Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective – serie

Springer is proud to announce that 'Universities in the Knowledge Society' has received the ASHE-CIHE award for Significant Research on International Higher Education.Congratulations to Timo Aarrevaara, Martin Finkelstein, Glen A. Jones, Jisun Jung and all contributors!This book explores the complex, multi-faceted relationships between national research and innovation systems and higher education. The transition towards knowledge societies/economies is repositioning the role of the university and transforming the academic profession. The volume provides a foundational introduction to the concepts of knowledge society and knowledge economy, and these concepts ground the detailed case studies of eighteen systems, located across five continents. Each case study was written by a leading expert in that jurisdiction, and provides a critical analysis of the research and development infrastructure, the role of universities, and the implications for the academic profession. The book describes how nations in various geographic regions and at various stages of economic maturity are restructuring their university systems to adapt to the new imperatives, and provides a cross-case analysis identifying common themes and distinctive features.In telling the story of higher education’s on-going global metamorphosis, the contributing authors place current developments in the context of the university’s historic evolution, survey the changing metrics that national governments are adopting to measure university performance, and describe a new international project, the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-based Society [APiKS] that involved a common survey of academics in more than twenty countries to take the pulse of developments “on the ground” while documenting the challenges confronting knowledge workers in the new economy.

Springer is proud to announce that 'Universities in the Knowledge Society' has received the ASHE-CIHE award for Significant Research on International Higher Education.Congratulations to Timo Aarrevaara, Martin Finkelstein, Glen A. Jones, Jisun Jung and all contributors!This book explores the complex, multi-faceted relationships between national research and innovation systems and higher education. The transition towards knowledge societies/economies is repositioning the role of the university and transforming the academic profession. The volume provides a foundational introduction to the concepts of knowledge society and knowledge economy, and these concepts ground the detailed case studies of eighteen systems, located across five continents. Each case study was written by a leading expert in that jurisdiction, and provides a critical analysis of the research and development infrastructure, the role of universities, and the implications for the academic profession. The book describes how nations in various geographic regions and at various stages of economic maturity are restructuring their university systems to adapt to the new imperatives, and provides a cross-case analysis identifying common themes and distinctive features.In telling the story of higher education’s on-going global metamorphosis, the contributing authors place current developments in the context of the university’s historic evolution, survey the changing metrics that national governments are adopting to measure university performance, and describe a new international project, the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-based Society [APiKS] that involved a common survey of academics in more than twenty countries to take the pulse of developments “on the ground” while documenting the challenges confronting knowledge workers in the new economy.

This book addresses common themes relating to the teaching and research nexus in the knowledge-based society through historical, comparative and empirical perspectives. It analyzes traditions of academic systems and national initiatives, and other factors affecting the main characteristics of the teaching and research nexus in eleven case countries from Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The book identifies key challenges of the academy, and trends in relation to the teaching and research nexus. The focus of case countries is on the attitudes and activities of the academy, as reported in the international comparative survey “The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society” (APIKS) in 2017-18. The data compared with previous international comparative survey “The Changing Academic Profession” (CAP) in 2007-08 in most chapters to make time series changes. The book discusses the teaching and research nexus in the case countries similar to and different from those of reference countries drawing on findings from the international databanks of the two international comparative surveys and previous research.

This book addresses common themes relating to the teaching and research nexus in the knowledge-based society through historical, comparative and empirical perspectives. It analyzes traditions of academic systems and national initiatives, and other factors affecting the main characteristics of the teaching and research nexus in eleven case countries from Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The book identifies key challenges of the academy, and trends in relation to the teaching and research nexus. The focus of case countries is on the attitudes and activities of the academy, as reported in the international comparative survey “The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society” (APIKS) in 2017-18. The data compared with previous international comparative survey “The Changing Academic Profession” (CAP) in 2007-08 in most chapters to make time series changes. The book discusses the teaching and research nexus in the case countries similar to and different from those of reference countries drawing on findings from the international databanks of the two international comparative surveys and previous research.

