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Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 30 November 2023

Pedro Pineda

I historically compare changes in institutional frameworks creating academic positions linked to temporary employment by analyzing university employment statistics in Chile…

Abstract

I historically compare changes in institutional frameworks creating academic positions linked to temporary employment by analyzing university employment statistics in Chile, Colombia, Germany, and the USA. I find that temporary academic positions were institutionalized through the creation of previously inexistent academic categories called a contrata in Chile, de cátedra in Colombia, “junior professor” without tenure in Germany and “postdoc” in the USA; used in higher education and employment laws since 1989, 1992, 2002, and 1974, respectively. Under institutional frameworks demanding the maximization of students and research, universities have increasingly contracted academics through temporary contracts under rationales that differ between regions. In Colombia and Chile, public university leaders and owners of private universities contract such teaching positions to expand student numbers through lowering costs. In Germany and the USA, employment insecurity is mostly driven by temporary scientific positions under a main rationale of scientific expansion. The share of temporary positions has increased exponentially in Colombia and Germany in recent decades, whereas in the USA there has only been an increase since 2012. Moreover, in Chile, the share of permanent positions has decreased since 2012. The common trend is one of isomorphism of vertical academic structures sharing a pyramidal form, with a wide base of academics working under conditions of contractual insecurity. Such trends follow a rationale for maximization of student numbers as well as administration, and scientific production that is in tension with prioritizing wellbeing and improvement of academics’ working conditions. Yet, in these environments, the institution of tenure in the USA and recent Chilean regulations on accreditation represent mechanisms counteracting precarious employment.

Details

University Collegiality and the Erosion of Faculty Authority
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-814-0

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2022

Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta, Giuseppe Lubrano Lavadera and Francesco Pastore

The wage effect of job–education vertical mismatch (i.e. overeducation) has only recently been investigated in the case of Ph.D. holders. The existing contributions rely on…

Abstract

Purpose

The wage effect of job–education vertical mismatch (i.e. overeducation) has only recently been investigated in the case of Ph.D. holders. The existing contributions rely on ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates that allow measuring the average effect of being mismatched at the mean of the conditional wage distribution.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors implement a recentered influence function (RIF) to estimate the overeducation gap along the entire hourly wage distribution and compare Ph.D. holders who are overeducated with those who are not on a specific sample of Ph.D. holders in different fields of study and European Research Council (ERC) categories. Moreover, the authors compare the overeducation gap between graduates working in the academic and non-academic sector.

Findings

The results reveal that overeducation hits the wages of those Ph.D. holders who are employed in the academic sector and in non-research and development (R&D) jobs outside of the academic sector, while no penalty exists among those who carry out R&D activities outside the academia. The size of the penalty is higher among those who are in the mid-top of the wage distribution and hold a Social Science and Humanities specialization.

Practical implications

Two policies could reduce the probability of overeducation: (a) a reallocation of Ph.D. grants from low to high demand fields of study and (b) the diffusion of industrial over academic Ph.Ds.

Originality/value

This paper observes the heterogeneity of the overeducation penalty along the wage distribution and according to Ph.D. holders' study field and sector of employment (academic/non-academic).

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 44 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 February 2024

Chan Hum, Tae-Hee Choi, Sing-Kai Lo, Say Sok and Wai Mui Christina Yu

This study examines the management practices and alignment features needed to develop academic staff’s careers, mainly focusing on teaching competencies in the evolving landscape…

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines the management practices and alignment features needed to develop academic staff’s careers, mainly focusing on teaching competencies in the evolving landscape of Cambodian public universities.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple-case research design was adopted to collect data from interviews with 11 academic leaders and focus-group discussions (FGDs) with 13 academic teachers at two public universities in provincial Cambodia. A thematic approach was performed to code and analyse data to address the research questions.

Findings

This study found that the management of academic careers in the selected universities was hybrid, deregulating state control to relative institutional autonomy for contracted employees but rather centralised management for civil servants. However, weak institutional leadership and negligence in formulating comprehensive institutional guidelines for strategic human resource management (HRM) have caused misalignments of management practices to develop academic careers in the studied contexts.

