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 INTRODUCTION I

The Changing Academic Workplace:

Comparative Perspectives

Edited by
Philip G. Altbach

Center for International Higher Education

Lynch School of Education, Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

September 2000
ii INTRODUCTION

©2000 Boston College Center for Internaitonal Higher Education

ISBN

Boston College Center for International Higher Education

207 Campion Hall
Chestnut Hill, MA 02567
USA

Fax: (617) 552-8422

INTRODUCTION III
iv INTRODUCTION

Contents
Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The Deterioration of the Academic Estate: International

Patterns of Academic Work
Philip G. Altbach

2. A Chair System in Transition: Promotion, Appointment

and Gate-keeping in German Higher Education
Jürgen Enders

3. The Academic Profession in Britain:

A Study in the Failure to Adapt to Change
Michael Shattock

4. French Academics Between the Professions and the Civil Service

Thierry Chevaillier

5. Pressures and Prospects Facing the Academic Profession

in the Netherlands
Egbert de Weert

6. No Longer at the Top? Italian University Professors

in Transition
Roberto Moscati

7. The Academic Profession in Spain:

Between the Civil Service and the Market
José Ginés-Mora
 INTRODUCTION V

8. Sweden: Higher Education and Academic Staff in a Period

of Policy and System Change
Berit Askling

9. The US Academic Profession: Key Policy Challenges

James P. Honan and Damtew Teferra

10. Academic Freedom and the Academic Profession

Philip G. Altbach

11. Bibliography on the Academic Profession

Yoshikazu Ogawa

Contributers
vi INTRODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION VII

Acknowledgements
Most of the chapters are reprinted from a special theme issue
of Higher Education on the changing academic workplace in Europe
and the United States. We are indebted to the publisher, Kluwer Aca-
demic Publishers, for their cooperation. This book stems from several
important research initiatives. It is directly the result of an initiative of
the Harvard Project on Faculty Appointments, directed by Professor
Richard Chait and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The HPFA is
concerned with analyzing and fostering discussions about the terms
and conditions of academic appointments in the United States. With
that goals in mind, the Project felt that a careful look at the situation in
Europe would provide an important comparative perspective. The
HPFA initiative was organized by Philip G. Altbach, and resulted in
most of the chapters included in this book. Somewhat earlier, Dr. Jürgen
Enders of the Center for Higher Education and Work at the University
of Kassel in Germany coordinated an inquiry sponsored by the Euro-
pean Union concerning “Employment and Working Conditions of Aca-
demic Staff in Europe.” Most of the authors of the essays included here
also participated in the EU initiative, the results of which will be pub-
lished in a volume to be issued by Greenwood Publishers in 2001. We
are indebted Professor Chait and Dr. Enders for their support of this
initiative. A new project is now underway—an examination of the aca-
demic workplace and the professoriate in middle income and devel-
oping countries. Supported by the Ford Foundation, this research in-
quiry will provide insights key world regions.
Chapter 1 will be included The Question of Tenure, edited by Richard
Chait and published by Harvard University Press in 2001. We are in-
debted to Professor Chait for permitting us to publish this essay here.
Chapter 10 provides an overview of the relationship of academic free-
dom and the academic profession. The bibliography on the academic
profession was prepared by Yoshikazu Ogawa, a researcher and doc-
toral candidate in the Center for International Higher Education. This
volume is part of the research program of the Center, and is supported
by the Ford Foundation and by Boston College.
viii INTRODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION IX

Introduction

The academic workplace is changing rapidly worldwide. This collec-

tion of essays, focusing on Europe and the United States, analyzes some
of the changes. The research reported in these articles points to a sig-
nificant alterations in working conditions, terms of appointment, and
remuneration. A growing portion of the profession is part-time, and
many full-time academics are employed in positions that do not lead
to long-term appointment. The traditional full-time permanent aca-
demic professor, the “gold standard” of academe, is increasingly rare.
While guaranteed full-time tenured positions remain (except in the
United Kingdom) in the countries discussed here, they are no longer
as secure. Many within the profession feel that these changes consti-
tute a clear deterioration in the terms and conditions of academic em-
ployment. Others see them as necessary reforms to meet the needs of a
new century and changing conditions.
Academics are affected by the major trends evident in univer-
sities worldwide—accountability, massification, managerial controls,
deteriorating financial support from public sources, and others. Re-
search funds are scarcer, and are often tied to applied outcomes and
increasingly linked to private interests. These factors have, not sur-
prisingly, negatively affected the working conditions of the academic
profession.
These essays explore these changing realities in Western Eu-
rope and the United States. There is a remarkable convergence of cir-
cumstances evident in these analyses. Countries and academic institu-
tions have dealt with the crisis in somewhat different ways. In the
United Kingdom, permanent appointments were abolished, and the
binary structure of the higher education system changed. New man-
agement arrangements were put into place in the Netherlands. The
traditional civil service status of academics in much of Western Eu-
rope is currently being debated. A declining proportion of new aca-
demic positions in the United States are on the traditional “tenure
x INTRODUCTION