This book makes a major contribution to the scholarship on internationalization in higher education by focusing on the perceptions and experiences of the academic profession in a comparative perspective. Drawing from data collected by the Academic Professions in the Knowledge-based Society (APIKS) project, the contributors to this volume are uniquely positioned to explore the impact and implications of internationalization on those who play the central role in the teaching and research functions of higher education: the professoriate.The core chapters address issues such as the roles of gender, discipline, and career stage in the international activities of academics in different countries, national differences in the perceptions and behaviors of university faculty in the internationalization of teaching, and of research within higher education systems on the perceptions and behaviors of academics. Each of these chapters draw on the existing research literature in these thematic areas as a foundation for the systematic analysis of the international APIKS dataset to illuminate and discuss key findings.This book offers a highly original and unique contribution to the study of internationalization in higher education because its editors and contributors, as participants in the APIKS project, have been able to raise and address key research questions using comparative international empirical data on the academic profession that has never before been available. Given the tremendous importance of internationalization and the global dimension of higher education, this volume offers unique, distinctive insights on the implications of internationalization for the academic profession and the very different ways in which these transformations are understood by academics both within and between systems.

This book makes a major contribution to the scholarship on internationalization in higher education by focusing on the perceptions and experiences of the academic profession in a comparative perspective. Drawing from data collected by the Academic Professions in the Knowledge-based Society (APIKS) project, the contributors to this volume are uniquely positioned to explore the impact and implications of internationalization on those who play the central role in the teaching and research functions of higher education: the professoriate.The core chapters address issues such as the roles of gender, discipline, and career stage in the international activities of academics in different countries, national differences in the perceptions and behaviors of university faculty in the internationalization of teaching, and of research within higher education systems on the perceptions and behaviors of academics. Each of these chapters draw on the existing research literature in these thematic areas as a foundation for the systematic analysis of the international APIKS dataset to illuminate and discuss key findings.This book offers a highly original and unique contribution to the study of internationalization in higher education because its editors and contributors, as participants in the APIKS project, have been able to raise and address key research questions using comparative international empirical data on the academic profession that has never before been available. Given the tremendous importance of internationalization and the global dimension of higher education, this volume offers unique, distinctive insights on the implications of internationalization for the academic profession and the very different ways in which these transformations are understood by academics both within and between systems.

This volume investigates governance and management of higher education through the lens of the academic profession. Drawing on data from the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-based Society project, an international collaborative research study involving the administration of a common survey to faculty in more than twenty countries, this volume explores important issues of governance and management in relation to, and frequently from the perspective of, the academic profession. It analyzes the complex inter-relationships and intersections between decision processes and structures at both the system and institutional levels and the experiences and perceptions of the academics who play a central role in fulfilling the mission of higher education. Theoretical chapters review key concepts that have grounded the analysis of external (system-level) and internal (institution-level) governance, while the core chapters provide original empirical research, many involving comparative studies, exploring key challenges such as managerialism, gender, shifts in faculty perceptions of influence, and the importance of communication and institutional leadership.Chapter 4,10,11 and 12 of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the evolving roles, identities, and activities of the academic profession within the context of a knowledge-based society. It focuses on how global, regional and national dynamics shape academic careers, job satisfaction, and engagement with broader societal goals. Drawing on data from the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-based Society (APIKS) project, this volume offers a comparative analysis of academic professionals across diverse regions, including Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America. Through exploring themes such as academics’ societal engagement, job satisfaction, demographic shifts, and the emergence of non-tenure track roles, the book presents a nuanced understanding of the pressures and opportunities faced by academics today.This work integrates a range of methodological approaches, from large-scale quantitative analyses to regional case studies, to reveal how different national and institutional contexts influence the academic profession. It provides valuable insights for policymakers, institutional leaders, and researchers seeking to understand and navigate the complexities of higher education in a rapidly changing global environment. By highlighting both commonalities and differences in how academics across regions adapt to the demands of a knowledge-based society, this book offers new findings and points towards future research directions related to the comparative international study of the academic profession.

