Academic Salaries Research Articles

Cambodia’s aspirations to become a knowledge-based society: Challenges and recommendations

Cambodia aspires to become a knowledge-based society to remain relevant in the context of the global knowledge-based economy. However, it remains uncertain how this aspiration can be realized considering the low quality of the country’s education system. Drawing on secondary sources, this article aims to shed light on Cambodia’s aspirations for a knowledge-based society. The article begins by defining the term “knowledge-based society” before providing an overview of the Cambodian education system and discussing key challenges that limit Cambodia’s ability to realize its vision to become a knowledge society. Key challenges were related to low higher education enrollment, a shortage of educational staff with doctoral degrees, a weak innovation capacity, and other critical challenges such as low academic salaries, a lack of clear academic career pathways, limited research funding, and limited knowledge about research. The article provides a set of recommendations that concerned stakeholders should consider to improve the quality of the Cambodian education system and support the country to achieve its goal in developing into a knowledge-based society. It concludes with suggestions for future research to generate new knowledge about Cambodia—a context underrepresented in international literature.

On Solution to ASUU Strike and Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure II (CONUASS II) in the Nigerian Universities Using Optimization Method

In this paper, we applied a dynamic programming model for the optimization of Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure II (CONUASS II) for the overall interest of the academic staff and the Nigerian University System at large; the focus of this research was on the decision policy that would help to enhance the living conditions of lecturers in the Nigerian universities thereby averting frequent strikes and disruption of academic calendars; strikes delay students and affect their features; hence, anything that can stabilize the university education in Nigeria will contribute immensely to the economic growth and stability of the country. For us to achieve these objectives, we applied dynamic programming and developed an optimal decision policy to obtain the best optimal policy needed for the highest-ranking cadre in the academic to achieve optimal remuneration of at least twice their per annum salary with subsequent adjustment in the other cadres’ salaries accordingly; the researchers applied the optimal decision policy and obtained (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 0, 0) that optimizes the academic staff's earnings with a promotion to level 08 instead of remaining at the bar with many steps. If this policy is applied, a professor at the bar will grow to level 08 and will earn up to at least double his annual salary (N13,658,325) instead of the current stagnating salary of (N6,020,163) per annum at the bar; this will make the lecturers happy and discharge their duties with commitments thereby addressing the perennial strikes in the Nigerian universities.

Improving the quality of Cambodian higher education: Key challenges and suggestions

Higher education is one of the main drivers of economic development. Due to its significant roles, many countries, including Cambodia, have invested in developing their higher education subsector. For over two decades since 1997, Cambodia has experienced a high increase in the number of higher education institutions (HEIs). Despite the rapid institutional expansion, there are many issues impeding the quality of Cambodian higher education. Drawing on secondary sources and the authors’ extensive experience and knowledge of the subsector, this article tries to investigate and explain some of the factors affecting the quality of higher education in Cambodia. The article focuses on several issues, including political interference, fragmented governance structures, ineffective ministerial policy implementation, fragmented institutional management, limited quality of teaching personnel, low academic salaries, business-oriented higher education, and issues concerning curriculum and academic programs. The article offers some suggestions to address these challenges. Key suggestions include (a) limiting political interference in appointing top university leaders, (b) setting up effective and independent higher education quality assurance bodies, (c) creating a term limit for top university leadership roles, (d) establishing a meritocracy-based policy for university leader appointments, (e) making academic salaries comparable to those of other similar professions, (f) developing policies on minimum tuition fees and student loan programs, and (g) introducing mechanisms to improve curricula and promote enrollments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.

