The impact of educational policies in the academic profession. An analysis of Mexico, France and Spain

Author(s):

Judith Pérez-Castro

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 10 C, Reforming Higher Education (Part 1)

Paper Session. Continued in 23 SES 11 C

Time:

2009-09-30

14:45-16:15

Room:

HG, HS 16

Chair:

Risto Rinne

Contribution

This paper presents the results of a long-term comparative research about the academic profession in three macro-universities: National and Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), University of Salamanca and University of Sorbonne. The research was grounded on a basic interest: to understand the development of academic profession in institutional contexts that once had a similar organization, but, in time, have evolved gradually in different ways, diversifying and reestructuring their academic policies, in order to be congruent to their needs and to the demands of their corresponding societies. We were interested, as well, in knowing how such academic policies influence and impact everyday performance and work of academic personnel in the universities of UNAM, USAL and Sorbonne. The questions that underlied our research were: 1. What is the role that educational policies – institutional and national – play in the structure and organization of academic communities in the universities of UNAM, USAL and Sorbonne? 2. How do these policies influence the exercise and development of the fundamental duties of teaching, research and dissemination of knowledge in the three universities? 3. What are the similarities and differences that educational policies imprint to daily academic activities in UNAM, USAL and Sorbonne? The research had a sociological theorethical perspective, above all, we considered those authors whose main insterest is the relation between academic profession and higher education systems, such as Shils, Clark, Finkelstein, Bowen and Schuster, among others. We also included those classical sociologist, like Weber and Durkheim, who dealt with the role of education in moderns societies. Some of the characteristics of the academic profession are: a) the central role that disciplines play in it; b)the distinctive way in which its market works, because higher education institutions constitute the main source of demand while the supply is represented by the different professional groups; c)the control that academics uphold over the system of openings and assignment of vacancies. In this case, not all of the employing institutions leave the process of hiring and promotion in the hands of the academics. This situation varies depending on the degree of market consolidation, the profession, and the professional groups. In short, we hold that the academic profession has experienced, not only, a different and particular development in relation with other professions; it also presents some difficulties for its study, in contrast with other professions such as medicine, law, architecture, and the rest of the liberal professions.

Method

To develop the research, we followed a comparative methodology. At the beginning we made a separate review of the educational policies of each country: Mexico, France and Spain. After that, we started with the process of comparison, following the path opened by Lijphart, Skocpol, Somers, Tilly, Sartori and Morlino, among others. We established some general axis to make the comparison, for example: 1. the continuity (dis-continuity) of educational policies, 2.The impact of national policies in the growth and strenghtening of academic profession, 3.The relation between academics and institutional goals (the way individuals understand them, modify them and put them into practice), 4. The circumstances in which academic market operates and 5. Job conditions in terms of material gains and social acknowledgement. With these axis, we could identify similarities and differeces among the three national contexts. Up to now, we could have finished just a first phase of comparison.

Expected Outcomes

Some of the reflections we can present are: 1. Academia has undergone important changes. Labour markets are becoming more flexible , there have been changes in retirement systems and there is an increasing emphasis the implementation of policies based on job performance and production are factors that have debilitated academic work. 2. Even though the academic professionals justify their social usefulness , there are other factors, such as the different disciplines, the structure, the institutional organization, the history, the context and the particular characteristics of each establishment, which diversify and make more complex de development of these fundamental activities. 3. The traditional model of university, as an integrated whole, autonomous, and somewhat impregnable to non-academic pressures has been slowly displaced by other more flexible, heteronymous and interdependent forms of organization. In the long paper, we can explain these reflections for the specific case of the three countries.

References

Acosta Silva, Adrián. Estado, políticas y universidades en un período de transición. U de G. – FCE. México. 2000. 357 p. Albatch, Philip et al. The Changing Academic Workplace: Comparative Perspectives. Philip Albatch (editor). CIHE – Boston College. Massachussetts. 2000. 320 p. Albatch, Philip et al. The Decline of the Guru: The academic profession in developing and middle-income countries. CIHE – Boston College. Massachussetts. 2002. 433 p. Bowen, Howard / Jack Schuster. American Professors. A national resource imperiled. Oxford University Press. New York. 1986. 322 p. Boyer, Ernest. The condition of the professoriate. Princeton University Press. California. 1989. 147 p. Boyer, Ernest et al. The Academic Profession. An international perspective. A special report. The Carnegie Foundation. Princeton University Press. California. 1997. 106 p. Boyer, Ernest. Una propuesta para la educación superior en el futuro. Susana Fredín (traductor). FCE – UAM-Azcapotzalco. México.1997. 161 p. Clark, Burton. Creando universidades innovadoras. Estrategias organizacionales para la transformación. UNAM – Miguel Ángel Porrúa. México. 2000. 267 p. DiMaggio, Paul / Walter Powell. “Retorno a la jaula de hierro: el isomorfismo institucional y la racionalidad colectiva en los campos organizacionales”, en W. Powell / P. DiMaggio (compiladores). El nuevo institucionalismo en el análisis organizacional. CNCP y AP – UAEM – FCE. México. 1999. pp. 104 -125. Finkelstein, Martin. The American Academic Profession. A Synthesis of Social Scientific Inquiry since World War II. Ohio State University Press. Ohio. 1984. 289 pp. Finkelstein, Martin J. / Robert K. Seal / Jack H. Schuster. The new academic generation. A profession in transformation. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1998. 336 p. Lijphart, A. (1971) Comparative politics and comparative method, en "American political sciences review", LXV pp. 682-693. 1971 Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et Europennes. Higher Education in France. MAEE. 2006. www.diplomatie.gouv.fr Consultado en línea Octubre de 2007 Ministère de l’Educatión Nationale, de l’Enseignement Superior et de la Recherche. Le système éducatif. MEN. 2006. www.education.gouv.fr Sartori, G. / Morlino Leonardo. La comparación en las ciencias sociales. Alianza editorial.1999. Skocpol, T. y M. Somers. The use of comparative history in Macrosocial inquiry, en "Comparative Studies in society and History". pp. 174-197. 1980. UNAM. Agenda Estadística 2006. Dirección General de Planeación – UNAM. México. 2007. www.planeación.unam.mx UNAM. Estadísticas Básicas del Personal Académico. Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico – UNAM. México. 2007. http://dgapa.unam.mx UNAM. Estatuto del Personal Académico de la UNAM. Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico – UNAM. México. 1974. http://dgapa.unam.mx USAL. Memoria de Actividades del Curso Académico 2005 – 2006. Secretaría General de la Universidad de Salamanca. USAL. España. 2007. www.usal.es/web-usal/pdf_Memoria_academica_2005-2006.pdf USAL. Estatutos de la Universidad de Salamanca. USAL – Consejería Educación y Cultura. España. 2001. www.usal.es

Author Information

Judith Pérez-Castro

Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco

División Académica de Educación y Artes

Villahermosa

148

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