Abstract
The chapter explores, using a sociological perspective, connections between debates about university purposes, changing academic cultures and a high incidence of poor doctoral researcher mental health. Drawing upon Locatelli’s work about education for the public good and Burawoy’s work on public sociology (Burawoy, American Sociological Review 4–28, 2005; Locatelli, Education As a Public and Common Good: Revisiting the Role of the State in a Context of Growing Marketization, Bergamo University, 2017), the chapter looks at how contemporary universities’ conditions and academic work can affect doctoral researchers’ wellbeing. Some suggestions are made about activities to encourage doctoral researchers to interact more closely with civil society and help the public engage with aspects of academic knowledge which can benefit the public good.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
References
Acker, S., & Haque, E. (2014). The Struggle to Make Sense of Doctoral Study. Higher Education Research & Development, 34(2), 229–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.956699
Advance HE. (2018). Postgraduate Research Experience Survey. Retrieved from https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/news-and-views/pres-2018-infographic
Allmer, T. (2018). Precarious, Always-On and Flexible: A Case Study of Academics As Information Workers. European Journal of Communication, 33(4), 381–395.
Altbach, P. G., & De Wit, H. (2018, September 7). Too Much Academic Research Is Being Published. University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180905095203579
Appel, M., & Dahlgren, L. (2003). Swedish Doctoral Student’s Experiences on Their Journey Towards a PhD: Obstacles and Opportunities Inside and Outside the Academic Building. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 47, 89–110.
Bentley, P., & Kyvik, S. (2012). Academic Work from a Comparative Perspective: A Survey of Faculty Working Time Across 13 Countries. Higher Education, 63(4), 529–547.
Bernstein, B., Evans, B., Fyffe, J., Halai, N., Hall, F., Jensen, H., et al. (2014). The Continued Evolution of the Research Doctorate. In M. Nerad & B. Evans (Eds.), Globalisation and Its Impacts on the Quality of PhD Education (pp. 5–30). Rotterdam: Sense Publishing.
Boden, R., & Nedeva, M. (2010). Employing Discourse: Universities and Graduate ‘Employability’. Journal of Education Policy, 25(1), 37–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930903349489
Bok, D. (2004). Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Bothwell, E. (2017, April 13). Universities Urged to Tackle PhD Mental Health Crisis; Institutions Told They Have a ‘Culture of Excluding Postgraduates’ in Wake of Damning Study. Times Higher. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-urged-tackle-phd-mental-health-crisis
Budd, R. (2016). Undergraduate Orientations Towards Higher Education in Germany and England: Problematizing the Notion of ‘Student As Customer’. Higher Education, 73(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9977-4
Burawoy, M. (2005). For Public Sociology. American Sociological Review, 70(1), 4–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240507000102
Calhoun, C. (2006). The University and the Public Good. Thesis Eleven, 84(1), 7–43.
Charkabortty, A. (2018, September 20). Mis-Sold, Expensive and Overhyped: Why Our Universities Are a Con. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/20/university-factory-failed-tony-blair-social-mobility-jobs
Cloete, N. (2015, August 28). The PhD and the Ideology of ‘No Transformation’. University World News, 379. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150827135017823
Cloete, N., Mouton, J., & Sheppard, C. (2015). The Doctorate in South Africa: Discourse, Data and Policies. Cape Town: African Minds.
Collini, S. (2012). What Are Universities For? London: Penguin.
Courtois, A., & O’Keefe, T. (2015). Precarity in the Ivory Cage: Neoliberalism and Casualisation of Work in the Irish Higher Education Sector. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 13(1), 43–56.
Courtois, A., & O’Keefe, T. (2019). ‘Not One of the Family’: Gender and Precarious Work in the Neoliberal University. Gender Work and Organizations, 26(4), 463–479.