Research limitations/implications

This case study limits its findings to two universities in provincial Cambodia. Nevertheless, this study adds to the scarce literature on the research topic in Cambodian public universities and opens a path for cross-institutional and national comparative studies on similar foci.

Originality/value

This is a ground-breaking study set in the evolving space of Cambodian public higher education, where attention to the research area remains limited.

Details

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2396-7404

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 August 2023

Imola Cseh-Papp, Erika Varga and Tímea Juhász

Based on empirical data, this study investigates the intention of BA/BSc students in higher education to either pursue their studies or start working.

Abstract

Purpose

Based on empirical data, this study investigates the intention of BA/BSc students in higher education to either pursue their studies or start working.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyses how students' attitudes towards higher education and studying (quality of undergraduate education and performance in higher education), as well as the intention to meet labour market needs, influence the decision of pursuing studies in a Master's programme.

Findings

The main reason why respondents do not intend to pursue their studies is not because they do not want to work. It is primarily the acquisition of knowledge and the motivation to learn that encourages students to stay in higher education. Moreover, individual performance in Bachelor programmes has no influence on the decision made by students to study or work after graduation.

Research limitations/implications

As for the limitations of the study, the authors have to mention that although the survey is based on data from a single country, the similarity of the international and Hungarian previous research results suggests that similar results would have been obtained in an international sample. Furthermore, the impact of the current ongoing epidemic on the further learning of young people in tertiary education at primary level could not be investigated by the authors.

Practical implications

The bivariate logistic regression results show that the correlation between secure job placement in a field of study and the quality of education is not significant. Furthermore, students are primarily motivated by the desire to learn and acquire knowledge. The reasons can therefore be explored based on the analysis of more detailed data, which could be the subject of a subsequent study.

Originality/value

The authors conducted their research in Hungarian higher education at seven universities between 2019 and 2020 to determine the influencing factors of career choice decisions, the degree of students' satisfaction with their selected course, their attitude towards higher education and learning, their job opportunities after graduation and the extent to which their decision is made according to their labour market orientation. Although the study relies on data from a single nation, the similarity between the findings of previous international (Hovdhaugen and Ulriksen, 2021; Sikyr et al., 2019); and Hungarian (Berezvai, 2022; Kiss and Varga, 2022) research suggests that an international sample would have produced similar results.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 37 no. 6/7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 April 2024

Amrita Hari, Luciara Nardon and Dunja Palic

Educational institutions are investing heavily in the internationalization of their campuses to attract global talent. Yet, highly skilled immigrants face persistent labor market…

Abstract

Purpose

Educational institutions are investing heavily in the internationalization of their campuses to attract global talent. Yet, highly skilled immigrants face persistent labor market challenges. We investigate how immigrant academics experience and mitigate their double precarity (migrant and academic) as they seek employment in higher education in Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

We take a phenomenological approach and draw on reflective interviews with nine immigrant academics, encouraging participants to elaborate on symbols and metaphors to describe their experiences.

Findings

We found that immigrant academics constitute a unique highly skilled precariat: a group of professionals with strong professional identities and attachments who face the dilemma of securing highly precarious employment (temporary, part-time and insecure) in a new academic environment or forgoing their professional attachment to seek stable employment in an alternate occupational sector. Long-term, stable and commensurate employment in Canadian higher education is out of reach due to credentialism. Those who stay the course risk deepening their precarity through multiple temporary engagements. Purposeful deskilling toward more stable employment that is disconnected from their previous educational and career accomplishments is a costly alternative in a situation of limited information and high uncertainty.