On Solution to ASUU Strike and Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure II (CONUASS II) in the Nigerian Universities Using Optimization Method

In this paper, we applied dynamic programming model for optimization of Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure II (CONUASS II) for the overall interest of the academic staff and the Nigerian University System. Our focus was on the decision policy that would help to enhance the living condition of lecturers in the Nigerian universities thereby averting frequent strikes and disruption of academic calendars. The frequent and incessant strikes delay students and impacts negatively to their feature; hence, anything that could be done to stabilize the university education in Nigeria will contribute immensely to the economic growth and stability of the country. To achieve this, we applied dynamic programming and developed an optimal decision policy which was applied to obtain the best optimal policy needed for the highest ranking cadre in the academic to achieve optimal remuneration of at least twice their per annum salary with subsequent adjustment in the other cadres’ salaries accordingly. Applying the optimal decision policy, we obtained (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 0, 0) which optimizes the academic staff’s earning with a promotion to level 08 instead of remaining at bar with many steps. If this policy is implemented, a professor at the bar will grow to level 08 and will therefore earn up to at least double of his/her annual salary (N13,658,325) instead of the current stagnating salary of (N6,020,163) per annum at the bar. This will make the lecturers to be happy and discharge their duties with commitments and thereby addressing the perennial strikes in the Nigerian universities.

Academic salary hikes no match for inflation

Academic salary hikes no match for inflation

Promoting higher education quality in Cambodia: Challenges and recommendations

Higher education in Cambodia has experienced positive and impressive progress over the last few decades. However, more efforts are needed to bring about further positive changes and new developments to the sector. This article aims to discuss key challenges facing higher education in Cambodia in relation to the need to promote its quality. The article brings to the fore six major challenges, including limited resources and infrastructure, political influence, weak institutional and sectoral governance, consequences of higher education privatization, low academic salaries, and limited opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD). The article also provides a set of recommendations to address these challenges, focusing on introducing a mechanism to improve resources and infrastructure, keeping political interference to a minimum, improving institutional and sectoral governance, bifurcating universities into research-intensive and teaching-intensive universities, introducing an improvement or reform to incentive and salary systems, and promoting CPD engagement among Cambodian university teachers. The article concludes with an argument for a reform of the Cambodian higher education sector to bring it to a higher stage of development.

Long-Term Career Earnings in Academia Might Offset the Opportunity Cost of Full-Time PhD and Postdoctoral Education for Physical Therapists Who Hold a Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree.

Rigorously trained physical therapy researchers are essential for the generation of knowledge that guides the profession. However, there is a current and projected dearth of physical therapy researchers capable of sustaining research programs in part due to perceived financial barriers associated with pursuit of a doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree, with and without postdoctoral training, following doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree completion. This study aimed to evaluate the financial impact of PhD and postdoctoral training, including opportunity cost, years to break even, and long-term earnings. Clinical and academic salaries were obtained via the 2016 APTA Median Income of Physical Therapist Summary Report and 2019 CAPTE Annual Accreditation Report. Salaries were adjusted to total compensation to account for benefits and compared over a 30-year period starting after DPT education. Total compensations were also adjusted to the present value, placing greater weight on early career earnings due to inflation and potential investments. Relative to work as a clinical physical therapist, 4years of PhD training result in an earnings deficit of $264,854 rising to $357,065 after 2years of additional postdoctoral training. These deficits do not persist as evidenced by a clinical physical therapist career earning $449,372 less than a nonmajority scholarship academic career (DPT to PhD to academia pathway) and $698,704 less than a majority scholarship academic career (DPT to PhD to postdoctoral training to academia pathway) over a 30-year period. Greater long-term earnings for PhD careers persist when adjusting to present value. Although there is an initial opportunity cost of PhD and postdoctoral training represented by a relative earnings deficit, advanced research training results in greater long-term earnings. The findings of this study allow physical therapists interested in pursuing PhD and postdoctoral training to be better informed about the associated financial ramifications.

Academic research in Cambodia: Progress, challenges, and ways forward

Research plays a critical role in advancing knowledge, stimulating innovation, and driving socioeconomic development. In the context of a knowledge-based economy, the role of research in supporting knowledge production, dissemination, and utilization is indispensable. Drawing on secondary sources, this article examines the development of academic research in Cambodia. It focuses on three aspects: recent progress, challenges, and ways forward. The article first shows that there is hope for the development of a research culture in Cambodia. However, there remain many challenges, including limited state and institutional funding for research, low academic salaries, heavy teaching loads, limited research knowledge, unclear research policies, inadequate research infrastructure, and lack of well-defined academic career pathways. The article then discusses ways forward that focus on the role of key stakeholders, including the Cambodian government, the private sector, higher education institutions, and academic staff, in supporting research development. It is argued that active stakeholder involvement and collaboration are key to promoting academic research in Cambodia.

