This volume explores the various issues that have an impact on the academic career of professionals in European higher education. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are currently subject to profound uncertainties and are more challenged than ever on quality issues, both with regard to their conceptual nature and in the extension and amendment of their mission. Divided into three parts, the first part of the book deals with the challenges and issues in higher education academic careers. It addresses such topics as the influence of European policies and changes, the cultural differences in the preferences of academics for teaching or research, the increasing inequality in working conditions for academics, and the changing nature of academic strategy in the transformational world of higher education with its implications for academic structures, work and careers. The second part of the book analyses the findings of a national study on satisfaction of academics in Portuguese higher education, carried out at the Centre for Research on Higher Education Policies (CIPES). The third part offers a comparative analysis of a number of national European case studies, focusing on the changing relevance of and increasing expectations around academic careers. The concluding chapter discusses whether the academic profession is merely an artificial term that has to do with a heterogeneous range of occupations, or if there are important common elements of the academic profession across European Higher Education systems.

This book is the first of several with the results of a collaborative European project supported by the European Science Foundation on changes in the academic profession in Europe (EUROAC). It provides a short description of the ESF EUROHESC programme and the particular forms of international collaborative research projects which are funded under the umbrella of this programme. It then outlines the EUROAC project. This project has chosen three foci (governance, professionalisation, academic careers) to analyse changes in the work of the academic profession. The first results in the form of in-depth literature reviews constitute the content of the book. These eight literature reviews about the state of the art of existing research feature the various dimensions of the overall theme. A particular emphasis is put on factors leading to changes in the work tasks of the academic profession in Europe and how the academic profession is coping with these new challenges. Thus, the book provides a state of the art account of existing research about the following themes: main results of previous studies on the academic profession; the academic profession and their interaction with new higher education professionals; professional identities in higher education; extending work tasks: civic mission and sustainable development; academic careers in academic markets; the changing role of academics in the face of rising managerialism; the influence of quality assurance, governance, and relevance on the satisfaction of the academic profession.

This book explores the perceptions of academic staff and representatives of institutional leadership about the changes in academic careers and academic work experienced in recent years. It emphasizes standardisation and differentiation of academic career paths, impacts of new forms of quality management on academic work, changes in recruitment, employment and working conditions, and academics’ perceptions of their professional contexts. The book demonstrates a growing diversity within the academic profession and new professional roles inhabiting a space which is neither located in the core business of teaching and research nor at the top level management and leadership. The new higher education professionals tend to be important change agents within the higher education institutions not only fulfilling service and bridging functions but also streamlining academic work to make a contribution to the reputation and competitiveness of the institution as a whole. Based on interviews with academic staff, this book explores the situation in eight European countries: Austria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Romania, and Switzerland.

This book presents the analysis of the representative survey about the academic profession in twelve European countries. Higher education in Europe has experienced a substantial change in recent years: Expansion progresses further, the expectation to deliver useful contributions of knowledge to the “knowledge society” is on the rise, and efforts to steer academic work through external forces and strong international management are more widespread than ever. Representative surveys of the academic profession in twelve European countries show how professors and junior staff at universities and other institutions of higher education view the role of higher education in society and their professional situation and how they actually shape their professional tasks. Academics differ across Europe substantially in their employment and working conditions, their views and their activities. Most of them favour the preservation of a close link between teaching and research and feel responsible for both theory and practice. Most consider efforts to enhance academic quality and social relevance as compatible. The overall satisfaction with their professional situation is rather high.

The volume offers state-of-the art contributions in the intersection of academic profession, research training and institutional governance. They reflect the profound interest of contemporary researchers in the questions of how the contemporary higher education reforms across Europe affect university governance and especially the roles and functions of academics. The volume includes several contributions from the peripheral and developing higher education systems of Central and South-East Europe; hence, attempting to rebalance the European profile of higher education research and at the same time contribute to the most salient debates in the field. This book confirms, once again, that the higher education research landscape is a diverse and rich one. At the same time, these diverse cases have at least one commonality--the fact that even though they are located in different higher education systems, they address issues that, albeit as a rule context-specific, can be found in all parts of Europe and beyond. Certainly, the local responses to the hereby addressed global challenges represent a mere snapshot of a broader landscape the European higher education dynamics is.