The world is facing a “crisis of the academic profession” thanks to a growing reliance on part-time, badly paid and poorly qualified scholars. This viewpoint was recently expressed by Dr. Philip Altbach, professor of higher education at Boston College, USA while addressing the Third International Conference on World-Class Universities in Shanghai. Altbach warned that the crisis is one of the most pressing issues facing the academy today. It threatens teaching and research quality in established universities and is holding back efforts to build new world-class institutions.
Speaking to Times Higher Education after his lecture titled ‘The past, present and future of world-class universities’, Prof. Altbach said: “A well-qualified academic profession is central to the success of a research university. Without a committed professoriate, a great university — or for that matter even an average one — is impossible.”
Describing the crisis in higher education, he said that the average qualifications of academics worldwide has declined. “Perhaps up to half of the world’s college and university teachers now have only a bachelors degree, although good statistics are not available on this. A growing percentage are part-timers, poorly paid with little commitment to their university.”
Salaries are a particular issue for world-leading, research-led institutions, he says. “Research universities have problems hiring and retaining the best and the brightest, in part because salaries in academia are nowhere comparable to what can be earned in the private sector industry — and the gap is growing,” he said.
Meanwhile workloads are becoming more burdensome as a result of increased bureaucracy and accountability, growing student numbers even in research universities, and increasing pressure on academics to publish more to obtain research grants. “Even in research universities, there is a growing number of part-time and ‘contract’ professors who cannot hope for a stable career. For countries seeking to build up their research universities, attracting high-quality staff is central — and often forgotten — in the rush to world-class status. For established universities, neglecting their professors will inevitably result in a deterioration of quality in teaching and research,” he warns.
Moral policing diktat row
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Despite fierce opposition, student guards wearing red armbands are patrolling a Chinese university to enforce a ban on public kissing. Nanjing Forestry University introduced the ban on campus canoodling two months ago, says the state news agency Xinhua, and is deploying about 100 student-petting police despite a volley of online protests.
“My boyfriend and I were interrupted by a red armband as we were sitting together on campus. The guy came over and warned us to behave. I really can’t bear this,” says a student using the name ‘Dian Dian’ on a social networking website.
The university authorities have declined to comment but show no sign of lifting the ban, adds Xinhua.
(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)