Views of academic work

Abstract

Studies over the last 30 years have shown that academic staff worldwide share many perceptions regarding the satisfactions and dissatisfactions of their jobs. Although academic values appear to be remarkably constant, emerging data from research projects at one Australian university indicate that there is a mismatch between the expectations of new academics (the myths of the academy) and the reality they experience in the academic workplace. At another level of the university, there is a perception that the traditions and practices of the past retard the progress of universities into the new millennium. In Australia, there have been many challenges to an idealized view of academe since requirements for quality, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness have been superimposed onto the ‘massification’ and internationalisation of higher education (concurrent with a reduction in government funding). This article reports on the perspectives of a sample of new academic members of one Australian university within the context and the cultures of the university as it attempts to navigate the shoals of expectations from government ministries, budget imperatives, employers, the general community, professional bodies, students and staff.