Academic careers – an extreme case of continuous learning?

Abstract

Teaching and learning in higher education was characterized in the past in many countries by a “regular” pattern of study: A dominance of young students, a rapid completion of study, and an acquisition of competencies acquired in the course of study assumed to be more or less sufficient for the subsequent professional life-course, i.e. only in need of initial professional training as well as limited additional training and learning over the years. Since the 1960s, however, terms such as “adult higher education”, “part-time study”, “continuing higher education”, “life-long learning”, etc., spread indicating a growing role of new mixes of students’ age, learning, and professional work. Analyses of the academic profession – their career paths and their self-understanding - suggest that they were hardly affected by these trends – notably because the traditionally close interaction of continuous learning and of academic work during the junior stages of the academic career did not call for corresponding changes. It remains to be analysed, however, whether the reduced power of professors in higher education institutions and the declining academic freedom due to the spread of various new governance, evaluation and assessment mechanisms indicate a growing pressure on the academic profession as well to reconsider and to re-learn in their professional life-course.

Cited as: Teichler, U. (2024). Academic careers-an extreme case of continuous learning? Education and Lifelong Development Research, 1(2), 51-57. https://doi.org/10.46690/elder.2024.02.01

References:

Abrahamson, K. (1986). Adult Participation in Swedish Higher Education. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International.

Abrahamson, K, Rubenson, K., & Slowey, M. (1988). Adults in the Academy. International Trends in Adult and Higher Education. Stockholm: SNBE.

Allen, J., & van der Velden, R. (eds.) (2011). The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society: New Challenges for Higher Education. Dordrecht: Springer.

Altbach, P. G. (ed.) (1996). The Changing Academic Workplace: Comparative Perspectives. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation.

Burn, B. B. (1992). Degrees: Duration, structures, credit, and transfer. In Clark, B. R., & Neave, G. R. (Eds.) (1992), The Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Volume 3. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 1579-1586.

Cavalli, A. (ed.) (2007). Quality Assessment for Higher Education in Europe. London: Portland Press.

Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) (1973). Recurrent Education: A Strategy for Lifelong Learning. A Clarifying Report. Paris: OECD.

Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) (1987). Adults in Higher Education. Paris: OECD.  

Clark, B. R., & Neave, G. R. (Eds.) (1992). The Encyclopedia of Higher Education. 4 volumes. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

De Lourdes Machado-Taylor, M., Meira Soares, V., & Teichler, U. (eds.) (2017). Challenges and Options: The Academic Profession in Europe. Cham: Springer.

Duke, C. (1992). Adult and continuing higher education. In Clark, B. R., & Neave, G. R. (Eds.) (1992), The Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Volume 2. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 1055-1061.

Enders, J. (2006). The academic profession. In Forest, J. F., & Altbach, P. G. (eds.), International Handbook of Education. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 1-21.

Enders, J., & van Vught, F. (ed.) (2007). Towards a Cartography of Higher Education Policy Change: A Festschrift in Honour of Guy Neave. Enschede: CHEPS, University of Twente.

Espeland, W. N., & Sauder, M. (2016). Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation, and Accountability. Washington. D. C.: Russel Sage Foundation.

Galaz-Fontes, J., Arimoto, A., Teichler, U., & Brennan, J. (eds.) (2016a). Biographies and Careers throughout Academic Life. Cham: Springer.

Galaz-Fontes, J., Arimoto, A., Teichler, U., & Brennan, J. (2016b). Demographics, career and academic self-understanding: A comparative view. In Galaz-Fontes, J., Arimoto, A., Teichler, U., & Brennan, J. (eds.), Biographies and Careers throughout Academic Life. Cham: Springer, pp. 317-340.

Hanft, A., & Knust, M. (2009). Comparative Overview of Study Results. In Knust, M., & Hanft, A. (eds), Continuing Higher Education and Lifelong Learning: An International Comparative Study on Structures, Organisation and Provisions. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 23-69.

Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World-Class Excellence. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hore, T. (1992). Non-traditional students: Third-age and part-time. In Clark, B. R., & Neave, G. R. (Eds.) (1992), The Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Volume 2. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 1055-1061.

Huang, F., Aarrevaara, T., & Teichler, U. (eds.) (2022). Teaching and Research in the Knowledge Society – Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Cham: Springer.

Huisman, J. (ed.) (2009). International Perspectives on the Governance of Higher Education: Alternative Frameworks for Coordination. New York: Routledge.

Hyde, A., Clarke, M., & Drennan, J. (2013). The changing role of academics and the rise of managerialism. In Kehm, B. M., & Teichler, U. (eds.), The Academic Profession in Europe: New Tasks and New Challenges. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 39-52.

