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Collegiality and performativity in a competitive academic culture

Collegiality and performativity in a competitive academic culture
Collegiality and performativity in a competitive academic culture
Collegiality is one of the most symbolically significant concepts of higher education and continues to be widely espoused as a core value by members of the academic profession. However, the highly competitive and performative nature of modern higher education means that the conventional values and behaviours associated with collegiality, such as mentoring and consensual decision-making, are coming under increasing pressure. The paper reports on a questionnaire survey of academics within a Faculty of a leading research university in Hong Kong designed to understand perceptions of structural, cultural and behavioural collegiality. These perceptions vary considerably by academic rank and gender with power vested in a mainly male professorial oligarchy. Collegiality appears to be most weakly formed as a behavioural norm and, linked to this finding, the study further indicates how ventriloquizing the values of collegiality has become a performative riff in academic life which, in practice, is increasingly characterised by isolation and individualised competition.
31-50
Macfarlane, Bruce
3e2b9eb0-1772-4642-bb51-ab49cc5b748c
Macfarlane, Bruce
3e2b9eb0-1772-4642-bb51-ab49cc5b748c

Macfarlane, Bruce (2016) Collegiality and performativity in a competitive academic culture. Higher Education Review, 48 (2), 31-50.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Collegiality is one of the most symbolically significant concepts of higher education and continues to be widely espoused as a core value by members of the academic profession. However, the highly competitive and performative nature of modern higher education means that the conventional values and behaviours associated with collegiality, such as mentoring and consensual decision-making, are coming under increasing pressure. The paper reports on a questionnaire survey of academics within a Faculty of a leading research university in Hong Kong designed to understand perceptions of structural, cultural and behavioural collegiality. These perceptions vary considerably by academic rank and gender with power vested in a mainly male professorial oligarchy. Collegiality appears to be most weakly formed as a behavioural norm and, linked to this finding, the study further indicates how ventriloquizing the values of collegiality has become a performative riff in academic life which, in practice, is increasingly characterised by isolation and individualised competition.

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Published date: 1 March 2016

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 398376
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/398376
PURE UUID: 8c9caf87-5d85-49f2-bfb4-57b23f198c2b

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Date deposited: 25 Jul 2016 10:15
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 11:14

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Contributors

Author: Bruce Macfarlane

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