This volume provides an empirical and qualitative analysis of the nature and extent of the Japanese academic profession, with a special focus on the changes that occurred in the period between 1992 and 2007. Based on responses to two comprehensive surveys administered to faculty samples with a similar questionnaire, the book presents key aspects of the academic activities and views of Japanese faculty members. Divided into five sections, the book describes the changing social, economic and educational environment, academic organization and life, productivity, as well as the effects of the profession on society. The last section describes the Japanese academic profession as observed from the USA and Asia. In addition to its focus on empirical analysis, the book makes use of historical and comparative perspectives to explore the various aspects of the changes that have occurred in the academic profession in this non-English-speaking country.

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 is the first of two volumes that look at the changed landscape of higher education and the academic profession. This volume focuses on academic work, examining the significant changes that have taken place in the backgrounds, specialisations, expectations and work roles of academic staff. The academic profession is ageing, and becoming increasingly insecure, more accountable, more internationalised and less likely to be organised along disciplinary lines. The private sector is more prominent, expectations from society are different and increasing, professional roles are evolving, and there is a new devotion to knowledge. This leads to questions about the attractiveness of an academic career and the quest for greater relevance of research. This book discusses in detail the themes that are common in this changed arena, such as the context for change, the relation of teaching to research, research productivity, applied and commercial research, and the relevance of teaching and research.

This book focuses on the changes in academic careers and their implications for job attachment and the management of academic work. Against the background of an ageing profession, with different demands on academic staff, increasing insecurity, accountability and internationalisation, it discusses important, common themes in detail. This book examines such aspects as the nature of academic careers and recent changes in careers, changing biographies, rewards of academic work such as income and job satisfaction, internationalisation of the academy, and the organisation and management of academic work sites. This book is the second of two books highlighting findings from research on the academic profession, notably, the Changing Academic Profession Study and the European project supported by the European Science Foundation on changes in the academic profession in Europe (EUROAC).An adapted version of the CAP questionnaire has been used to carry out the survey in those countries that had not been involved before in the CAP survey. Altogether 19 countries are covered by the CAP project and an additional seven European countries are covered by EUROAC.

The book draws on the 2007 Changing Academic Profession international survey in order to document the personal characteristics, career trajectories, sense of identity/commitment and job satisfaction of academics in 14 countries with different levels of economic and social development and different higher education systems. With nearly 26,000 academics surveyed in 19 countries (of which 14 are reporting their results in this volume), the empirical basis of the book is the most up-to-date and far-reaching in the area.With major changes taking place both in the local and global contexts of higher education and in the working conditions within individual universities, as exemplified by increasing managerialism and performance-based funding, it is important to consider the impact of these changes on the profiles and working lives of the academic profession across different countries. But it is also important to look at the ways in which the faculty’s changing profile impacts on the organisation and management of universities and on the delivery of their central functions.Although not always obvious in the short-term, academic work and its conditions attract, incorporate and promote different types of individuals who, in turn, exert considerable influence on the nature of academic work, higher education institutions and, potentially, society. As faculty members are central to the teaching, research and service enterprise activities of higher education, it is important to understand their personal characteristics, career trajectories, sense of identity and commitment, and job satisfaction. These are central for understanding the academic profession in generaland, in particular, the factors affecting their involvement and productivity in the work of their institutions. These are a complex result of a mixture of contextual factors (e.g. the status and regulatory framework of the higher education system, the features and atmosphere of the particular institution) and personal factors (e.g. gender, educational attainment, family background, attitudes to work and broader social values).This book examines the different situations facing the academic profession in individual countries and provides comparative studies of country differences.

