“Not Interested in the ‘Little’ People”? Faculty Perceptions of the Role of Full Professors in the Development of Junior Colleagues

• In Event: Top Down or Bottom Up? Building Human Capacity in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study into the nature and extent of the contribution that full professors make to the professional development of their more junior colleagues: researchers, university teachers and academics who are not themselves full professors. It is distinct in focusing on the perspectives of these junior colleagues: ‘the led’. Data were gathered using an online survey distributed to over 5000 faculty members, representing more than 70 subject fields and employed in a range of UK universities, and through semi-structured interviews to a sub-sample of 50. Findings reveal a range of views and perspectives, but the overall picture to emerge represents much dissatisfaction with and criticism of the academic leadership and mentoring provided by full professors.

Authors

• Linda Evans, University of Leeds

• Matt Homer, University of Leeds

• Stephen George Rayner, Oxford Brookes University