Cruickshank, J. (2016). Putting Business at the Heart of Higher Education: On Neoliberal Interventionism and Audit Culture in UK Universities. Open Library of the Humanities (The Abolition of the University). Retrieved from https://olh.openlibhums.org/articles/10.16995/olh.77/
Danowitz, M. A. (2016). Power, Jobs and Bodies: The Experiences of Becoming a Gender Scholar in Doctoral Education. Studies in Higher Education, 41(5), 847–858. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1147720
Darabi, M., Macaskill, A., & Reidy, L. (2017). Stress Among UK Academics: Identifying Who Copes Best. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 41(3), 393–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2015.1117598
de Maret, P., & Salmi, J. (Eds.). (2018). World Class Universities: Towards a Global Common Good and Seeking National and Institutional Contributions. Leiden: Brill/Sense.
Deem, R. (2017). New Managerialism in Higher Education. In J. C. Shin & P. Texeira (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Dordrecht: Springer.
Deem, R., & Brehony, K. J. (2000). Doctoral Students’ Access to Research Cultures: Are Some More Equal than Others? Studies in Higher Education, 25(2), 149–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/713696138
Deem, R., & McCowan, T. (2018g). Understanding the role of university graduates in society: Which conception of public good? In P. Ashwin & J. Case (Eds.), In Pathways to the Public Good: Access, Experiences and Outcomes of South African Undergraduate Education (pp. 61–77). Cape Town African Minds.
Deem, R., Hillyard, S., & Reed, M. (2007). Knowledge, Higher Education and the New Managerialism: The Changing Management of UK Universities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Deem, R., Mok, K. H., & Lucas, L. (2007). Transforming Higher Education in Whose Image? Exploring the Concept of the ‘World Class’ University in Europe and Asia. Retrieved from http://recordings.wun.ac.uk/id/2007/
Delanty, G. (2001). Challenging Knowledge: The University in the Knowledge Society. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Docherty, T. (2011). For the University: Democracy and the Future of the Institution. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Flaherty, C. (2018, March 6). Mental Health Crisis for Grad Students. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/03/06/new-study-says-graduate-students-mental-health-crisis
Fontinha, R., Van Laar, D., & Easton, S. (2018). Quality of Working Life of Academics and Researchers in the UK: The Roles of Contract Type, Tenure and University Ranking. Studies in Higher Education, 43(4), 786–806. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1203890
Giannakis, M., & Bullivant, N. (2014). The Massification of Higher Education in the UK: Aspects of Service Quality. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 40(5), 630–648. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2014.1000280
Gibbons, M., Limgoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (1994). The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies. London: Sage.
Giroux, H. (2018). Neoliberal Savagery and the Assault on Higher Education As a Democratic Public Sphere. In D. Bhattacharya (Ed.), The University Unthought: Notes for a Future. New Delhi: Routledge.
Gopaul, B. (2015). Inequality and Doctoral Education: Exploring the “Rules” of Doctoral Study Through Bourdieu’s Notion of Field. Higher Education, 70(1), 73–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9824-z
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers.
Gumport, P. (2000). Academic Restructuring: Organizational Change and Institutional Imperatives. Higher Education, 39(1), 67–91.
Habermas, J. (1984). The Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and Rationalization of Society (English translation Ed. Vol. 1) (T. McCarthy, Trans.). London: Heinemann.
Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the Reshaping of Higher Education: The Battle for World-Class Excellence. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Hunter, K., & Devine, K. (2016). Doctoral Students’ Emotional Exhaustion and Intentions to Leave Academia. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 11, 35–61. Retrieved from http://ijds.org/Volume11/IJDSv11p035-061Hunter2198.pdf
Jones, M. (2018). Contemporary Trends in Professional Doctorates. Studies in Higher Education, 43(5), 814–825. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1438095
Keet, A., Nel, W., & Sattarzadeh, S. D. (2017). Retreating Rights: Human Rights, Pre-Theoretical Praxes and Student Activism in South African Universities. South African Journal of Higher Education, 31(6), 79–95.
Kinman, G., Jones, F., & Kinman, R. (2005). The Well-Being of the UK Academy, 1998–2004. Quality in Higher Education, 12(1), 15–27.
Kurtz-Costes, B., Helmke, L. A., & Ulku-Steiner, B. (2006). Gender and Doctoral Studies: The Perceptions of PhD Students in an American University. Gender and Education, 18(2), 137–156.
