Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

PROFESSORS OR PROFESSIONALS?

PROFESSORS OR PROFESSIONALS? Books and articles are written with titles like The Last Professors and The End of the University. Of course these headings should not be taken literally. What they indicate are deep changes in the nature of the university and in the understanding of what is a professor. They also demonstrate a profound malaise, especially – but not only - among academics in the Humanities. In this brief paper an attempt is made to understand what is happening. Universities have been changing from institutions dedicated to specific “ends in themselves” (academic teaching and research) into organizations geared towards the production of specific forms of outcome or product (credits, diploma’s, publications, etc.). Professors have become professionals in the service of such organizations. It is argued that these changes produce effects which pervert the internal aims of university teaching and research. They originate in a wider cultural, quasi-religious belief in mastery and control. Keywords: university; university management; professor versus professional; institution versus organization; entrepreneurial rationality; trust http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice Addleton Academic Publishers

Loading next page...
 
/lp/addleton-academic-publishers/professors-or-professionals-05TGhUU0tu

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Addleton Academic Publishers
Copyright
© 2009 Addleton Academic Publishers
ISSN
1948-9137
eISSN
2162-2752
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Books and articles are written with titles like The Last Professors and The End of the University. Of course these headings should not be taken literally. What they indicate are deep changes in the nature of the university and in the understanding of what is a professor. They also demonstrate a profound malaise, especially – but not only - among academics in the Humanities. In this brief paper an attempt is made to understand what is happening. Universities have been changing from institutions dedicated to specific “ends in themselves” (academic teaching and research) into organizations geared towards the production of specific forms of outcome or product (credits, diploma’s, publications, etc.). Professors have become professionals in the service of such organizations. It is argued that these changes produce effects which pervert the internal aims of university teaching and research. They originate in a wider cultural, quasi-religious belief in mastery and control. Keywords: university; university management; professor versus professional; institution versus organization; entrepreneurial rationality; trust

Journal

Contemporary Readings in Law and Social JusticeAddleton Academic Publishers

Published: Jan 1, 2015

There are no references for this article.