This book is the first of two volumes that look at the changed landscape of higher education and the academic profession. This volume focuses on academic work, examining the significant changes that have taken place in the backgrounds, specialisations, expectations and work roles of academic staff. The academic profession is ageing, and becoming increasingly insecure, more accountable, more internationalised and less likely to be organised along disciplinary lines. The private sector is more prominent, expectations from society are different and increasing, professional roles are evolving, and there is a new devotion to knowledge. This leads to questions about the attractiveness of an academic career and the quest for greater relevance of research. This book discusses in detail the themes that are common in this changed arena, such as the context for change, the relation of teaching to research, research productivity, applied and commercial research, and the relevance of teaching and research.

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 volume provides an empirical and qualitative analysis of the nature and extent of the Japanese academic profession, with a special focus on the changes that occurred in the period between 1992 and 2007. Based on responses to two comprehensive surveys administered to faculty samples with a similar questionnaire, the book presents key aspects of the academic activities and views of Japanese faculty members. Divided into five sections, the book describes the changing social, economic and educational environment, academic organization and life, productivity, as well as the effects of the profession on society. The last section describes the Japanese academic profession as observed from the USA and Asia. In addition to its focus on empirical analysis, the book makes use of historical and comparative perspectives to explore the various aspects of the changes that have occurred in the academic profession in this non-English-speaking country.

This book focuses on the changes in academic careers and their implications for job attachment and the management of academic work. Against the background of an ageing profession, with different demands on academic staff, increasing insecurity, accountability and internationalisation, it discusses important, common themes in detail. This book examines such aspects as the nature of academic careers and recent changes in careers, changing biographies, rewards of academic work such as income and job satisfaction, internationalisation of the academy, and the organisation and management of academic work sites. This book is the second of two books highlighting findings from research on the academic profession, notably, the Changing Academic Profession Study and the European project supported by the European Science Foundation on changes in the academic profession in Europe (EUROAC).An adapted version of the CAP questionnaire has been used to carry out the survey in those countries that had not been involved before in the CAP survey. Altogether 19 countries are covered by the CAP project and an additional seven European countries are covered by EUROAC.

This book sets out to examine the changing role of women in higher education with an emphasis on academic and leadership issues. The volume examines the ways in which the leadership role and academic roles of women in higher education are changing in the twenty first century, offering an up-to-date policy discussion of this area.

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 highereducation, 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.

Hong Kong's universities have been transformed by the move from elite to mass higher education, from government support to market driven finance, from academic management to professional management, from local to cross border and international outreach, from China's education bridge to China's education window, and from a colonial model of curricular specialization to a postcolonial model emphasizing broader intellectual development and service. As the landscape of Hong Kong higher education has undergone change, so have the backgrounds, specializations, expectations and work roles of academic staff. The academic profession is ageing, increasingly insecure, more accountable, more international, at the same time, more Mainland-focused and less likely to be organized only along disciplinary lines.The academic profession today is expected to be more innovative in teaching, more productive inresearch and more entrepreneurial in fundraising. New approaches to governance have evolved and blurred the boundaries between academic and managerial roles within the university. The power to appoint members to university councils has become an area of contention. It has come increasing differentiation and changing expectations about knowledge creation and application. This has expanded the role of the academy and challenged the coherence and viability of the traditional academic role and loyalties to original disciplines. Based on the multitude of challenges in Hong Kong higher education, this book explores the future direction of Hong Kong academic profession."Hong Kong has arguably one of the best higher education systems in the world. At the heart of this system, and indeed of any system, is the academic profession. The Changing Academic in Hong Kong provides a convincing and multifaceted analysis of the professoriate. Thisbook is essential for understanding Hong Kong's success--and it has lessons for a broader understanding of the academic profession." Philip G. Altbach, Research Professor, Boston College, USA"The one book that has presented a complete portrait of recent changes and challenges to Hong Kong’s academic profession –the book should be recognized as a classic."  Futao Huang, Professor of Higher Education, Hiroshima University, Japan"Gerard Postiglione and Jisun Jung have successfully pulled together a strong team of researchers making significant contributions to the debates of changing academic profession, especially as universities in Hong Kong are developing new performance indicators in response to the University Governance Review by Sir Howard Newby. This volume is timely and highly relevant to researchers, academics and policy makers in higher education with critical reflections on academic profession in Hong Kong."Ka-ho Mok, Vice President, Lingnan University, Hong Kong<"A very thorough analysis of the situation of the academic profession and its environment in Hong Kong! A setting which calls for and provides opportunities for internationality of higher education in a unique way, but concurrently is tempted to make it itself a victim of the world-wide inclination of over-emphasizing visible research productivity. Thus, the case of Hong Kong is presented as both exceptional and as prototypical for the search of the balance across the functions of higher education."Ulrich Teichler, Professor, International Centre for Higher Education Research, Kassel University, Germany "Hong Kong's higher education sector is a microcosm of many of the world's other systems: intensely urban, experiencing significant transformation, attuned to rankings and peer comparison, watchful toward government intervention, anxious about funding, and always on the lookout for new performance indicators for faculty. Anyone interested in Hong Kong will find "The Changing Academic Profession in Hong Kong" a good read, but so will those of us concerned about trends, challenges, and possibilities at university systems in the rest of the world, particularly Asia."William G. Tierney, Professor, University of Southern California, USA

