José L. Arcos-Vega

The Divergent Worlds of Teaching and Research Among Mexican Faculty: Tendencies and Implications

This chapter analyzes the relationship between teaching and research for the case of Mexican academics. The chapter is organized in four sections. In the first one, and in a brief manner, we will discuss the way in which teaching and research might be related as well as the way in which such relationship might be studied. In the second section, we will provide a brief historical and contemporary context of Mexican higher education, paying particular attention to current public policies relevant to academic work. In the third section, we will deal with the way in which Mexican academics view their work, and data will be presented on faculty activities, use of time and productivity, academic preferences and notion of academic work, recognition and compensation, personal characteristics, and, finally, job satisfaction and commitment. It will be argued that teaching and research activities serve to differentiate two academic worlds that, in the case of Mexican higher education, are increasingly drifting apart. The chapter ends with a recapitulation of the information presented and a small set of reflections based on it.

México: A Portrait of a Managed Profession

On the basis of a national survey on academics, this chapter discusses their perception of the governance and management within the institutions in which they work. With some variation according to institutional type, academics reported moderate to less than appropriate working conditions and yet, at the same time, they expressed that such conditions have improved somehow during the last years. Mexican academics perceived an absence of clear academic criteria in academics’ appointment and promotion, as well as a relatively low influence, on their part, in key professional decisions; this situation speaks of Mexican academics as managed professionals. Academics also reported low levels of communication between management and academics, a top-down administrative style, relatively low involvement in collegial decision-making, cumbersome processes, and a low appraisal of top-level administrators as competent leaders. Nevertheless, Mexican academics expressed a high appreciation of their career, as well as high levels of job satisfaction, whose sources could be found in other aspects, more intrinsic to their work, than to the governance and management of their institutions.

Analysis of Ordinary Public Fund and Its Impact on the Quality of Academic Programs in the Higher Education in the Subsystem of the Polytechnic Universities in Mexico

In 2015, there was the need of making this study to determine the efficient and effectiveness’ management for making decisions in respect to the ordinary fund allocations and their impact on the quality of the academic programs into the Polytechnic engineering universities in Mexico. This analysis is very important for providing essential evidence to improve the granting of financial resources to these institutions for the educational activities. Front to a novel educational system of higher education is essential to evaluate the quality of it to achieve its goals. The information evaluated shows important findings, in regards to the institutions for having more evaluable academic programs than non-assessable academic programs. Being the first ones, which receive a larger fund for their operation.