track,” with growth taking place in the part-time sector and with full-
time non-tenure eligible positions.
Despite these changes, the academic profession remains com-
mitted to the university and to the enterprise of teaching and research.
The Carnegie Foundation’s study of the attitudes of the professoriate
in 14 countries includes several of the countries discussed here (the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, and
Germany). This study reported declining morale among the professo-
riate, but a remarkable commitment to the essential roles of research
and teaching. A large majority of the respondents, while recognizing
growing problems, reported that were committed to the profession,
and would choose it again.

Philip G. Altbach
Chestnut Hill, Massachustts
September, 2000
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 11

The Deterioration of the Academic Estate:

International Patterns of Academic Work

Philip G. Altbach

I
t is in many ways remarkable that universities everywhere, stem
ming as they do from common roots in medieval Europe and hav
ing similar purposes of teaching and research, have evolved quite
different patterns of organization and structure. While academics
worldwide teach, and in most cases have a role in research and institu-
tional governance, their terms of employment and working conditions
vary considerably. In discussing some of these differences, this essay
will address the following questions: 1) How have increased enroll-
ments, diversified faculties, and reduced funding impacted higher
education worldwide? 2) What changes are taking place internation-
ally with respect to tenure, academic freedom, types of appointments,
and faculty salaries? And, finally, 3) what do the changing, and largely
deteriorating, conditions of faculty work ultimately mean for the glo-
bal academic enterprise?
The professoriate has become a large and complex profession—
with at least three and one half million professionals involved in
postsecondary teaching worldwide, serving more than eighty million
students (Task Force on Higher Education and Society 2000). The pro-
fessoriate is at the heart of the academic enterprise. Without a commit-
ted faculty, no university can be successful nor can effective teaching
and learning take place. Yet, despite the great presence of higher edu-
cation in the technological world of the 21st century, the academic pro-
fession finds itself under increasing pressure. Working conditions have
12 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

deteriorated at the same time that traditional autonomy has dimin-

ished. Increased enrollments have not been accompanied by commen-
surate growth in faculty appointments or salaries. At present, there are
unprecedented changes taking place in the terms of appointment, work-
ing conditions, and management of the academic profession. It is an
opportune time to look at how the professoriate is changing interna-
tionally.

The Context
While the professoriate necessarily works within contemporary reali-
ties and within institutional and national settings, it is tied to universal
historical traditions. One reason the academic profession is conserva-
tive in its views of the university is precisely because of its sense of
history. Most universities have common roots in the medieval Univer-
sity of Paris and other European universities of the period (Ben David
and Zloczower 1962, 45-84). Centuries-old ideas about the autonomy
of teaching and research, the rightful place of the professoriate in insti-
tutional governance, and the role of the academic profession in society
have salience. Academics have always seen themselves as somehow
standing apart from society, with special privileges and responsibili-
ties—as reflected in the idea of the academic profession as a calling.
Many of these traditions have ebbed as universities have grown and
become more professionalized. But there is still a historical residue that
remains relevant.
Higher education is both national and international. There are
many national variations in the organization and management of aca-
deme. Yet, there is also an important international element. Not only
does academe have common historical roots, but contemporary forces
are making higher education ever more influenced by global trends.
Perhaps more than at any time since the Middle Ages–when universi-
ties functioned in a common language (Latin) and both faculty and
students were highly mobile, academe operates in a global environ-
ment. Now, English is in some ways the Latin of the new era. There is
again an international labor market for the professoriate, and more
than one million students are studying outside their own countries.
New regulations concerning comparability of degrees in the European
Union and the ease of communication and the establishment of joint-
degree and other collaborative programs among universities in differ-
ent countries are examples of the increasing globalism in higher edu-
cation.
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 13

