Allocation of Academic Workloads in the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at a South African University

ABSTRACT

This article reports on the results of a statistical analysis of the weekly working hours of academics in a Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at a South African university. The aim was to quantify, analyse and compare the workload of academic staff. Seventy-five academics self-reported on their workload by completing the workload measuring instrument. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in the total working hours per week in terms of gender, schools, academic qualifications and positions. However, there were statistically significant differences in the hours spent performing core academic activities such as teaching and learning, administration and management, research and postgraduate supervision, and community engagement and services to the scholarly community. The results indicated inequalities in the workload allocation of academic staff, with some staff members being underutilized and others significantly over worked.     

Resources allocation in Chinese universities: hierarchy,academic excellence,or both?

Scholars are aware that the higher education sector in China is highly affected by its administrative system, but the questions of how and to what extent the Chinese administrative system impacts academic resources allocation have yet to be answered. By examining the empirical data from 2003 to 2010 of China’s National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations Award, this article finds that the hierarchical position of doctoral advisors who hold a university or college post will have an important influence on academic resources allocation, although these advisors are professors with high academic ability. This article also finds an interaction effect between advisors’ hierarchical position and students’ academic abilities in influencing the decisions on the award. Overall, the Chinese case digs rather deep into the increasing hierarchisation of academic life and science.     

Academic workload: the silent barrier to the implementation of technology-enhanced learning strategies in higher education

The effect of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) strategies in higher education has arguably been transformative despite the not-insignificant barriers existing in this context. Throughout the discourse very little attention has been paid to those primarily responsible for this implementation—academic teaching staff. This paper aims to highlight the impact of academic workload allocations, an often silent barrier to the uptake of TEL strategies in higher education. We will discuss the effects of academic identity and culture, preferential time allocation to associative activities, academic technological capacity, university policies and workload and funding models on the uptake, and implementation on TEL in higher education. Our aim is to highlight the risks to staff, students and institutions should these concerns not be addressed and to propose a model for utilisation by all staff responsible for implementing flexible workload models supportive of further implementation of TEL strategies across the sector.     

Protecting academic freedom in changing times: the role of Heads of Departments

In changing times for higher education that are dominated by a neoliberal ideology, we set out to uncover how Heads of Departments (HoDs) perceive their role with respect to supporting their staff and their academic freedom. Freedom to pursue academic research is seen as key to the generation of new knowledge yet it is potentially constrained by funding regimes and university accountability systems. As HoDs operate at the interface between university systems and individual academic projects, how they perceive their role can have a profound influence on the working environment of their departmental staff. The research study is located in two successful departments in a research intensive university in England. The study shows that the HoDs were not captured by the neoliberal discourse and aimed to protect their staff so they could ‘get on with their work’. In so doing they interpreted university demands to the best advantage of their departments but were not active in challenging university driven changes, thus raising questions about the effects of accommodating to change, so risking incremental change, and of how less successful departments might be able to protect their staff and their academic freedom.     

Mentoring practices in workplace-based professional preparation: a critical analysis of policy developments in the Italian context

In recent years, the issue of early childhood staff professionalisation has been taking an increasingly prominent position in policy-making and academic debates at the international level. Despite this growing interest, studies investigating the content and delivery of professional preparation programmes for early childhood practitioners are still quite rare in European literature. Against this background, the article will describe and critically analyse the characterising features of the university degree for the professional preparation of pre-school teachers in Italy, with a special focus on workplace-based training. In particular, the theoretical underpinnings and shared understandings related to the implementation of mentoring practices within the university course will be explored by drawing on the data collected from documentary sources and interviews with local experts. Findings highlight that the main strengths of mentoring practices within such a programme are: (a) the extended placement periods in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings which allow prospective teachers to live the culture of practice; (b) the critically reflective component of tutoring practices, which combines theoretical and experiential learning; (c) the strong partnerships built at the local level between ECEC services and universities, which generates reciprocal influences between academic research and educational practices and thus sustains pedagogical innovation. At the same time, the fact that the mentoring role of placement tutors in ECEC institutions is not adequately supported in terms of competence development and workload allocation might potentially undermine the benefits of workplace-based training for students. In addition, the contextualisation of our analysis within the broader landscape of national policy developments in the field of ECEC staff professionalisation revealed that the increased academisation of pre-school teachers professional preparation might lead – in the long term – to a risk of ‘schoolification’ of pedagogical practices enacted within ECEC services. In regards to these issues, the article will raise questions for further consideration and debate.     

The transformation of academic ideals: an Australian analysis

This article explores the role that universities play in shaping the relationship between academics and their work. Drawing on Miller and Rose's interpretation of our present era as being characterised by ‘Advanced Liberal’ governance, this article demonstrates how discourses seeking to govern academic labour enrol ideals about the academic and subjectify academic staff within strategies to govern their conduct. Entrepreneurial conceptions of ‘good’ academic conduct are valorised through such initiatives as performance evaluation, interdisciplinary research programmes and Graduate Certificates of university teaching and skills development. Drawing on the past literature and an analysis of three Australian public universities, this article proposes three ideals through which academics are enrolled into strategies to govern their conduct: ‘the career academic’, ‘the tribal academic’ and ‘the celebrity academic’. The centrality of an entrepreneurial sense of self within academic ideals contributes to the production of insidious effects within academic practices. The subjectification of academics, as entrepreneurial knowledge managers, may potentially produce strain within academics who fail to close the psychological distance between their self-perceptions and academic ideals. This article proposes that future investigations of the development of academic ideals and values should engage with an analysis of modes of self-government. The utility of self-government is explored in an analysis of the dynamic production of academic ideals within policies and programmes aimed at governing the behaviour of academic staff.     

