The Changing Academic Profession in Hong Kong “Facing Global and Local Challenges: the New Dynamics for East Asian Higher Education” Gerard A. Postiglione Hayes Tang The University of Hong Kong Asia-Pacific Sub-regional Preparatory Conference for the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education September 2008 Macao SAR, PR China

Hong Kong’s universities  Insulated>Integration  Western tilt > regionally sensitive  State funded>entrepreneurial  Within system> cross border sharing  Independent>interdependent block  Diversity> shared cultural traditions harmony, moral cultivation, social networks, paternal leadership and political authoritarianism. Strengthening civil societies

 East Asia: Northwest/China/Southwest  Penultimate East Asian aspiration  Crossing borders and bridging minds: 2050 Retrospective: Myth or reality? Yet, the heart remains – AP

 What kind of academic profession do we have in East Asia  Is it resonate with UNESCO goals, i.e., socially committed?  The case of Hong Kong – Asia’s World Academic Profession?  high degree of doctorates earned abroad  rapid mobility of the profession  protection of academic freedom  English as the language of instruction & research

Background of the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) study  The international CAP study examines the nature and extent of the changes experienced by the academic profession in recent years.  Concerns: reasons for these changes and their consequences attractiveness of the academic profession as a career ability of the academic profession to contribute to knowledge societies and national goals

The Hong Kong CAP  First International Survey in  Modified replication in  The CAP survey in 2007

Institutions sampled  Research Universities (UGC)TYPE I  HKU  CUHK  HKUST  Other Research Universities (UGC)TYPE II  CITYU  HK BU  POLYU  LU  Other Higher Education InstitutionsTYPE II  HKIED (UGC)  SYU  OU  HKAPA

Types of Institution

The Sample  Total number of academic staff - 6,608 (almost double that in 1993 (3,562))  811 completed surveys 12.3 percent of faculty across all institutions.

Academic Rank

Hong Kong CAP 2007 Sample: Full Timers/Part Timers

Contract terms

Hong Kong CAP 2007 Sample: Doctoral Training

Doctorates and Ethnicities of Academics  Twice as many Mainland China born academics earned their doctorate in the USA than Hong Kong born academics.  40.4%/21%

Hong Kong CAP 2007 Sample: Gender

Hong Kong CAP 2007 Sample: Age (average years)

Age and Gender

Types of Institution

Working Outside of the Academia  About 77 percent (94 percent PT) were never employed in industry or the private sector.  Since their first degree, 95 percent (97 percent PT) were never self-employed.  About 60 percent never worked anywhere outside of higher education since their first degree and 82 percent never worked anywhere outside of higher education since their highest degree.  In short, most academics currently in regular ranks of assistant professor and above have been quite insulated from any other than academic life, especially from the business world – the mainstay of Hong Kong’s economy.

Salaries  Only 8.9 percent reported that they had concurrent employers and the mean of those second incomes was only US$ 2,229 (HK$17,384).

Job Satisfaction  About 38 percent believe it is a poor time for young people to begin an academic career in their field.  41.4 say their work is a considerable personal strain (28.7 disagreed)  Although only 30.1 percent believe their working conditions have improved, (43.6 disagree), 64.2 percent expressed satisfaction with their work (10.0 percent did not)  15.7 percent agree with the statement that they would not become an academic again (64.3 percent disagreed).

Working Conditions

Understanding about Scholarship  When asked to characterize the nature of scholarship, Hong Kong faculty emphasized preparation and presentation of original research (81.3 percent).  Nearly the same proportion (78.7 percent) saw scholarship as the application of knowledge to real situations, and synthesizing major trends and findings.  A quarter believed that teaching and research are not compatible and 52.4 disagreed.  Most (63.8 percent) believed they have a professional obligation to apply their knowledge to problems in society.

Research  About 90 percent of the research funding was from Hong Kong  Only 7.6 percent from international organizations/entities and  3.2 percent from entitles in other parts of China.  About 10 percent of the respondents revealed that they received no funding for research projects.

Teaching-Service Nexus  Responding to questions whether research activities and service activities reinforce teaching, 43.9 percent agreed that service activities reinforce their teaching.

Teaching-Service Nexus  More type II faculty (47.5 percent) than their colleagues at type I institutions (39.8 percent) agreed that service work reinforced their teaching.

Management and Research

Relevance

Conclusion