Contemporary Realities
The central event of the past half century in higher education has been
expansion. In country after country, higher education, once the pre-
serve of the elite, has been transformed into a mass, and now almost
universal, phenomenon (Trow 1972, 61-83). This massification has given
rise to more diverse and powerful administrative structures and di-
minished the sense of community among the professoriate. Academ-
ics increasingly work in large organizations and are constrained by
bureaucratic procedures.
Higher education institutions have diversified. No longer is
academe a preserve of the elite. Most academic systems now contain
institutions with a variety of missions. Universities themselves now
vary more in their level of academic quality. Today, postsecondary edu-
cation is comprised of a diversity of institutional types—including
vocationally oriented community colleges, polytechnic schools, under-
graduate colleges, and specialized schools in both the public and pri-
vate sectors. The traditional ideal, and self-concept, of the professor is
no longer valid for the academic profession as a whole. Diversification
of institutions has meant diversification of the professoriate as well.
Patterns of institutional control vary considerably from coun-
try to country. The United States is unusual for its decentralized higher
education system. Throughout Europe, and much of the rest of the
world as well, in contrast, academic systems are much more tied to the
central government, both in terms of control and financing—and higher
education is almost exclusively public. This means that the terms and
conditions of academic work, including salary scales (which are often
tied to pay scales in the civil service), patterns of appointment and
promotion, and others are in many cases determined by government
policy.
Professors have traditionally valued their autonomy—the abil-
ity to control not only what happens in the classroom but also to deter-
mine the substance of their work. Few occupations have enjoyed the
freedom of the professoriate to control the use of their time and the
focus and range of productivity. In Europe, particularly, the ideals of
professional autonomy combined with academic freedom in the class-
room and laboratory have been hallmarks of the professoriate and re-
main primary values of the profession.
Traditionally, very little accountability was built into academic
work. To this day, in much of the world, evaluation of teaching re-
mains rare, and tracking faculty performance in research and other
academic duties is not rigorous. Moreover, most academics around the
14 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

world are not paid based on any concept of merit or productivity, but
rather by rank and seniority. Again, this pattern is slowly changing as
accountability and assessment become more entrenched. However, the
fact is that academics have been trusted to perform at an acceptable
level of competence and productivity for centuries without any seri-
ous measurement of academic work.
Accountability is now increasingly part of the vocabulary of
academic life. As higher education consumes more resources because
of expansion, government and private funders demand greater account-
ability. A culture of accountability has emerged and affected the aca-
demic profession. Assessment of academic work is an increasingly com-
mon practice, with evaluation of teaching, research, service and ad-
ministrative work all part of the new academic workplace in more in-
stitutions in many countries.
The fiscal constraints on higher education in many countries
have had a negative impact on the professoriate. Even in the United
States, Britain, and other countries with currently favorable economic
climates, higher education has not generally benefited from increased
support. Student enrollments have grown faster than the size of the
teaching staff. Funds, usually from public sources, have not kept up
with the costs of expansion. The working conditions of academe have
suffered, with increasing class size and deteriorating facilities. Aca-
demic salaries have largely not kept up with inflation or with salaries
in related occupations. The financial problems faced by universities in
industrialized countries stem from public policies concerning higher
education rather than underlying economic difficulties. In Britain, for
example, there have been fiscal cutbacks at the same time student num-
bers have increased. In Germany, students have protested against de-
teriorating conditions of study caused by inadequate funding.
The fiscal crisis has hit developing and middle income coun-
tries differently, with such regions as sub-Saharan Africa especially af-
fected because of the combination of expanding enrollments and eco-
nomic and political difficulties. India, chronically strapped for funds
and with expansion continuing, has for several decades seen declines
in the quality of higher education. The transitional economies of Cen-
tral and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have experienced
pressures for expanded access while at the same time facing the chal-
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 15

