The Academic Profession in Germany

Abstract

The surveys of the German academic profession undertaken in 1992 and 2007 partly confirm and partly challenge conventional assumptions about how academics in Germany think and act. Professors at German universities turn out to be hard-working and productive. They consider their preference for research as compatible with a close link between teaching and research and an emphasis put on academic quality to be compatible with concerns for practical relevance. They view the increasing managerial power of creating undue pressures, but they believe that they have kept a say in key academic matters. Junior academics at German universities share the views of seniors in many respects. Even though many of them are part-time and short-term employed and experience risky career prospects, their overall professional satisfaction grew over time. The views and activities of academics at German Fachhochschulen are strongly shaped by a high teaching load and by the expectation to serve applied teaching and learning as well as possibly applied research. Though the actual activities moved towards more research activities in recent years, academics of this second type of higher education institution continue to differ substantially in their self-understanding from scholars active at universities.