Workshop 17-18 March 2015
Academic Work Today. Challenges in an Age of Globalization
Salle Table Ronde, MISHA Strasbourg
Globalization and the Europeanization of Higher Education policies have increased their impact on the organization of universities particularly through the Bologna process and the Lisbon Strategy. At the global level, the development of international rankings influences policy-making and the restructuring of Higher Education Institutions. International organizations have promoted academic mobility, entrepreneurship, the market and accountability as means to enhance economic growth and competitiveness.
In France, the restructuration and merging of universities, the creation of an agency of evaluation, the increased power of chancellors, and the competition between research units in the name of excellence exemplify the progressive implementation of New Public Management and accountability. After the 2007 Act of Autonomy and Responsibility, this new Higher Education policy began to impact the work of academics even if these changes are far from some processes of marketization and privatization observed in the UK and North America.
The objective of the workshop is to analyse the new conditions of academic work in relation to some current evolutions at the global level: the development of assessment and accountability, the restructuration of tasks and activities according to the Third Mission, the imposition of new professional standards, the new conditions of flexibility and mobility, the introduction of quality insurance mechanisms, etc. Furthermore, the workshop will discuss the effects of these transformations on the fabrication and the shifts of the academic self as well as on the new dispositions valued and required in terms of expertise, entrepreneurship, leadership, and consultancy.