lenges of economic transformation. There are very few countries, rich

or poor, in which the economic circumstances for postsecondary edu-
cation are favorable.
The employment market for academics is in most places unfavorable.
While it is difficult to generalize, in most countries problems abound.
There are fewer career-track positions available, and this means that
new entrants to the profession have a more difficult time obtaining
full-time initial appointments. Promotion is also more problematical,
and many countries have imposed quotas on promotions to senior
ranks. This means that many faculty are kept in poorly paid junior
positions characterized by unfavorable working conditions. Although
many senior professors hired in the 1960s and 1970s are now retiring,
they are not necessarily being replaced by full-time junior staff, caus-
ing additional problems for the academic employment market. In many
countries, there is a surplus of disaffected doctoral degree holders, many
of whom take jobs outside of academe. Some exceptions to this bleak
picture exist—for example, fields such as computer science or man-
agement studies offer good academic employment prospects. While
there are major variations among nations in terms of the academic
employment market, there is no country that offers ample prospects
for either junior staff or promotion opportunities for senior professors.
The professoriate has come in for some criticism—popular magazines
such as Germany’s Der Spiegel have printed articles highly critical of
German professors. A number of books in the United States have ap-
peared that claim that professors do not work hard enough and have
too much autonomy (Anderson 1992, Sykes 1988). However, there is
no groundswell of popular discontent with higher education or with
the professoriate evident anywhere. Still, the professoriate has lost some
of its luster as a profession in recent years although most sociological
studies of occupational prestige show that academics continue to rank
among the highly esteemed groups in society.

Patterns of Academic Appointments

Academic appointments are at present going through a period of con-
siderable ferment and change. For purposes of analysis, it may be use-
ful to consider systems that have the equivalent of tenure, or perma-
nent appointment of academics, as well as those that do not. Even
though permanent appointments are by no means universal, there is
considerable stability in academic careers even without formal guar-
antees. Traditionally, in many countries, academics hired in the lowest
16 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

rank after finishing graduate studies were “confirmed” after two or

three years of satisfactory performance, without undergoing a major
evaluation. Confirmation meant either a de jure or de facto assurance
of permanent appointment. Until Margaret Thatcher’s reforms in the
1980s, British universities worked this way. Confirmation as a lecturer
did not guarantee promotion, but it did assure a permanent position at
that rank.
Now that tenure has been abolished in the United Kingdom,
the situation has changed. Current British arrangements are worth ex-
amination, since other countries have looked to them as models. The
abolition of permanent tenure for academic staff in Britain’s universi-
ties had several motivations. One of the key objectives was ending the
binary system, with its distinctions between the traditional universi-
ties and the vocationally oriented polytechnics, which did not have
the right to confer academic degrees and never had a formalized ten-
ure system. The polytechnics were upgraded to university status, and
the terms of academic appointments in the reformed system reflected
the preexisting practices in the polytechnic.
The Thatcher administration also intended to introduce exter-
nal accountability into teaching and research, and to encourage com-
petition among academic institutions and individual academics. Mea-
sures were introduced for periodic evaluations of both teaching and
research and the ranking of institutions. These rankings have implica-
tions for budgetary allocations as well as research emphasis (Schuller
1991). Now, British academics at all ranks hold term appointments with
periodic evaluation and reappointment procedures. This arrangement
is not unlike proposals for post-tenure review in the United States—
terms of appointment are generally around five years and evaluation
seldom leads to the lost of a position—although there is no longer any
guarantee of continuing appointment in British higher education. The
professoriate working in the traditional British universities strongly
opposed the changes, but in the end the reforms were reluctantly ac-
cepted and caused neither major unrest nor disruption of academic
life (Halsey 1992; Farnham 1999). In fact, few lost their positions, and
academe continued much without major structural change. Academ-
ics holding positions at the time of the changes kept their tenure so
long as they were not promoted or did not take a position at another
university (Evans 1999). Most observers see the abolition of tenure more
of a symbolic loss than a practical one.
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 17

In the United States, tenure is awarded by specific academic

institutions, rather than by government authorities or university sys-
tems. At least in the upper tier of the academic system, the American
tenure system has one of the most rigorous processes for evaluation
and consideration of junior faculty anywhere in the world. The “six-
year-up-or-out” process of evaluation provides for careful review of
each applicant for tenure. Tenure can be abrogated by the university
for reasons of financial exigency, program reorganization, or for other
institutional reasons. Holders of tenure can also be terminated for spe-
cific dereliction of their responsibilities or for violations of university
policy. While abrogation of tenure is quite unusual in the United States,
it is by no means unprecedented.
In Europe, tenure has different legal and institutional roots,
and it provides stronger guarantees to those who hold it. In much of
Western Europe– including Germany, Italy, France, and Spain–tenure
is a right granted to senior members of the civil service as a result of
their appointments. University professors as well as most civil servants
are protected (Mora 2001). Professors are also paid according to civil
service scales, and there is little variation in salaries through the aca-
demic system. The German Beamte status, for example, provides iron-
clad job security regardless of financial or other problems facing the
university, including program abolition or reorganization (Enders 2001).
This status is guaranteed by law. In France, the faculty’s civil service
status protects senior academics in all universities. Faculty members
can be, but seldom are, transferred from one university to another, but
they cannot be fired Along with the guarantees of employment and
other rights, civil service appointments are highly valued in societies
where they have traditionally been symbolic of elite status. Not sur-
prisingly, senior academic staff fiercely guard their civil service ap-
pointments. Countries with this system have been slow to change due
in considerable part to the opposition of the academic profession.
Senior academics still have significant prestige as well as power
in society. In Italy, for example, many senior academics serve in Parlia-
ment and several have been prime ministers. French professors and
secondary school teachers constitute a significant proportion of the
national assembly and have traditionally enjoyed considerable influ-
ence (Chevaillier 2001).
Tenure (permanent contract) is given to senior members of the
professoriate, and appointments to senior faculty positions are care-
fully monitored and competitively awarded. Senior academics in those
European countries with a civil service system have the strongest guar-
18 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