Sixth Logistics Faculty Salary Survey

Abstract As Supply Chain Management has evolved, doctoral programs have struggled to produce enough new people with doctorate degrees to keep up with demand and to replace tenure-track faculty who leave for various reasons. Accurate salary data is required by both potential candidates and recruiting institutions. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International conducts an annual survey of faculty and administrative salaries for member schools. Each school self-reports salary figures. This reporting is subjective to how each reporting university defines faculty residency. Many reported salaries for Transportation, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management (SCM) are co-mingled with “Management,” “Marketing,” or “Operations” faculty and are not included under the correct classification. To address the limitations of the AACSB salary report, the authors developed a survey to collect data on SCM/Logistics and Transportation. Faculty salaries focused on the US-based faculty for public, private, AACSB-accredited and non–AACSB-accredited institutions. This article examines the impact of factors such as faculty rank, primary field of practice, years in the present rank, work allocation, and accreditation on academic salaries in the fields of SCM/Logistics and Transportation. This information is of immense use for both career and hiring decisions.

Research Funding, Income, and Career Satisfaction Among Clinician-Scientists in Ophthalmology in the United States

The purpose of this study was to characterize clinician-scientists in ophthalmology and identify factors associated with successful research funding, income, and career satisfaction. Cross-sectional study. A survey was conducted of clinician-scientists in ophthalmology at US academic institutions between April 17, 2019, and May 19, 2019. Collected information including 1) demographic data; 2) amount, type, and source of startup funding; first extramural grant; and first R01-equivalent independent grant; 3) starting and current salaries; and 4) Likert-scale measurements of career satisfaction were analyzed using multivariate regression. Ninety-eight clinician-scientists in ophthalmology were surveyed across different ages (mean: 48 ± 11 years), research categories, institutional types, geographic regions, and academic ranks. Median startup funding ranged from $50-99k, and median starting salaries ranged from $150-199k. A majority of investigators (67%) received their first extramural award from the National Eye Institute, mainly through K-award mechanisms (82%). The median time to receiving their first independent grant was 8 years, mainly through an R01 award (70%). Greater institutional startup support (P=.027) and earlier extramural grant success (P=.022) were associated with earlier independent funding. Male investigators (P=.001) and MD degreed participants (P=.008) were associated with higher current salaries but not starting salaries. Overall career satisfaction increased with career duration (P=.011) but not with earlier independent funding (P=.746) or higher income (P=.300). Success in research funding by clinician-scientists in ophthalmology may be linked to institutional support and earlier acquisition of extramural grants but does not impact academic salaries. Nevertheless, career satisfaction among clinician-scientists improves with time, which is not necessarily influenced by research or financial success.

Universities Development Data Analysis. A Case Study

Statistical accounting of universities in the Russian Federation is available to any prospective students or organizations worldwide. The purpose of collecting statistical reports is to demonstrate the indicators and achievements of the university for applicants who choose a university for their further study and for organizations that would like a partnership with the university. Besides, this statistical collection is an effective tool for assessing the quality of the university administration’s work, including monitoring the level of academic staff salaries and researchers. Therefore, the adequacy, and reliability of the information in the data of statistical reports is an extremely relevant and important task.

Navigating Through Right Career Choice After Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship.

Navigating Through Right Career Choice After Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship.

Social stratification in Higher Education: What it means at the micro‐level of the individual academic scientist

AbstractThe academic profession is internally divided as never before. This cross‐national comparative analysis of stratification in Higher Education is based on a sample of European academic scientists (N = 8,466) from universities in 11 countries. The analysis identifies three types of stratification: academic performance stratification, academic salary stratification, and international research stratification. This emergent stratification of the global scientific community is predominantly research‐based, and internationalisation in research is at its centre; prestige‐driven, internationally competitive, and central to academic recognition systems, research is the single most stratifying factor in Higher Education at the level of the individual scientist today. These stratification processes pull the various segments of the academic profession in different directions. The study analyses highly productive academics (‘research top performers’), highly paid academics (‘academic top earners’), and highly internationalised academics (‘research internationalists’) and explores the implications for individual scientists.

