Role requirements in academic recruitment for Construction and Engineering

• Published in: European journal of engineering education Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 247 - 265
• Main Authors: Pilcher, Nick, Galbrun, Laurent, Craig, Nigel, Murray, Mike, Forster, Alan M., Tennant, Stuart
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 04-03-2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic careers; Advertising; College Faculty; Construction and Engineering; Construction engineering; Construction Industry; Content Analysis; Empirical analysis; employment attributes; Employment Experience; Employment Qualifications; Engineering Education; Foreign Countries; Higher education; Occupational Information; Recruitment; Statistical analysis; Teacher Recruitment; Teacher Role; teaching; University faculty; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 0304-3797; 1469-5898
• DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2020.1725451

Two ongoing and recurrent debates in the employment of academic staff are (1) how much industry experience should faculty staff have? and (2) what priority is given to research, teaching or both? Such debates take place worldwide and are particularly relevant to vocational subject areas. Through a statistical analysis of circa 200 job adverts for lecturer / assistant professor, senior lecturer / associate professor, and professor / full professor positions in Construction and Engineering posts in the UK, this paper investigates the essential and desirable attributes required for 'research', 'teaching' and 'overall requirements'. The analysis shows institutions unmistakably focus on, and coherently recruit for research, but demonstrate very little reasoned approach to recruiting for teaching. Indeed, findings identify 'administration' as the key teaching priority. Further empirical analysis demonstrates no significant difference in recruitment strategy before and after the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework, despite its aim to put teaching excellence to the fore.