antees of tenure and job security–until the age of compulsory retire-

ment–of any faculty members in the world. Certain other academics
are given permanent contracts as well. The proportion of academics
with permanent contracts varies among European countries. For ex-
ample, in Germany and Finland, the proportion of tenured staff stands
between 40 and 50 percent. In Austria, the Flemish parts of Belgium,
the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, between 50 and 60 percent are
tenured, in France and Ireland 80 percent, and in Italy 90 percent (Enders
2000, 16). At present, there are discussions concerning abolition or
modification of civil service appointments for academics, but so far
only the Netherlands, in the mid-1990s, has changed the system. Pro-
fessors and other academic staff are now appointed directly by the
universities, and are no longer part of the state service.
In general, appointment to senior faculty ranks takes place in
Europe after considerable scrutiny of the individual. In some coun-
tries, such as Germany, appointment to a senior professorship comes
only after a national search. The American pattern of promoting a jun-
ior academic up the ranks is not the pattern in much of Europe, where
there is wide gulf between junior positions and senior professorships.
The American system provides more continuity. In some European
countries, it is common for a junior appointee to have the security of
tenure, but no guarantee of promotion.
Employment arrangements in Japan’s public universities, and
many of the private institutions as well, are procedurally somewhat
less secure than is the case in Europe, although in practice anyone ap-
pointed to a full-time academic job in Japan immediately has a perma-
nent job, usually from the time of initial appointment. As in Europe,
promotion up the academic ranks is more difficult, in part because of
the rigid “chair” system that permits just one very powerful full pro-
fessor for each department. While the system is opening up, it has been
criticized for its lack of accountability and assessment as well as for the
difficulties that faculty members have in proceeding up the ladder of
appointments. The Japanese appointment system works, in part be-
cause it is so similar to the employment pattern in the rest of society.
Faculty members, recognizing the likelihood of lifelong employment
as a single university, generally perform as effectively as possible.
In China, much as in Japan, academic staff are given perma-
nent appointments at the time of hiring to a regular faculty position,
regardless of rank. They have job security until the age of retirement,
and it is highly unusual for any full-time academic to be removed from
his or her position for any reason—although there have been a small
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 19

number of instances of firings for involvement in dissident political

activity. While academic salaries are extremely low by international
standards, many Chinese faculty members are given subsidized hous-
ing on campus, access to low-cost food, and other benefits. These ap-
pointment and employment patterns are typical of China generally,
although the situation is slowly changing, both on campus in society,
as the economy becomes more market oriented.
The Latin American pattern of academic appointments stands
in sharp contrast to that of continental Europe. Tenure, as it is known
in Europe and North America, does not exist in most of Latin America.
The academic profession is sharply divided between part-time
instructors–who are paid a modest fee to teach a course or two, and
constitute the large majority of those teaching throughout Latin
America–and the minority of full-time faculty. Full-time faculty are
responsible for the governance of the university and are appointed and
have their contracts renewed on the basis of periodic “contests” in
public institutions. Academic posts are publicly announced, applicants
are considered, and one is chosen. Renewal of appointment is on the
basis of a further “contest,” which is announced and open to anyone.
The incumbent may have to compete against other applicants. This
system was established as a result of the reform movements of 1918 to
ensure the objectivity of academic appointments and a democratic en-
vironment in the universities. With the expansion of higher education,
the system no longer works well in many countries, and “contests,”
which are both expensive and time consuming, are often not held. The
actual turnover in the senior academic ranks is in fact very small. Pat-
terns of appointments in the growing private sector in Latin America
vary, but permanent appointments are unusual.
Many countries have “de facto” tenure arrangements. Even
without formal tenure, most full-time academics spend their careers in
a single institution. However, the sort of legal or contractual guaran-
tees that exist in Europe and North America are not the norm else-
where. In countries such as South Korea, India, and a number of other
Asian countries, there is a presumption of lifetime employment for
academics in full-time positions, but only limited procedural guaran-
tees. Few individuals are terminated, even when academic institutions
face difficult circumstances. In India, faculty members in the under-
graduate colleges, who make up the large majority of the profession,
do express fear of possible dismissal by management even though few
are actually fired.
20 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

