Many contemporary analyses criticise metrics-based evaluation in the higher education context as a neoliberal technology, notwithstanding the different national contexts and organisational topographies in which metrics are used. This Anglo-German study offers a comparative exploration of the role of metrics in two contrasting cases: highly…

Academics have always been endowed with the privilege of autonomy, but the diffusion of evaluation systems based on publication outcomes potentially jeopardizes the benefits deriving from behaviors that address other pillars of higher education. Besides research and teaching, academic citizenship, i.e., the service behaviors carried out within and…

Individual experiences in dealing with individual evaluations are studied through a national documental analysis and qualitative interviews. The analysis considers three main individual assessments designed to measure individual credentials or performance: "sexenio" (research and third mission), "quinquenio" (teaching) and…

This article addresses how academics navigate different kinds of prestige and different systems of value around what 'counts' in academic writing, focusing particularly on the impact of the genre regime associated with research evaluation in the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). It draws on data from an Economic and Social Research Council…

Academia is an ever-evolving institution. Where once it was viewed as a body primarily charged with educating students, many instances universities now consider research to be their primary raison d'être. This research surveyed library and information science (LIS) faculty members employed at institutions accredited by the American Libraries…

This study adopted Jarzabkowski's (2005) qualitative, activity-based strategy as practice method to investigate leadership and management of interdisciplinary work. Interviews were conducted with 10 academics in Australia and the United Kingdom. Challenges raised by leaders of academic work can be grouped at various levels according to which…

Analysis of data from the 1993 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty showed that faculty value teaching over research. At the same time, the explicit reward structure of academe favors research and publication, rewarding "productivity" in these arenas with money and status. Implications of this disconnect between values and rewards…

At some colleges and universities, faculty and administrators look at faculty teaching portfolios documenting classroom performance as an alternative to traditional evaluation methods. The approach underscores teaching as an institutional priority alongside research. Although those who have experienced it applaud the concept, they predict mixed…

This study examined whether the perceptions of faculty members at a southeastern university concerning the present evaluation system varies across academic colleges. The Survey of Faculty Evaluation was distributed to all full time faculty (N=530) and the 129 usable responses were analyzed using discriminant function classification. Respondents…

A REVIEW OF EARLIER STUDIES OF THE "FACTORS, CONDITIONS, AND SITUATIONS THAT IMPEDE OR FACILITATE RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY IN THE ACADEMIC SETTING" IS FOLLOWED BY THE FINDINGS OF A PILOT STUDY "TAPPING FACULTY OPINIONS AND BELIEFS CONCERNING RESEARCH AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH IT IS CONDUCTED." 52 OF 81 FULL-TIME STAFF MEMBERS AT A SOUTHERN…

Addresses the uncertainties surrounding the evaluation of faculty work performance and reviews the conflicting studies of the two principal professorial roles, teaching and research. Research indicates reasonably high agreement between faculty peers and students on their assessment of professors and supports a psychological explanation of…

This study examined how the awarding of tenure affects senior professors' interests in teaching and research and whether effects are uniformly negative, positive or different depending on the task. A conceptual model was used that involved intrinsic interest and extrinsic rewards, work context, and individual background variables. Data were taken…

A junior faculty member reflects on the dilemma of that professional position, noting that its anxieties fall into two categories: "Is this all there is?" and "What if we lose it?" She examines problems with, and prohibitions against, speaking one's mind in that position, sees solutions as being institutional or individual, and examines how…

Universities find it difficult to judge the teaching of academics and are reluctant to reward them on the basis of the scholarship of teaching. Continuing tension between teaching and research, in which research-based criteria usually take precedence, compounds this reluctance. Boyer's four-tiered scholarship model assisted the understanding of…

The views of 1,105 faculty members at seven diverse colleges and universities relating to pay-promotion criteria were surveyed. In addition, the parallel-perceptions inquiry enabled comparison of the views of 36 Harcum Junior College faculty and those of 1,069 faculty representing large, medium, and small colleges, both public and private.…