium term.

 It should be relevant for the quality of professional education, for curriculum innovation and the professionalization of the teaching faculty.

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Views of UAS faculty in NL

 Research contributes to innovation of professional practice  Research reinforces the dialogue with business and the

professional field

 Research benefits teaching and curricular development  Research at UAS is different in nature from university

research

Higher faculty ranks (strongly) agree more (70-90%) than lower faculty ranks (65-77%)

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Relative research time spent by higher and

lower ranks and institutional type, (7

countries)

• Higher university ranks are homogenous

• Lower University ranks high in Norway, Finland, Germany

• UAS sector more varied: Norway and Portugal

close to university

• UAS lower ranks spent more time on reseach in Norway; higher ranks

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Pressures to pull teaching and

research more apart in research

universities

 Financial support for research separated from funding of teaching

 Separate organisation of teaching and research:

concentration of research in research institutes, centers, graduate schools

 Bologna process of two phases creates divide between teaching at BA and MA level

Previous research: synergy between teaching and research increases with level of education

Separation of teaching and research tasks possible? desirable?

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Percent of respondents agreeing with the

statement:

‘teaching and research are hardly

compatible with each other’

by teaching time in BA and MA programs

(universities)

%

 Incompatibility increases in the extent to which the

teaching proportion in BA programs increases

 For Masters it is the

reverse: disagreement with the statement relates with a higher teaching time in

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Per cent of respondents agreeing with

the statement: ‘Your research

activities reinforce your teaching’

by teaching time in BA and MA

programs (universities)

%

 The link between teaching and research is stronger when the proportion of

teaching at masters’ level is larger.

 Added value of productive researchers in BA programs is the lowest.

 Gap between frontier

knowledge and teachable codified knowledge

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Diversity on the personal level: men

and women in Dutch higher education

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Gender bias

 Functional distinctions between teaching and research. Do women carry a disproportionate share of teaching loads?

 Are women more committed to teaching/ do they have a preference for teaching over research?

 Those who spend more time on teaching have lower levels of job satisfaction?

However:

 CAP data reveal that:

 Male and female hardly differ in their preferences for research or teaching

 Male and female hardly differ in the proportion of total working hours devoted to teaching and research

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Relationship between teaching time

and satisfaction

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Conclusions

 In binary systems research and teaching institutions less demarcated. More diverse patterns emerge

 More flexibility of teaching and research tasks at BA and MA level (new career trajectories on the basis of teaching qualifications

 Teaching and research dimension as such does not account for gender differences.

Current national policies on HE:

 Emphasis on international rankings/ flagship universities

 Priority research areas (Top sectors) /Skolkovo Innovation Center This should not be detrimental to the UAS given their important

contribution in the national research agenda (translating research into practice)