Academic Freedom and Academic Appointments

In much of the world, there is little legal protection of academic free-
dom in the form of meaningful employment guarantees. Nonetheless,
in a 14-country study, faculty members felt fairly confident about their
academic freedom (Altbach and Lewis 1996, 31). During periods of
political crisis, academic freedom is not infrequently violated, especially

where traditions of autonomy and academic freedom are not well de-
veloped. Recent examples include China in the aftermath of the events
at Tienanmen Square, Serbia and Croatia during recent crises, and In-
donesia (Human Rights Watch 1998). Academic freedom is more pre-
carious at present in Asia and Africa. In much of the Middle East, aca-
demics feel constrained from freely expressing their views or engag-
ing in research on sensitive topics. This is the case in some African
countries. In Ethiopia recently, government pressure on professors re-
sulted in some dismissals. In Singapore and Malaysia, among other
countries, academic researchers, especially in the social sciences, feel
pressured not to do research on sensitive topics or to speak out pub-
licly on them. Even in the United States, which has a strong tradition
of protecting academic freedom and a recognition of the connection
between tenure and academic freedom, there were problems during
the McCarthy anticommunist scare in the 1950s. A small number of
faculty members were fired for political reasons, and many people
feared that academic freedom was being threatened (Schrecker 1986).
Academic freedom disappeared in Germany during the Nazi period
and was greatly restricted in the former Soviet Union and Central and
Eastern Europe during the Communist era.
Despite setbacks, in the Western industrialized countries at
least, academic freedom is reasonably well observed. Faculty mem-
bers usually are unrestricted in their ability to conduct research, ex-
press their views in the classroom, and participate in public debates on
issues relating both to their areas of expertise and with regard to broader
social and political issues. Academic freedom is defined more narrowly
in many parts of the world than is the case in the United States. Whereas
since the end of the 19th century, the American ideal of academic free-
dom has applied to the classroom, the laboratory, and the public arena,
the European concept is more restrictive–stemming from the
Humboldtian commitment to freedom of teaching and research within
the university and limited to the areas of faculty specialization (Shils
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 21

1991, 1-22). Such differences in definitions and traditions make exact

comparisons difficult. Nonetheless, academic freedom is more robust
now in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in former Soviet Union
and its successor states, than during the Soviet period. The idea that
professors require considerable freedom of research and expression in
classroom and laboratory is gaining acceptance–albeit frequently vio-
lated during periods of political unrest–even in parts of the world where
the concept is not entrenched.
In only a very few countries are the terms and conditions of
academic appointments linked to academic freedom. The United States
is, in fact, one of the very few countries where this is the case. Else-
where, tenure and other arrangements of appointments fall under the
category of employment practices, civil service issues, and other ad-
ministrative procedures. The fate of academic freedom is not seen as
being linked to the terms and conditions of professorial appointments.
If a worldwide survey of academic freedom were undertaken,
the result would likely be mixed. In much of the world, there are re-
strictions on academic freedom, both in the classroom and laboratory
and even more in the public forum. In much of the world, progress has
been documented, but one might estimate that a third of the professo-
riate feel some restrictions, and in a few countries, the situation re-
mains perilous. Unfortunately, no one monitors the state of academic
freedom.

Trends in Academic Appointments

In response to the pressures referred to earlier—budgetary problems,
accountability, changing patterns of enrollments, among others—aca-
demic hiring is undergoing considerable change. Without question, the
most important development is the diversification of the types of ap-
pointments made to teaching and research posts. The change likely to
have the greatest impact on the profession is the increase in the pro-
portion of academic staff without permanent appointments, even in
countries that retain tenure arrangements, and the greater use of part-
time teachers. The two major worldwide trends are the growth in part-
time appointments and the expansion or creation of full-time, nonten-
ured posts that have specific time limits.
Part-time Faculty
In the United States, it is estimated that under half the new
hiring is done on the tenure track (see Baldwin and Chronister, Chap-
ter X in this volume). A growing proportion of classes are taught by
22 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

