Abstract
This article reports on the changing work-related attitudes and demographics of academic staff in Australia, in four universities and four former colleges of advanced education (CAEs, comparable to polytechnics), surveyed in 1979, 1984 and 1990. The surveys were of all academic staff in each institution, with response rates averaging 47%. As in other countries, the former binary system of education has recently been ended by reconstituting colleges of advanced education as universities. Differences in work-related attitude are examined, and shown to differ consistently between the types of institution, across the elapsed time, and between the sexes, ranks and academic disciplines of the respondents. In particular, each institution has shown a sustained increase in academic staff alienation and dissatisfaction over the eleven-year period. The differences in demographics and in work-related attitudes between original universities and former colleges of advanced education remain after the ending of the binary system. The differences are discussed in relation to a number of current policy issues, including the ending of the binary system of higher education. Since similar policy changes and similar pressures are occurring in a number of countries, the findings of the study have implications beyond Australia.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dawkins, J.S. (1987).Higher Education: A Policy Discussion Paper. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Everett, J.E. (1983). ‘Factor comparability as a means of determining the number of factors and their rotation’,Multivariate Behavioral Research 18/2, 197–218.
Everett, J.E., and Entrekin, L.V. (1980). Work-related attitudes of academic staff at Australian universities and colleges: Part 1 — the survey and its findings’,Journal of Educational Administration 18, 271–282.
Everett, J.E., and Entrekin, L.V. (1987).Academic Attitudes. Sydney: Methuen.
Ferris, J.M. (1992). ‘A contractual approach to higher education performance: with an application to Australia’,Higher Education 24, 503–516.
Gamage, D.T. (1992). ‘Recent reforms in Australian higher education with particular reference to institutional amalgamations’,Higher Education 24, 77–91.
Genn, J.M. (1982).The Pursuit of Excellence in University Teaching in Australia. Sydney: HERDSA.
Hudson, J. (1988). ‘The binary system’,Journal of Tertiary Educational Administration 10(1), 39–48.
Hughes, C., and Sohler, C. (1992). ‘Can performance management work in Australian universities?’,Higher Education 24, 41–56.
Jones, W., and Ainley, J. (1987).Research and Development in Colleges of Advanced Education in Australia. Hawthorn, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.
McInnis, C. (1992). ‘Changes in the nature of academic work’,Australian Universities' Review (In press).
Moses, I. (1986). ‘Promotion of academic staff — reward and incentive’,Higher Education 15, 135–149.
NBEET (National Board of Employment, Education and Training) (1989) Report of the Task Force on Amalgamations in Higher Education. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Ramsden, P., and Moses, I. (1992). ‘Association between research and teaching in Australian higher education’,Higher Education 23, 273–295.
Scott, R. (1988). ‘The new binarism?: staffing aspects of the green paper’,Australian Universities' Review. 1, 12–15.
Williams, B.R. (1978).Systems of Higher Education: Australia. New York: International Council for Educational Development.
Wood, F.Q., Meek, V.L., and Harman, G. (1992). ‘The research grant learning process. Learning from failure?’,Higher Education 24, 1–23.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Everett, J.E., Entrekin, L.V. Changing attitudes of Australian academics. High Educ 27, 203–227 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01384089
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01384089