The academic profession in the third world: a comparative study
Date
2011Author
Potgieter, Ferdinand Jacobus
Van der Walt, Johannes Lodewicus
Wolhuter, Charste Coetzee
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Higher education, and by implication the academic profession as a core component thereof, fulfils an important function in twenty-first century society in terms of the establishment of a knowledge society. In Third World countries, it is furthermore typically assigned the function of catapulting these societies from their present peripheral, marginalized positions in the world to becoming fully-fledged members of the twenty-first century global society (1). Academics' work and participation in this process are directed by the value- systems and value-orientations to which they subscribe both as individuals and collectively as a professional group. An individual's behavior is, to a large extent, determined by his/her value-orientation. A person acts, takes decisions, judges and exercises discipline in accordance with his/her personal hierarchy of values. (2) Without knowledge of and insight into a person's values, one can hardly claim to know that person, even after having studied his/her personality (3).
This article offers, on the one hand, a theoretical description and critical reflection on the values of academics in five "Third World countries: Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Malaysia and Mainland China. On the other, it offers and discusses the results of an empirical survey that was done for determining the extent to which academics' professional working conditions are in accordance with their collective value system. It commences with a conceptual-theoretical framework built around: a) the concept of "values;" b) the constellation of values in which Third World academics find themselves; and c) the key concept "fulfilling profession" with the values attached to it. This is followed by an outline of the empirical investigation. The article concludes with a discussion of the results, some conclusions and recommendations
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/17083https://www.questia.com/library/p62095/journal-of-third-world-studies
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- Faculty of Education [756]