part-time teachers (Finkelstein 2000). Latin America has traditionally

been dominated by part-time faculty, and despite widespread agree-
ment that greater numbers of full-time staff are needed to improve
raise academic standards in universities and create a research culture,
little has changed. Part-time teaching is less entrenched in other parts
of the world, although the phenomenon is growing as institutions
struggle to cope with ever-expanding enrollments and inadequate fund-
ing from government.
Part-time faculty bring some advantages to higher education.
They are typically professionals who are already working in their spe-
cializations and bring practical knowledge and experience to their
teaching. This is especially valuable in applied fields where links be-
tween theory and practice are central. They may be able to guide stu-
dents toward the knowledge that will be useful in obtaining jobs after
graduation. Part-time faculty are always much less expensive to use
than full-time staff. They receive only a modest stipend for their teach-
ing, often an hourly rate of remuneration, and no other benefits. The
university has no commitment to them and thus has complete flexibil-
ity in hiring. As budgets, curricular interests, and student demand dic-
tate, adjustments can be made in the number and specializations of the
part-time teachers. Part-time staff seldom get offices or laboratory space,
thus saving scarce university resources.
The disadvantages, often overlooked, are also significant. Part-
time faculty have minimal commitment to the institution. They simply
teach their classes and leave, which is why in Latin America they are
referred to as “taxicab” professors. Part-timers do not participate in
research and are not involved in campus or departmental governance.
Further, they are not likely to be knowledgeable about current intellec-
tual trends or research in their fields. They seldom have links to the
increasingly important world of international scholarship and do not
participate in the knowledge networks in their fields. The implications
are especially severe for research-oriented universities, where the need
for full-time researchers is especially strong, but even postsecondary
institutions not much engaged in research will feel the negative impli-
cations of an overreliance on part-time staff.
Part-time faculty do not have the opportunity to be fully in-
volved in an academic community. In most universities, existing rules
do not permit this, and in any case the time commitments of part-tim-
ers preclude such engagement. It is difficult, if not impossible, to build
an academic institution or culture on the basis of part-time faculty, nor
is it possible to develop a research base.
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 23

In a way, academic systems that rely increasingly on part-time

staff, including the United States, are becoming “Latin Americanized.”
The realities of higher education in much of Latin America provide a
disconcerting look into what may lie ahead for universities, and for
individual teaching staff, if part-time employment becomes the domi-
nant model. With a few exceptions–such as Campinas University in
Sao Paulo, Brazil, which has a high proportion of full-time professors–
universities do not produce much research. Universities are able to of-
fer instruction to large numbers of students at low cost. In most of
Latin America, tuition is low, or free, in the public universities, placing
great pressure on the institutions to keep costs low. The new private
universities, which now absorb a majority of enrollments in Brazil and
Chile, rely predominantly on part-time faculty in order to save money.
Their budgets do not, in general, permit them to appoint many full-
time professors. Latin American analysts have pointed out that fully
effective universities can emerge only when a critical mass of full-time
faculty is appointed, creating a cadre of academics who can build the
disciplines, engage in the governance of the university, and attend to
the development of both teaching and research (Albornoz 1991).

Alternative Patterns of Appointment

The “gold standard” of the American-style tenured or tenure-track
appointments is not the norm everywhere. Moreover, as a result of
many of the pressures discussed here, there have been debates con-
cerning changes in the nature of academic appointments in some coun-
tries.
One of the most dramatic systemic changes in the terms of
academic appointments took place in Britain in the 1980s, when the
traditional tenure system was abolished for new entrants to the pro-
fession (Shattock 2001). The other European country that has seen the
most comprehensive change in the nature of academic appointments
is the Netherlands, where professorial appointments were taken away
from the government and given to the universities, annulling the civil
service status of the professoriate (de Weert 2001). This was a signifi-
cant change in the legal basis of appointments, and it gave more power
to the universities to make their own decisions. However, the working
conditions, terms of appointment, and working conditions of the pro-
fessoriate changed very little.
24 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

