Legitimation, professionalisation and accountability in higher education studies: an intergenerational story

Abstract

The core themes of research into higher education studies (HES) have previously been identified through quantitative approaches focused on publication patterns but there is a lack of fine-grained, qualitative analysis about the development of the field. This paper provides an inter-generational analysis of the emergence of HES in the UK since the 1960s drawing on autobiographical accounts. It reveals that many who conduct HES research retain a strong sense of disciplinary affiliation and regard its continuing epistemological health as closely linked to maintaining open borders with other disciplines. The professionalisation of the field is regarded as a mixed blessing bringing with it challenges in respect to maintaining an accessible approach to scholarship and communication with public and policy audiences. HES provides a case example of how a new academic sub-field has undergone generational challenges in, respectively, seeking legitimacy, being professionalised, and most recently responding to greater demands for accountability.

Norwegian PhD students' discourses about practice‐relevant research in the field of health and social work

“…High‐quality doctoral education is a significant issue worldwide, especially in Western countries (Jablonski, ; Jones, ; Lee, Brennan, & Green, ; Maynard, Vaughn, Sarteschi, & Berglund, ; Scott, Brown, Lunt, & Thorne, ; Taylor, ), where the emergence of higher education studies primarily occurred after the Second World War (Macfarlane & Burg, ). The PhD students in this study were carriers of certain types of knowledge because they were professionals and academicians in health or social work.…”

“…High-quality doctoral education is a significant issue worldwide, especially in Western countries (Jablonski, 2001;Jones, 2018;Lee, Brennan, & Green, 2009;Maynard, Vaughn, Sarteschi, & Berglund, 2014;Scott, Brown, Lunt, & Thorne, 2004;Taylor, 2007), where the emergence of higher education studies primarily occurred after the Second World War (Macfarlane & Burg, 2019).…”

The CV as a symbol of the changing nature of academic life: performativity, prestige and self-presentation

“…The CVs of veterans are essentially little more than descriptive historical records of their academic careers without the use of selflaudatory language or hyperbole. The importance of research performance understood in terms of publication, grant funding and evidence of impact becomes more apparent in the CVs of mid-careerists many of whom were involved in the gradual professionalisation of higher education studies and the establishment of research centres (see Macfarlane and Burg, 2017). The CVs of newcomers include the most evidence of self-laudatory language and demonstrate the shift toward personalised marketing tailored to the performative expectations of modern higher education employers.…”

“…Attention was further paid to obtaining an equal number of males and females in the sample. The individuals identified were drawn from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in sociology, politics, philosophy and other mainly social science disciplines from which this community originate (Macfarlane and Burg, 2017). All of the participants were in full-time academic positions at a range of different UK universities.…”

The Effect of Service on Research Performance: A Study on Italian Academics in Management

“…CVs represent an established source to analyze academic careers since they allow to keep track of activities, roles, and achievements over time (e.g., Gaughan, 2009) and are becoming the main reference for career advancements (Macfarlane and Burg, 2019). CVs were used to grasp visiting scholarship, research awards, and the number of academic citizenship activities and roles performed (institutional, discipline-based, and public service).…”