Academic salaries and public evaluation of university research: Evidence from the UK Research Excellence Framework

SUMMARY We study the effects of public evaluation of university research on the pay structures of academic departments. A simple equilibrium model of university pay determination shows how the pay–performance relationship can be explained by the incentives inherent in the research evaluation process. We then analyse the pay–performance relationship using data on the salary of all UK university full professors, matched to the performance of their departments from the 2014 UK government evaluation of research, the Research Excellence Framework (REF). A cross sectional empirical analysis shows that both average pay level and pay inequality in a department are positively related to performance. It also shows that the pay–performance relationship is driven by a feature of the research evaluation that allows academics to transfer the affiliation of published research across universities. To assess the effect of the REF on pay structure, we take advantage of the time dimension of our data and of inherent uncertainty in the evaluation of the performance of academic departments generated by the rules of the exercise. Our results indicate that higher achieving departments benefit from increased subsequent hiring and higher professorial salaries with the salary benefits of REF performance concentrated among the highest paid professors.

English

English

The determinants of academic salaries in Russia

The system of higher education in Russia, as in many other countries, is in the midst of reforms related to the global trends of globalization and transformation to a knowledge economy. In order to successfully respond to these global challenges, it is necessary to improve the quality of the university sector and rethink the role of professors in enhancing academic productivity. A 20-year period of recession after the collapse of the Soviet Union has led to a diversification of universities and teachers and resulted in both a sharp fall in academic salaries and a decline in the attractiveness of the academic profession. Since the professoriate constitutes the main source of academic productivity, this article assesses the consequences of the decline in the academic sector before the start of major reforms of academic salaries. Using the data from the ‘The Changing Academic Profession’ project (CAP-Russia 2012 subsample), we identified and evaluated the activities of the professoriate that determine the income of university staff. The results show that, in general, the number of publications positively affected academic salaries, but for certain indicators of research activity, the effects are ambiguous. Administrative duties are important for academic salaries, with a positive effect ranging from 15 to 51%. Seniority also has a positive impact on a professor’s salary. The most consistent results in the pre-reform period were obtained for National research universities (NRUs), where academic salaries are determined by research activity (articles in academic journals) and administrative duties. Salaries rise with seniority, which corresponds to the human capital theory (as well as alternative theories). Salaries in NRUs also reflect gender equality. The results of the study can be used to assess the consequences of the recession in the academic sector in Russia and as a baseline for analyzing current reforms in universities.

Editorial

High voltage engineering is an elective unit in the Electrical Engineering undergraduate curriculum at Monash University. I have taught this type of course for 40 years, at first demonstrating in the laboratory as a junior academic in Poland, and eventually running the Jack Wilson High Voltage Laboratory at Monash University until my recent retirement. For at least the last 10 years, keeping high voltage engineering in the curriculum, and keeping and maintaining the laboratory, have been "hard yakka" as we say in Australia. There are several reasons why this is so, and they are probably not unique to Australia. High voltage laboratories belonging to universities have become a rarity Down Under, because of an everdiminishing industry base that would be able and willing to support research in this discipline. For a university, what matters most for its prestige are research grants and publications. Winning grants and scoring highly in publication indexes is more difficult in Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation than in other Electrical Engineering disciplines; the reasons can be stated clearly, but let's put them aside for another occasion. In addition, even though undergraduate training still pays the bulk of academic salaries, it is treated as mere necessity, bordering on nuisance, because preparing and teaching classes occupies time that otherwise could be "better spent" on doing research to get those grants and write those papers.

