The Faculty Hiring Networks in Academia: A Comparative Study on Chile and Korea

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Faculty Hiring and Retention

Abstract

Globalization requires universities to play their role more strategically to increase their competitiveness. One strategy is hiring faculty from institutions with higher prestige or from nations with more advanced higher education systems. This study aims to examine the structure of faculty hiring networks at top research universities in an international and local context. Using network analysis, we compared faculty hiring at selective engineering schools in Chile and Korea. Our study indicates that these schools hire mostly faculty who go abroad to obtain their PhD from more selective institutions, mostly American. We also confirmed “academic inbreeding” by looking at where the faculty obtained their Bachelor’s degrees. This study provides implications for institutions how to increase their influence on global society.

Authors

• Sergio Celis, University of Michigan

• Jeongeun Kim, University of Michigan