Kyvic, S. (2013). The Academic Researcher Role: Enhancing Expectations and Improved Performance. Higher Education, 65(4), 525–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9561-0
Kyvik, S. (2013). The Academic Researcher Role: Enhancing Expectations and Improved Performance. Higher Education, 65(4), 525–538.
Lazaridis, G., Campani, G., & Benveniste, A. (Eds.). (2016). The Rise of the Far Right in Europe: Populist Shifts and ‘Othering’. Cham: Springer.
Leibowitz, B. (Ed.). (2012). Higher Education for the Public Good: Views from the South. Stellenbosch: Trentham Books and Sun Media.
Levecquea, K., Anseela, F., De Beuckelaerd, A., Van der Heyden, J., & Gislef, L. (2017). Work Organization and Mental Health Problems in PhD Students. Research Policy, 46, 868–879.
Locatelli, R. (2017). Education as a Public and Common Good: Revisiting the Role of the State in a Context of Growing Marketization. Unpublished PhD, Bergamo University.
Lunt, I., & Clarke, G. (2014). International Comparisons in Postgraduate Education: Quality, Access and Employment Outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rereports/Year/2014/pginternational/Title,92156,en.html
Magalhães, A., Veiga, A., & Videira, P. (2017). Hard and Soft Managerialism in Portuguese Higher Education Governance. In R. Deem & H. Eggins (Eds.), The University As a Critical Institution? (pp. 37–52). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Marginson, S. (2018). Public/Private in Higher Education: A Synthesis of Economic and Political Approaches. Studies in Higher Education, 43(2), 322–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1168797
Mayo, P. (2019). Higher Education and Globalisation: Life Long Learning and Community Engagement in Europe and Beyond. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
McAlpine, L., & Emmioğlu, E. (2015). Navigating Careers: Perceptions of Sciences Doctoral Students, Post-PhD Researchers and Pre-Tenure Academics. Studies in Higher Education, 40(10), 1770–1785.
Metcalfe, J., Wilson, S., & Levecquea, K. (2018). Exploring Wellbeing and Mental Health and Associated Support Services for Postgraduate Researchers. Cambridge. Retrieved from https://re.ukri.org/documents/2018/mental-health-report/
Mok, K. H. (2005). The Quest for World Class University: Quality Assurance and International Benchmarking. Quality Assurance in Education, 13(4), 277–304.
Mok, K. H., & Jiang, J. (2018). Massification of Higher Education: Challenges for Admissions and Graduate Employment in China. [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.researchcghe.org/perch/resources/publications/wp5.pdf
Musselin, C. (2013). Redefinition of the Relationships Between Academics and Their University. Higher Education, 65, 25–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9579-3
Nixon, J. (2011). Higher Education and the Public Good: Imagining the University. London and New York: Continuum.
Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2019). Cultural Backlash and the Rise of Populism: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nowotny, H., Scott, P., & Gibbons, M. (2001). Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge and Maiden, MA: Polity Press.
Nyhagen, G. M., & Baschung, L. (2013). New Organisational Structures and the Transformation of Academic Work. Higher Education, 66, 409–423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-013-9612-1
Pedersen, H. S. (2014). New Doctoral Graduates in the Knowledge Economy: Trends and Key Issues. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 36(6), 632–645. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2014.957891
Pereira, M. d. M. (2017). Power, Knowledge and Feminist Scholarship: An Ethnography of Academia. London: Routledge.
Porter, S. (2019). Canadian Ambitions and Experiments in Rethinking Doctoral Education—Plenary Address. Paper presented at the UK Council for Graduate Education 4th International Conference on Developments in Doctoral Education and Training The Grand Hotel, Malahide, Co Dublin.
Redden, E. (2019, January 23). Stepping Out of the Rat Race. Inside Higher Education.