Rewarding Collaborative Research: An Analysis of Gender and Academic Accounting Faculty Salaries

Research on academic pay finds an unexplained gender pay gap that has not fully dissolved over time and that appears to increase with years of experience. In this study I consider how role congruity bias contributes to this pay gap. Bias is more likely to manifest in a context where there is some ambiguity about performance and where gender stereotypes are stronger. I predict that bias in the attribution of credit for coauthored research leads to lower returns to research for female professors. To test this prediction, I use a sample of Canadian faculty in accounting, where research is typically coauthored, where females are underrepresented at the most senior ranks, and where many universities evaluate merit in research, teaching and service to determine salary increases. In regressions of salary on individual and institutional determinants of salary, I find that women earn marginally less than men. However, the gender gap is only evident for women who publish in a selective list of journals; for the subset of faculty with no publications from this list, there are no significant differences in salary. For researching faculty, the pay gap relates specifically to research productivity. While women publish less on average than men, the returns to their research are also lower. In particular, the relation between the individual’s research ranking and salary is significantly lower for women who publish a higher proportion of their work with men, than for all other faculty. Additional analysis of salary and coauthor patterns confirms that women receive significantly less credit for coauthored articles they publish with men than those they publish with other women but that no similar variations in reward are evident for men across publishing patterns. These findings suggest bias in the attribution of credit for coauthored research in the determination of salary, consistent with role congruity theory, and provide an important potential explanation for why salaries for women vary systematically from those of men even after considering productivity. Providing lower rewards for equal work represents a continuing ethical issue in academe and compounds the challenges already facing women in the profession.

The Determinants of Faculty Pay in Russian Universities: Incentive Contracts

This paper evaluates the design of current contractual incentive mechanisms in Russian universities depending on the type of higher education institution after recent significant contractual reforms in the national academic sector. We employ the theoretical framework of incentive contracts in order to identify and assess performance measures of university faculty determining the total income received from teaching, research and administrative duties. We estimate returns from academic productivity in Russia to be reflected in the academic salary by an evaluation of empirical models of the determinants of faculty pay depending on their productivity, current academic and administrative position, gender and seniority. We show that for the entire sample, faculty salary is positively associated with publication activity. Teaching is significant only for the entire sample, but not significant for subsamples. Administrative duties (expressed in the position held) are positively related to faculty pay: the largest effect is for rectors and vice-rectors, but for deans and heads of departments or laboratories the effect is also strong. Heads of universities and structural units receive a significant bonus for their administrative position. For research-oriented universities the largest effect in publication activity is for the number of papers in high ranking journals. In universities with no research status we discovered a significant gender gap: the male faculty earn more than their female colleagues. There is a positive linear relationship between salary and seniority for the entire sample and in universities with no special status, which corresponds to human capital theory. Salaries in universities requiring higher entrance exam scores are higher than in less selective higher education institutions. The salary in Moscow universities is higher than in the regional higher education institutions.

<p>Evolving Characteristics of Today’s Applied Engineering College-Level Educator: 2013 to 2017</p>

This manuscript was created to document faculty, and academic support, issues from 2013 to 2017. The 2013 manuscript was published by the Journal of Technology Studies. This four-years-later study provided greater insight for academics that asked the research question: “What is the latest in our teaching career field?” Issues of concern to faculty included positional status (adjunct, contract, tenure-track, tenure), faculty rank, length of time in current rank, length of time in nonacademic professional work (before or after academic work), primary academic program, total number of students taught per semester, average academic salary, contract length, administrative duties and salary benefits. Other issues included academic professional accreditation, degree levels offered, market pay (competitive) presence, academic freedom, benefits cost of coverage (health insurance, life insurance, etc.), the use of faculty talent, the management of teaching assignments, and the number of credit hours taught per semester. Finally, questions about the percentage of teaching load (face-to-face, hybrid, and online), the ease of resource and support acquisition, expectations for research (scholarship), unique ways that an academic institution compensates beyond the base salary, expectations for promotion and tenure, and additional comments pertinent to an academic’s role in academia. In the 2013 study, 244 people (from 39 states) participated (only 212 responses were valid). This number dropped to 103 people from 27 states in 2017 (only 90 responses were valid). Although the survey population was smaller for 2017, the number of respondents was determined to be sufficient for reporting to other academics in a publication. Significant results in the study from 2013 to 2017 included an increase from 63.86 to 74.45 students taught per semester and a faculty salary mean change from $73,567 to $77,306 per year. Other survey indicators presented minimal change from 2013 to 2017.