Academic staff between threat and opportunity: Changing employment and conditions of service

Academic staff constitute the core of higher education institutions. They are engaged in teaching and/or research and vary in rank from the highest rank of full professor to the lowest of instructor or research assistant. There are clear indications that staff are experiencing increased pressures to meet a wide range of obligations. Recent studies show that there is dissatisfaction among staff with the conditions in which their tasks — teaching, research and public service — have to be performed, with deteriorating effects on the motivation and quality of their work (UNESCO 1992). According to the OECD study on staffing higher education, the morale of academic staff is generally thought to be lower than in previous generations (Kogan et al. 1994). Factors given for this dissatisfaction are, amongst others, pay and conditions of service, and lack of research time. These changing conditions appear to threaten the traditional position of academic staff.