提高管理科学性建设世界知名大学

随着大学规模的扩大，科学有效的管理在建设世界知名大学的过程中显得越来越重要，本文力图以世界知名大学的管理体制和运行机制为基点，阐明建设世界知名大学应该以组织为依托，机制作保障，实现权力的合理配置，以管理提升员工素质，最终实现员工的自我管理。     

Cost Management in a Nigerian First-generation University

This study evaluates past trends in cost management in university education as a way of finding solutions to the continued financial constraints facing Nigerian universities. Taking the University of Benin as a case study, this article shows that between the 1988‐1989 and the 1992‐1993 academic years, this university was grossly underfunded, despite increasing recurrent expenditure, consistent rapid growth in student enrollments, and inadequate academic staff. As of the 1992‐1993 academic year, the federal government was providing 94.5 percent of the total financial revenue of the university. The balance of 5.5 percent was raised from internal sources by the university. Since one fundamental problem of educational cost management in this university appears to be the inadequacy of funding, the study advocates the adoption of cost-recovery policies by introducing user fees and student loan schemes to soften the impact of these fees.     

Widening the discussion on HE leadership – leader dispositions and talents

What inherent personal leader qualities or dispositions do senior staff in universities say are necessary? What assumptions do we make about leadership in our universities and are they helpful? Are university staff surveys useful in giving both the leadership and staff a clear understanding of staff satisfaction levels related to how they are managed and led? This article looks at these important aspects of university leadership, gathering together HE leader/academic views, study findings and survey pointers to suggest dispositions and talents those in leadership positions should demonstrate in providing the right environment for staff.     

高等教育产权与大学治理探析简

随着市场经济的发展和高等教育体制的改革,我国的教育产权逐渐从政府单一主导向社会广泛参与的多元化格局转变。大学治理在现代大学制度改革中也逐渐由单一的行政权主导开始转变为遵循大学内在逻辑,实现依法自主管理、社会参与的多元治理结构。明确和平衡大学与政府、行政人员与学术群体、大学与社会等主要利益相关者之间的教育交易关系,建立起平衡的教育产权运行体系和大学共同治理结构,是实现教育资源优化配置和保证大学治理公平与效率的重要条件。     

我国公立大学内部资源的配置机制探析

在创建世界一流大学目标的推动下,我国公立大学近年来得到了快速的发展,掌握和控制了庞大的经济资源。但与此同时,资源进入大学以后,如何在大学内部各院系和行政部门之间进行有效地分配却并未引起足够的关注。本文运用公共产品和公共选择的有关理论对大学内部资源的性质及其配置方式进行了研究,根据权利的明确程度将大学内部的资源分为私人资源和公共资源,并提出了分配大学公共资源的三种方式:传统、绩效和战略。我国公立大学内部资源配置主要是依据传统,欠缺依据绩效和战略而进行分配。更为欠缺的则是公共资源分配所要求的公开性、稳定性和合法性。     

浅析现代大学制度的基层学术组织重构

基层学术组织是现代大学制度建设的重心。根据现代大学制度建设的要求,基层学术组织应遵循教学与科研兼顾、学科分化与学科综合相统一、学术权力与行政权力协调以及资源配置责权对等的原则。为此,需要重构基层学术组织结构和创新组织运行机制。     

Freedom and control in higher education: Who needs a policy?

The question posed in the title refers to policy for the professional development of academic staff. The answer is considered in five parts with reference to (a) staff associations; (b) university councils; (c) university departments; (d) individual staff; and (e) students.Policies and professionalism are discussed with reference to experiences in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. A professional development policy is considered to be a prerequisite for in-service programmes for academic staff, for evaluation of academic performance and career related decisions. Members of a profession should accept responsibility for the practice of the profession.In particular, detailed reference is made in the Appendix to the history of the preparation of a policy for the professional development of academic staff by the New Zealand Association of University Teachers.     

Academics’ Views of the Relative Roles and Responsibilities of Teachers and Learners in a First‐Year University Course

University teachers often see first‐year as a training ground for students, acculturating them to university expectations and requirements following their secondary school experience. By later years, students are typically expected to know what is required of a ‘university student’. However, the assumption behind this is that different academic staff hold similar views of university teaching and learning and that those teaching first and later years would be in agreement on what is expected of a student at different levels — an assumption which was implicit in the university department described in this article.