Reisz, M. (2017, April 11). Assessing PhD Supervisors ‘Leads to Higher Completion Rates’. Times Higher Education Supplement. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/assessing-phd-supervisors-leads-higher-completion-rates
Santos, G. G. (2015). Narratives About Work and Family Life Among Portuguese Academics. Gender Work and Organisation, 22(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12061
Schiermeier, Q. (2018, January 4). Germany vs Elsevier: Universities Win Temporary Journal Access After Refusing to Pay Fees. Nature, 553, 137. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-00093-7. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00093-7
Schmidt, M., & Hansson, E. (2018). Doctoral Students Well-Being: A Literature Review. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 13, 1508171. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2018.1508171
Shin, J. C., & Jung, J. (2014). Academics Job Satisfaction and Job Stress Across Countries in the Changing Academic Environments. Higher Education, 67(5), 603–620. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-013-9668-y
Song, J. (2018). Creating World-Class Universities in China: Strategies and Impacts at a Renowned Research University. Higher Education, 75(4), 729–742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0167-4
Soubes, S. (2017). Postdoctoral Research Development in the Sciences: A Bourdieusian Analysis. Unpublished Thesis, Sheffield University.
Stubb, J., Pyhältö, K., & Lonka, K. (2011). Balancing Between Inspiration and Exhaustion: PhD Students’ Experienced Sociological Well-Being. Studies in Continuing Education, 33(1), 33–50.
Stubb, J., Pyhältö, K., & Lonka, K. (2012). The Experienced Meaning of Working with a PhD Thesis. Scandinavian Journal of Higher Education, 56(4), 439–456.
Swartz, R., Ivancheva, M., Czerniewicz, L., & Morris, N. P. (2019). Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Dilemmas Regarding the Purpose of Public Universities in South Africa. Higher Education, 77(4), 567–583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0291-9
Thomas, S. (2015). Academic Socialization and Social Support at the Postgraduate Level. Paper Presented at the UK Council for Graduate Education, Glasgow. Retrieved from http://www.ukcge.ac.uk/events/documents/Presentations-53.aspx
Tight, M. (2010). Are Academic Workloads Increasing? The Post-War Survey Evidence in the UK. Higher Education Quarterly, 64(2), 200–215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2009.00433.x
Veiga, A., Magalhães, A., & Amaral, A. (2015). From Collegial Governance to Boardism: Reconfiguring Governance in Higher Education. In J. Huisman, H. De Boer, D. Dill, & M. Souto-Otero (Eds.), The Palgrave International Handbook of Higher Education Policy and Governance (pp. 398–416). London and New York: Palgrave.
Wakeling, P., & Hampden-Thompson, G. (2013). Transition to Higher Degrees Across the UK: An Analysis of National, Institutional and Individual Differences. York: Higher Education Academy. Retrieved from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/research/Transition_to_higher_degree_across_the_UK.pdf
Wakeling, P., & Laurison, D. (2017). Are Postgraduate Qualifications the ‘New Frontier of Social Mobility’? British Journal of Sociology, 68(3), 533–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12277
Walker, M., Dison, A., McClean, M., & Vaughan, R. (2010). Higher Education and Poverty Reduction: The Formation of Public Good Professionals in Universities. Swindon. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/dfid-research-outputs/higher-education-and-poverty-reduction-the-formation-of-public-good-professionals-in-universities
Wells, J. (1996). Laboring for Love? A Comment on Academics and Their Hours of Work. Antipode, 28(3), 292–303. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.1996.tb00464.x
Ylijoki, O.-H. (2011). Boundary-Work Between Work and Life in the High-Speed University. Studies in Higher Education, 38(2), 242–255.
Acknowledgements
I thank the participants at the A3ES Douro Seminar in October 2018 for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the chapter. I also presented a revised version of the chapter at a seminar for the New Social Research Unit, Doctoral School academics, doctoral researchers and other visitors at the University of Tampere, Finland, on 29 January 2019 and the ensuing discussion was invaluable in revising the paper. Particular thanks to Jaako Kauko who after that seminar suggested to me that I make use of Burawoy’s work on public sociology. A further version of the paper was presented at a workshop on academic work in Jyväskyla, Finland, in May 2019, where participant comments were again extremely helpful.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Deem, R. (2020). Rethinking Doctoral Education: University Purposes, Academic Cultures, Mental Health and the Public Good. In: Cardoso, S., Tavares, O., Sin, C., Carvalho, T. (eds) Structural and Institutional Transformations in Doctoral Education. Issues in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38046-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38046-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38045-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38046-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)