What does it mean to be starting an academic career in the twenty first century? What challenges and prospects are new academics facing and how are they dealing with these? This book provides answers to these questions through an investigation of the experiences of early career academics in New Zealand universities. Filling a gap in the international literature on the academic profession by providing a comprehensive overview of the experiences of New Zealand academics, the book includes research findings from a national survey covering all eight New Zealand universities. This research is also compared with various findings from the 2007 Changing Academic Profession survey in 19 other countries. The book encourages readers to think about the early career academic experience in New Zealand in relation to their own experiences of the academic profession internationally.Key areas of focus in the nine chapters include: the teaching, research, and service preferences and activitiesof early career academics; work-life balance; satisfaction; the experiences of Māori academics; and professional development and support for all early career academics. Underpinning the book is the issue of the socialisation of early career academics into the academic profession in the twenty first century, and how structure and agency interact to affect that socialisation. Suggestions are made, and links to freely available online resources are provided, for improving socialisation at the individual, departmental, institutional, and national levels.

The book draws on the 2007 Changing Academic Profession international survey in order to document the personal characteristics, career trajectories, sense of identity/commitment and job satisfaction of academics in 14 countries with different levels of economic and social development and different higher education systems.

This book sets out to examine the changing role of women in higher education with an emphasis on academic and leadership issues. The volume examines the ways in which the leadership role and academic roles of women in higher education are changing in the twenty first century, offering an up-to-date policy discussion of this area.

This volume explores the various issues that have an impact on the academic career of professionals in European higher education.

