Unpacking Academic Merit in a Highly Stratified Country: Criteria and Processes of Faculty Hiring in Chilean Universities

• In Event: 67.067 - MTCC Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 67.067-11 - Recruitment, Admissions, and Networking in Graduate School

Abstract

“Academic merit” appears as the universal norm that determines the advancement of academics’ careers (Merton, 1973). This paper critically examines the feasibility of materializing this norm in a highly stratified country -Chile- through a multiple-case study on faculty hiring processes (N: 7 academic departments, 47 participants). Findings show that open and competitive faculty hiring processes are relative new. Meritocratic criteria, operationalized in number and impact of peer-reviewed articles, operate as first filters to rank faculty prospects, but the entire process of faculty hiring is highly impacted by the stratification of the higher education system. Ascription to the network gatekeepers –faculty in hiring committees- ends up determining “who” gets hired, which is associated with the social class of origin of applicants.

Author

• Roxana Chiappa, University of Washington - Seattle