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Diversity of Higher Education in Europe and the Findings of a Comparative Study of the Academic Profession

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European Higher Education at the Crossroads

Abstract

Most analyses on the extent of “diversity” of higher education focus on the shape and the size of national higher education systems. The current dominant discourse suggests that the vertical diversity between higher education institutions is on the rise, that profiles of individual institutions might evolve and that efforts and pressures toward supranational similarity are enormous. Altogether, the virtue of substantial diversity is more often currently praised than the virtue of moderate diversity within higher education. This article raises the questions whether concepts and policies addressing the diversity of higher education systems remain more or less at the skin of higher education or whether they affect the inner life of higher education. The views and activities of the academic profession, as visible in international comparative surveys, might be a good testing ground to clarify how relevant the diversity discourse actually is for the academic life. The findings of the survey “The Changing Academic Profession” show most clearly that national differences in the academics’ views and practices continue to play a substantial role. There seem to be some norms of a certain degree of balance between teaching and research which affect the life of the majority of University Professors, but these play a lesser role for the junior staff in universities and for academics in other institutions of higher education and they leave room for diverse options on the part of the individual academics. The modes and the extent of diversity in academic life seem to be affected by the policy discourse on institutional patterns and on managerial styles to a lesser extent than might have been expected.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER-Kassel), University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Ulrich Teichler

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  1. Ulrich Teichler
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Correspondence to Ulrich Teichler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Adrian Curaj

  2. Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom

    Peter Scott

  3. , Sociology Department, Bucharest University, Bucharest, Romania

    Lazăr Vlasceanu

  4. European University Association, Brussels, Belgium

    Lesley Wilson

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Teichler, U. (2012). Diversity of Higher Education in Europe and the Findings of a Comparative Study of the Academic Profession. In: Curaj, A., Scott, P., Vlasceanu, L., Wilson, L. (eds) European Higher Education at the Crossroads. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3937-6_47

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