Hong Kong's universities have been transformed by the move from elite to mass higher education, from government support to market driven finance, from academic management to professional management, from local to cross border and international outreach, from China's education bridge to China's education window, and from a colonial model of curricular specialization to a postcolonial model emphasizing broader intellectual development and service. As the landscape of Hong Kong higher education has undergone change, so have the backgrounds, specializations, expectations and work roles of academic staff. The academic profession is ageing, increasingly insecure, more accountable, more international, at the same time, more Mainland-focused and less likely to be organized only along disciplinary lines.The academic profession today is expected to be more innovative in teaching, more productive inresearch and more entrepreneurial in fundraising. New approaches to governance have evolved and blurred the boundaries between academic and managerial roles within the university. The power to appoint members to university councils has become an area of contention. It has come increasing differentiation and changing expectations about knowledge creation and application. This has expanded the role of the academy and challenged the coherence and viability of the traditional academic role and loyalties to original disciplines. Based on the multitude of challenges in Hong Kong higher education, this book explores the future direction of Hong Kong academic profession."Hong Kong has arguably one of the best higher education systems in the world. At the heart of this system, and indeed of any system, is the academic profession. The Changing Academic in Hong Kong provides a convincing and multifaceted analysis of the professoriate. Thisbook is essential for understanding Hong Kong's success--and it has lessons for a broader understanding of the academic profession." Philip G. Altbach, Research Professor, Boston College, USA"The one book that has presented a complete portrait of recent changes and challenges to Hong Kong’s academic profession –the book should be recognized as a classic."  Futao Huang, Professor of Higher Education, Hiroshima University, Japan"Gerard Postiglione and Jisun Jung have successfully pulled together a strong team of researchers making significant contributions to the debates of changing academic profession, especially as universities in Hong Kong are developing new performance indicators in response to the University Governance Review by Sir Howard Newby. This volume is timely and highly relevant to researchers, academics and policy makers in higher education with critical reflections on academic profession in Hong Kong."Ka-ho Mok, Vice President, Lingnan University, Hong Kong<"A very thorough analysis of the situation of the academic profession and its environment in Hong Kong! A setting which calls for and provides opportunities for internationality of higher education in a unique way, but concurrently is tempted to make it itself a victim of the world-wide inclination of over-emphasizing visible research productivity. Thus, the case of Hong Kong is presented as both exceptional and as prototypical for the search of the balance across the functions of higher education."Ulrich Teichler, Professor, International Centre for Higher Education Research, Kassel University, Germany "Hong Kong's higher education sector is a microcosm of many of the world's other systems: intensely urban, experiencing significant transformation, attuned to rankings and peer comparison, watchful toward government intervention, anxious about funding, and always on the lookout for new performance indicators for faculty. Anyone interested in Hong Kong will find "The Changing Academic Profession in Hong Kong" a good read, but so will those of us concerned about trends, challenges, and possibilities at university systems in the rest of the world, particularly Asia."William G. Tierney, Professor, University of Southern California, USA

The book encourages readers to think about the early career academic experience in New Zealand in relation to their own experiences of the academic profession internationally.Key areas of focus in the nine chapters include: the teaching, research, and service preferences and activitiesof early career academics;

This ground-breaking and exhaustive analysis of university ranking surveys scrutinizes their theoretical bases, methodological issues, societal impact, and policy implications, providing readers with a deep understanding of these controversial comparators.

External drivers are pressing for a more privatized approach to higher education and research, a greater reliance on technology and the more efficient use of resources. This book analyzes recent changes in institutional governance and management in higher education and their impact on the academy and academic work. It draws on findings from an international study based on a survey of academics in eighteen countries. It opens with a chapter outlining the key issues, drivers and challenges that inform contemporary discourse around academic work and the profession in general. It then focuses on national case studies, comparing changes in the top tier with the lower tiers of national systems, public and private institutions, and other differentiating factors appropriate in each country, which include mature and emerging higher education systems. It concludes by proposing a series of generalizations about the contemporary status of governance and management of institutions of higher education.

As the nature of education generally, and higher education in particular, changes irrevocably, it is crucial to understand the informed opinions of those closest to the institutions of learning. This book, based on a survey of academics in 19 nations and conducted by leading global scholars, is a thorough sounding of the attitudes of academics to their working environment. As the post-WWII liberal consensus crumbles, higher education is increasingly viewed as a private and personal investment in individual social mobility rather than as a public good and, ipso facto, a responsibility of public authorities. The incursion of corporate culture into academe, with its ‘stakeholders’, ‘performance pay’ and obsession with ‘competitiveness’ is a matter of bitter debate, with some arguing that short-termism is obviating epoch-making research which by definition requires patience and persistence in the face of the risk of failure.This book highlights these and many other key issues facing the academic profession in the US and around the world at the beginning of the 21st century and examines the issues from the perspective of those who are at the front line of change. This group has numerous concerns, not least in the US, where government priorities are shifting with growing budget pressures to core activities such as basic education, health and welfare. Drawing too on comparable surveys conducted in 1992, the book charts the actual contours of change as reflected in the opinions of academics. Critically, the volume explicitly compares and contrasts the situation of American academics with that of academics in other advanced and developing economies. Such an assessment  is critical both for Americans to chart the future of their indigenous tertiary enterprise, but also for shaping the response of the nations around the world who contemplate applying the American model to their own national systems.