Janson, K., Schomburg, H., & Teichler, U. (2007). Wege zur Professur: Qualifizierung und Beschäftigung an Hochschulen in Deutschland und den USA (Paths towards the professorship: Qualification and employment at higher education institutions in Germany and the U.S.A.). Münster: Waxmann.

Kehm, B. M. (2010). From government to governance: New mechanisms of steering higher education. Higher Education Forum 7, 21–33.

Kehm, B. M., & Stensaker, B. (eds.) (2009). University Rankings, Diversity, and the New Landscape of Higher Education. Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense Publishers.

Kells, H. R. (1999). National higher education evaluation systems: Methods for analyses and some propositions for the research and policy void. Higher Education 38 (2), 209-232.

Krücken, G., Engwall, L., & de Corte, E. (eds.) (2018). University governance and creativity (special issue). European Review 26 (Supplement 1).

Kwiek, M. (2013). Knowledge Production in European Universities: States, Markets, and Academic Entrepreneurialism. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Leisyte, L. (2015). Changing academic identities in the context of a managerial university – bridging the duality between professions and organizations. In Cummings, W. K., & Teichler, U. (eds.), The Relevance of Academic Work in Comparative Perspective. Cham: Springer, pp. 59-63.

Locke, W., Cummings, W. K., & Fisher, D. (eds.) (2011). Changing Governance and Management in Higher Education: The Perspective of the Academy. Dordrecht: Springer.

Pusser, B. (2008). The state, the market and the institutional estate: Revisiting contemporary authority relations in higher education. In Smart, J. (ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Volume 23. New York: Agathon Press, pp. 105-139.

Sarrico, C. S., Rosa, M. J., & Carvalho, T. (eds.) (2022). Research Handbook on Managing Academics. Cheltenham and Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar.  

Schomburg, H., & Teichler, U. (2006). Higher Education and Graduate Employment in Europe: Results from Graduate Surveys from Twelve Countries. Dordecht: Springer.

Schuster, J. H., & Finkelstein, M. J. (2006). The American Faculty – The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.

Shin, J. C., Toutkoushian, R. K., & Teichler, U. (eds.) (2011). University Rankings: Theoretical Basis, Methodology, and Impacts on Global Higher Education. Dordrecht: Springer.

Stephens, M. (1992). Participation of adults in higher education. In Clark, B. R., & Neave, G. R. (Eds.) (1992), The Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Volume 2. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 992-999.

Teichler, U. (1988). Changing Patterns of the Higher Education System: The Experience of Three Decades. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Teichler, U. (1999). Lifelong learning as challenge for higher education: The state of knowledge and future research tasks. Higher Education Management 11 (1), 37-53.

Teichler, U. (ed.) (2006). The Formative Years of Scholars. London: Portland Press (Wenner-Gren International Series, Vol. 83).

Teichler, U. (2021). Are academics driven by managerialism? Governance and the changing role of academics on the ways towards a knowledge society. Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia 48, 13-26.

Teichler, U., Arimoto, A., & Cummings, W. K. (eds.) (2013). The Changing Academic Profession: Major Findings of a Comparative Survey. Dordrecht: Springer.

Teichler, U., & Cummings, W. K. (eds.) (2015). Forming, Recruiting and Managing the Academic Profession. Cham: Springer.

Teichler, U., & Hanft, A. (2009). Continuing higher education in a state of flux: An international comparison of the role and organisation of continuing higher education. In Knust, M., & Hanft, A. (eds), Continuing Higher Education and Lifelong Learning: An International Comparative Study on Structures, Organisation and Provisions. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 1-13.

Teichler, U., & Höhle, E. A. (eds.) (2013). The Work Situation, Views and Activities of the Academic Profession: Findings of a Survey in Twelve European Countries. Dordrecht: Springer.

Teichler, U., & Steube. W. (1989). Studiendauer und Lebensalter (Duration of Study and Age). Bonn: BMBW (Bildung – Wissenschaft – international, No. 1/89).

Tight, M. (1996). Key Concepts in Adult Education and Training. London: Routledge.

Trow, M. (1970). Reflections on the transition from mass to universal higher education. Daedalus 90 (1), 1-42.

Trow, M. (1974). Problems in the transition from elite to mass higher education. In OECD (ed.), Policies for Higher Education. Paris: OECD, pp. 51-101.

Tuijnman, A., & Schuller, T. (eds.) (1999). Lifelong Learning Policy and Research. London: Portland Press (Wenner-Gren international Series, Vol. 75).

UNESCO. (1976). Developments of Adult Education. Final Report. Paris: UNESCO 1976.

Whitley, R., & Gläser, J. (eds.) (2007). The Changing Governance of the Sciences. Dordrecht: Springer.

Williams, G. (1979). Towards Lifelong Education: A New Role for Higher Education Institutions. Paris: UNESCO.