Originality/value

We bring into the conversation discussions of migrant precarity and academic precarity and draw on immigrant academics’ unique experiences and strategies to understand how this double precarization shapes their professional identities, mobility and work integration in Canadian higher education.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 December 2023

Alexander Mitterle

Within the last two decades, entrepreneurship education has become institutionalized in Germany. It is offered as a stand-alone program or as part of a business degree, combining…

Abstract

Within the last two decades, entrepreneurship education has become institutionalized in Germany. It is offered as a stand-alone program or as part of a business degree, combining academic knowledge, practical skills, and personal development to enhance the entrepreneurial success of university graduates. While entrepreneurship education has experienced similar growth worldwide, its emergence in Germany is closely tied to the country’s political and economic developments. The significance of entrepreneurship education for a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and contemporary economic policy has been instrumental in advancing its academic recognition. This chapter provides a historical analysis of the academization of entrepreneurship in Germany. It explores the recursive and often idiosyncratic processes involving state and financial institutions, companies, and universities that have created, respecified, and mutually reinforced a subdiscipline and field of study. Academic entrepreneurship knowledge successively not only became relevant for starting a business but also for employment within the entrepreneurial infrastructure and beyond. This chapter follows a chronological order, highlighting three key stages in the academization of entrepreneurship education. First, the academic, financial, and political roots (I) of entrepreneurship up until the 1970s. Second, it explores the transformation (II) of entrepreneurship into a viable policy alternative and the challenges faced in establishing complementary research and education in higher education institutions during the 1980s. Finally, it sketches the institutionalization (III) of entrepreneurship as a central driver of government economic policy, allowing for the late bloom of entrepreneurship education and research at universities around the turn of the millennium.

Details

How Universities Transform Occupations and Work in the 21st Century: The Academization of German and American Economies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-849-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 November 2022

Tehila Kalagy and Orna Braun-Lewensohn

Cultural variance represents a significant challenge to policy designers and, in practice, to employers in the varied employment spaces. Providing workplace accessibility for the…

Abstract

Purpose

Cultural variance represents a significant challenge to policy designers and, in practice, to employers in the varied employment spaces. Providing workplace accessibility for the integration of various cultural groups requires deep thinking and creating unique possibilities for each group in accord with its particular heritage. Ultra-Orthodox society in Israel is a religious minority group that has undergone significant changes, from a desire to maintain total separation, to gradual integration into a variety of areas in Israeli society. In light of these changes, we sought to examine what policies should be adopted in order to improve ultra- Orthodox integration.

Design/methodology/approach

Methodologically, we examined the cultural variance of ultra-Orthodox academics in their workplace using combined methods. The study included 745 ultra-Orthodox academics who responded to an online questionnaire that examined the issue in question from various aspects. In addition, four focus groups were convened, in which discussion examined issues.

Findings

The study findings reveal that the integration policies of the various workplaces were above and beyond the expectations of the cultural diversity management approach. Although the study focused on the personal perspective of the ultra-Orthodox employees who integrated, the employers' open and accepting attitudes were very prominent. The participants' comments showed that the employers showed great consideration for their needs and exceptional cultural sensitivity towards the employees' temperament. This dialogue constitutes the basis for managing variance in a multicultural society. The understanding by the employer of the background and cultural legacy from which the worker has come, alongside the difficulties he must cope with constitutes, in itself, the basis for building a stable relationship between employer and worker and for optimal integration of a minority group in society.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that cultural adjustment is required in four areas: a. Adaptation from the social and cultural aspect in the workplace. b. The definition of different areas of employment specific to gender. c. Consideration of the employees' halachic needs d. Professional preparation for employees prior to their absorption.

Originality/value

This study is a pioneering one, examining the integration of ultra-Orthodox academics in the Israeli economy. This process is very significant in a political entity with different cultural identities. The acquisition of a higher education in ultra-Orthodox society in Israel and subsequent integration into the Israeli economy has a decisive cultural and economic impact on both the ultra-Orthodox and general societies simultaneously. An examination of the issue of integration of the ultra-Orthodox minority in employment is intended not only to investigate the character and nature of the process, but also to examine the place of multiculturalism in Western societies and the interaction between a minority group and the majority group, with an emphasis on employment.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 43 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 October 2023

Joanna R. Jackson, Willis Lewis, Jr and Nir Menachemi

This paper aims to present demographic characteristics and postgraduate employment trends of business doctoral graduates, especially the proportion that are underrepresented…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present demographic characteristics and postgraduate employment trends of business doctoral graduates, especially the proportion that are underrepresented minorities (URMs) over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze the near census of individuals receiving doctoral degrees in a wide range of business disciplines from US-accredited universities from 1973 to 2018 (n = 50,091) contained with the National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates. The authors analyze how the proportion of URM graduates, by discipline, has changed over time both in terms of receiving a doctoral degree and entering an academic position.

