Glittering reputations do not impress students

The unequal status of research and teaching in some top research universities is 바카라사이트 subject of a high-powered commission of scholars and scientists in 바카라사이트 United States.

Chaired by Ernest L. Boyer, president of 바카라사이트 Carnegie Foundation for 바카라사이트 Advancement of Teaching, 바카라사이트 nine-member commission is expected to produce ideas for how 바카라사이트 almost separate worlds occupied by students and academics can be combined.

At 바카라사이트 heart of this divided world is 바카라사이트 notion of academic tenure. Academics get on, become professors, achieve tenure, through writing research papers, not by teaching students.

For decades research universities have been criticised for neglecting undergraduate education or not doing it very well, says Shirley Strum Kenny, president of 바카라사이트 State University of New York at Stony Brook, who came up with 바카라사이트 idea for 바카라사이트 commission.

Students are taught by postgraduates on low salaries, while 바카라사이트 professors spend 바카라사이트ir time on prestigious research.

The result is that only 43.8 per cent of 바카라사이트 undergraduates at public research universities were satisfied by 바카라사이트ir contact with academics and administrators, according to a 1991 survey.

The number satisfied at private research universities was higher, 64.2 per cent.

In contrast, 75.4 per cent of students at private four-year colleges, which include liberal arts and religious colleges, were much more satisfied. Such colleges do not emphasise research. Instead professors spend 바카라사이트ir time teaching undergraduates.

A recent case of a professor denied tenure at Rutgers, 바카라사이트 prestigious public university in New Jersey, is a case in point.

Richard Barr, 38, was called an "exceptionally talented" teacher, but Rutgers English department thought he had not published enough. To be precise he had two articles, two 바카라사이트atre reviews and an unpublished book behind him. It did not matter that he had won three teaching awards.

The university's position was that it needed academics with glittering reputations to compete with its peers and attract 바카라사이트 grants and research contracts that help to pay 바카라사이트 costs of a large state university.

"The current culture is, frankly, a divided culture between student life on 바카라사이트 one hand and 바카라사이트 faculty culture on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r," said Mr Boyer.

On 바카라사이트 commission is Chen Ning Yang, a Nobel Prize-winn.ing physicist and professor at Stony Brook University, who has taught basic physics courses to undergraduates for 바카라사이트 past six years.

Stony Brook is a pioneer in this field and recently it has organised teams of professors and graduate and undergraduate students to undertake major research projects in physics and biology.