The more predominant trend has been toward the appoint-

ment of full-time academic staff not eligible for permanent positions.
In continental Europe, this category of appointment has existed for
more than a century, and was codified in the German Humboldtian
university model in the early 19th century. The German academic sys-
tem is based on the Humboldtian chair system which, with modifica-
tions in recent years, remains the central organizational principle of
academic appointments. The chair system is rigidly based on senior-
ity, historically elevating one senior professor within each discipline
and a variety of junior staff arranged under the chairholder. Junior schol-
ars hold term appointments and cannot proceed up the ranks at a single
university to a professorship. Rather, they must compete for any avail-
able openings at other universities, or on the completion of their term
appointments, they must move on to a similar position elsewhere.
In Germany, 72 percent of the teaching staff are on limited-
term appointments without professorial rank and without permanent
tenure. The greater portion have full-time appointments.
Nonprofessorial appointees do not, in general, have the possibility of
promotion up the ranks to a tenured professorship. Most must com-
plete a second research-based dissertation (the habilitation) and then
compete for the scarce professorial positions that become available,
but cannot be appointed at the university where they earned their ha-
bilitation. These academic employees, many of whom have completed
their habilitations, have limited term appointments but their contracts
may be extended by the university. They may not, however, be pro-
moted. This forced mobility creates a high degree of instability in the
German academic system.
In recent years, there has been a liberalization in the structure
of senior professorial ranks. Several new ranks have been added and
at least the possibility exists of having more than one senior professor
in the same department or discipline. Yet, the system remains hierar-
chical, with a great divide between the senior professors, who have
completed the habilitation and hold civil service rank, and the rest of
the teaching and research staff. While there has been some discussion
of modifying or even eliminating the habilitation, there has been no
change so far in this requirement.
The German system of academic appointments had a major
impact in Europe and beyond. Most academic systems in Central and
Eastern Europe are directly patterned on the German model. The Japa-
 THE ACADEMIC ESTATE 25

nese national universities also retain the chair system, with a rigid hi-
erarchy of academic appointments although without the necessity to
move from one university to another (Arimoto 1996).
Some European countries have also coped with rising enroll-
ments and tight budgets by turning to nonprofessorial appointments.
Italy recently started to reform its academic system to cope with
massification (Moscati 2001). Expansion in student numbers had caused
deteriorating conditions of study, higher drop-out rates, and a grow-
ing time-to-degree problem. Teacher-student ratios have ballooned to
1:30, even with recent reforms permitting research appointees (who
have limited-term positions) to teach. The tradition that reserved con-
trol over teaching and design of courses for senior professors has re-
cently been modified. The ranks of full and associate professors have
been expanded as well, especially at the bottom where there are no
permanent appointments.
France has tried a somewhat different approach to deal with
expansion of enrollments. Rather than stock the universities with tem-
porary staff, the Ministry of Education transferred large numbers of
secondary school teachers to the universities to provide instruction in
the basic courses. Since both secondary and tertiary teaching staff are
civil servants and have similar academic credentials, this arrangement
has been widely accepted. Secondary school teachers are accorded con-
siderable respect in society. Moreover, French academic secondary
schools provide instruction at a level not dissimilar from that in the
first year or two of university. It is possible to shift teachers back to
secondary education if they are no longer needed in the universities,
since the basic terms of appointment are not dissimilar, and secondary
teachers and university staff have both tenure and civil service status.
Worldwide, there is a tendency to make junior staff appointments that
lack the prestige, job security, and perquisites of the traditional profes-
sorship. Often these appointments are not linked to the career track of
the professoriate, and the possibility of promotion up the ranks does
not exist. There is often a specific term of appointment that may or
may not be extended. A kind of caste system has grown up, with the
senior professoriate at the top and with growing numbers of proletar-
ian part-time and term-appointed full-time staff below. The propor-
tion of upper-caste senior academics at the top is decreasing, as insti-
tutions alter their hiring policies in response to fiscal and other pres-
sures.
26 PHILIP G. ALTBACH

Patterns of Remuneration
Traditionally, the full-time professoriate could expect a salary putting
its members in the middle or upper-middle class of society. Few people
entered the academic profession to reap great financial rewards, but
most expected to earn an appropriate middle-class salary. The 1994 14-
country Carnegie study of the academic profession found that most
academics (except for respondents from Hong Kong) were dissatisfied
with their salaries, with large majorities of respondents in all of the
countries describing them as only fair or poor (Altbach and Lewis 1996,
10). While academic salaries vary widely, the professoriate in the in-
dustrialized countries still commands a middle-class salary. Academic
salaries have not, however, kept up with inflation or with comparable
salaries in the private sector. For much of the rest of the world, remu-
neration has deteriorated to the extent that academic salaries no longer
provide a middle-class lifestyle.
Across Europe, pay scales for the highest professorial ranks
differ considerably by cou