Findings

The proportion of URM graduates fluctuated between approximately 5% and 15% annually, steadily increasing across decades. Overall, 64.4% of all graduates entered an academic position, with notably higher rates among whites (72.1%) compared to Blacks (51.8%), Hispanics (60.4%) and other URMs (56.4%) (p < 0.001). In adjusted models, the proportion of URMs that entered academic positions significantly increased overtime, beginning in the 1990s and peaked in the 2000s. Although the few institutions that graduated the highest number of URMs do not currently have an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-accredited business school, the authors identify several exemplar institutions where URM graduates entered academic jobs at the highest rates.

Originality/value

The authors provide demographic trends that shed light on ways to influence an increase in URM doctoral graduates from business disciplines into academic careers. This discussion is of interest to university administrators and other stakeholders interested in diversity issues in higher education.

Details

Journal of International Education in Business, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-469X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2023

Yuanlu Niu

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a facial photo of female job applicants on employment decisions.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a facial photo of female job applicants on employment decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

A laboratory or “controlled” experiment was conducted to examine the impacts of job applicants’ facial photos, job applicants' professional qualifications (education level and years of work experience), raters’ gender and college student raters’ academic year on employment-related decisions in a hypothetical situation in the Chinese context. A descriptive analysis and mixed-design factorial ANOVA were conducted.

Findings

Significant main effects were found for the applicant’s photo and professional qualifications in the analysis of employment decisions. Significant interaction effects were also found in the analysis.

Originality/value

Discrimination against applicants who attached unattractive photos was more pronounced for the interview decision when the applicants had low qualifications than when they had high qualifications. Although both male and female raters’ ratings of the interview, hiring and salary decisions decreased as attractiveness decreased, it was more pronounced for male raters than female raters.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 May 2023

Denitza Anguelova Charkova and Elena Somova

The information technology (IT) sector is a powerful factor in present-day society, and its role in pro-sustainability policies is crucial. This study aims to gain insight into IT…

Abstract

Purpose

The information technology (IT) sector is a powerful factor in present-day society, and its role in pro-sustainability policies is crucial. This study aims to gain insight into IT students' perspectives on the role of education for sustainable development (ESD) in their academic curriculum as well as to project their attitudes and actions to prospective employers.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a cross-sectional survey design, involving 260 students majoring in IT at a public university in Bulgaria.

Findings

The majority of the students (67.30%) believed that their university education should promote students’ social and environmental skills. However, 55–65% thought that the current academic curriculum failed to connect subject matter with relevant environmental issues. The students held high expectations of prospective employers. There was a significant concordance between the participants' views on sustainability and their perceived workplace actions. The participants who believed that employers should reduce carbon emissions were significantly more likely to refuse to do any work that supports the fossil fuel industry [odds ratio (OR) = 4.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.04–11.37] or leave a job if the company provides products or services for the fossil fuel industry (OR = 3.10, 95% CI: 1.26–7.26). Such participants were more likely to opt for a lower salary in favor of environmental principles (OR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.32–4.28).

Social implications

The IT sector is a powerful factor in present-day society, and its role in pro-sustainability policies is crucial. IT students’ perspectives on the gaps in current sustainability practices convey a message to the IT academic and employment communities that environmental issues matter and are important to this new generation of technologically savvy people.

Originality/value

There have been a few other studies in Bulgaria on the issue of ESD, but no other study has focused on the projection of students' attitudes toward the environment onto future employers. The study's results showed that the Bulgarian young people who were getting ready for jobs in the IT field had the same environmental values and concerns as their peers from different higher education areas in different parts of the world. They were interested in acquiring knowledge and competencies that would help propel pro-environmental actions in their academic institution and future workplace. Notwithstanding the overall low economic standards in their country, they tended to put carbon-free and environmentally friendly policies ahead of financial interests. Their critical perspectives on the gaps in current sustainability practices convey a message to the academic and job communities in IT that environmental issues matter to this new generation of technologically savvy people.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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