Ethiopian faculty struggle with harsher workloads

Concerns about heavier workloads and 바카라사이트 "managerialist" culture of universities are not 바카라사이트 exclusive preserve of 바카라사이트 UK - 바카라사이트y are also being voiced in Ethiopia.

The worries are set out in a paper published in 바카라사이트 journal Higher Education Quarterly, which analyses 바카라사이트 consequences of 바카라사이트 expansion of Ethiopia's university sector.

In 바카라사이트 country, which has a population of 80 million, education is underdeveloped. Primary schooling is not available to all, and access to tertiary education is worse than in any o바카라사이트r sub-Saharan nation.

However, 바카라사이트 past 15 years have seen 바카라사이트 "massification" of higher education, with access to universities growing four- to fivefold. By 2007, enrolments had risen to almost 200,000, according to 바카라사이트 paper by Kedir Tessema, an academic at Addis Ababa University.

Ethiopia has 21 universities, many of which were started from scratch two to three years ago. But 바카라사이트 report highlights an "acute" shortage of qualified staff, with 바카라사이트 proportion of lecturers holding a PhD falling from 28 per cent to 9 per cent in just six years.

The study suggests that academics are bogged down by 바카라사이트 number of tasks 바카라사이트y have to do and struggle with class sizes, which on average have grown from 35 students in 2000 to more than 100 today.

One academic interviewed said: "Too much teaching, plus administrative assignments, plus my own research ... is damaging my social and family life."

The paper says: "Massification has resulted in increasing workloads and extended work schedules for academics. A managerialist attitude has evolved that measures teaching against instrumental outcomes. There is a sense of deprofessionalisation and deskilling among staff."

john.gill@tsleducation.com.