The aim of this article is to present the range of views shown by academic staff within one department about the relative roles and responsibilities of staff as teachers and of students as learners at first‐year level. This is of interest because, at least in this department, the degree of variation which was found was unexpected, generating unrealistic expectations and assumptions about students. This led‐to‐the generation of departmental strategies for improving communication about such issues amongst staff, with the intention of making differing views explicit. The lesson which may be of general value is the importance of ensuring structured opportunities for staff within departments to share their views and expectations about teaching and learning.     

首都职工素质教育发展战略研究

本文从电大面向在职成人教育方向出发,结合首都职工素质教育工程研究实际,探索现阶段适合我国在职成人特点的素质教育和职业培训结合的模式。文章介绍了首都职工素质教育工程实施的特点,探索了社会多方参保证职工素质教育和职业培训质量的新思路,认为搭建素质教育、技能培训、学历教育的有效通道,是构建终身学习体系的创新和探索。文章最后根据首都职工素质教育工程战略目标,提出了发展战略方面的建议。     

International staff contributions to their host institution: a case study in South Africa

The mobility of academic staff to South Africa is expected to benefit higher education institutions through teaching-research collaboration and capacity building. However, South African institutions do not always have the adequate organisational processes to facilitate host and international staff collaboration. Drawing on individual interviews with 16 lecturers from 12 different countries, all of them teaching in one South African university, this article analyses lecturers’ perceived contributions to their host university and the challenges they encountered. Recommendations revolve around the development of appropriate induction programmes and faculty forums to promote cross-cultural collaboration and the cross-fertilisation of ideas.     

大学行政权力与学术权力的分离:三级组织二级管理模式

大学里同时存在行政权力和学术权力,这两种权力的配置和运作对于大学学术活动的开展具有重要影响。基于三级组织二级管理架构的大学行政权力和学术权力配置与运作的模式,可在学院层面分离行政权力与学术权力,把行政管理工作集中在学院,把学术管理工作下放到系。在此基础上,在三级组织体系下分别实现校—院两级的行政管理和校院—系两级的学术管理,使行政权力和学术权力落在不同的作用面上。由此从系统架构和制度安排上避免两种权力的互相干扰,保证各自的高效运作。     

Contract cheating in Australian higher education: a comparison of non-university higher education providers and universities

Abstract

This article reports on one aspect of a nationally funded research project on contract cheating in Australian higher education. The project explored students' and educators’ experiences of contract cheating, and the contextual factors that may influence it. This article reports the key findings from non-university higher education providers (NUHEPs). It compares survey responses from 961 students and 91 educators at four NUHEPs with previously reported findings from eight universities (14,086 students and 1,147 staff). NUHEP and university students report engaging in contract cheating in similar ways. However, while NUHEP educators spend more time teaching academic literacies and discussing contract cheating, NUHEP students are 12 times more likely than university students to report use of a professional academic writing service. Both NUHEP and university educators require systematic professional development regarding the relationship between the teaching and learning environment and students’ contract cheating behaviour. NUHEPs need to be cognisant of students’ vulnerability to commercial contract cheating services, and ensure they have access to timely academic and social support.     

Academic staff performance and workload in higher education in the UK: the conceptual dichotomy

Higher education in the UK is under increasing pressure to manage the workload of its academic staff in a way that maximises the outputs from teaching and research. The emergence of this trend can be traced back to 1989 and the government legislation that introduced neo-liberal managerialism into the sector mirroring the laissez-faire approach to the economy that was prevalent at the time. This article examines the literature surrounding workload management and staff performance in the sector to try to establish whether the two have been conceptually linked. A desk-based narrative literature review was executed in order to scrutinise the literature and attempt to answer the main question: what does ‘performance’ mean in relation to an academic role and how is this related to an academic’s workload within the post-92 (referring to ex-polytechnics and colleges of higher education granted university title following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992) higher education sector? The results of the review show that the literature is dichotomous both in terms of the two areas being discrete and also in the conceptual stance taken by writers in each area. Whilst there are inferred links between workload management and performance, these have not been explored. The article concludes by outlining what further research is needed on the linkages between workload management and staff performance specifically, using socially-critical methodology.     

Perceptions of the prevalence and seriousness of academic dishonesty in Australian universities

Academic dishonesty is a fundamental issue for the academic integrity of higher education institutions, and one that has lately been gaining increasing media attention. This study reports on a survey of 1206 students and 190 academic staff across four major Queensland universities in relation to student academic misconduct. The aim of the survey was to determine the prevalence of academic misconduct, and to investigate the extent to which perceptions of dishonesty are shared between students and staff, as preliminary steps toward developing effective strategies to deal with the academic dishonesty/misconduct problem. Results indicate a higher tolerance for academic misconduct by students in comparison to staff, particularly with respect to falsification of research results and plagiarism, as well as considerable underestimation by staff of the prevalence of virtually all forms of student academic misconduct. Overall, the study’s findings confirm the significance of the issue of academic dishonesty within the Australian tertiary sector, indicating considerable divergence between students and staff in terms of perceptions of the seriousness and prevalence of student academic misconduct. We suggest that university administrators need to examine this issue closely in order to develop mechanisms for managing and curtailing the level of academic misconduct, since a failure to do so may lead to a further undermining of the academic integrity of the Australian tertiary sector.