The Academic Profession and the Role of the Service Function

Abstract

While teaching and research, traditionally regarded as two academic pillars, have been in the focus of numerous studies, service activity has been highlighted less. Despite the academic attention it has received lately, service is still a vaguely defined concept – or scholarly discipline – and is still searching for a more intense scientific discourse. This (sub) chapter thereby aims at contributing to the academic debate and offers some reflections on the concept of academic service, discussing data collected in 12 European countries. Highlighting the similarities and differences between senior and junior academics at universities as well as those between academics at other higher education institutions, this chapter discusses various themes linked to ‘service’: academic workload in service activities, the nature of service activities, the interconnection of service with other academic activities, ‘service character’ in academic teaching and research and academics’ views on the scholarship of service as well as their perception of institutional strategies encouraging service activities. In exploring the factors associated with the orientation of academics towards service activities, significant differences by country stand out. However, the 12-country analysis suggests that the traditional core functions of teaching and research are (still) clearly in the forefront of the academic activities, while service has remained up on the margin.