Study Challenges Assumption that Private Colleges Make Better Faculty Workplaces
Source: Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education

Faculty at public colleges and universities rate tenure clarity, the clarity of performance expectations, and the reasonableness of those expectations higher than faculty at private institutions, according to a survey of nearly 7,000 junior faculty members from across the country. Early-career faculty at public institutions also expressed greater satisfaction than those at private institutions with work/life balance. The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), a research project based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, compiled and compared trends between public and private institutions of higher education based on responses from junior faculty members at 77 colleges and universities.
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Faculty at private universities reported less clarity than those at public institutions with the tenure process and criteria and significantly less clarity on tenure standards. In addition, faculty at private institutions reported significantly less clarity about expectations for their performance as a scholar, a teacher, a campus citizen and a member of the broader community. Furthermore, those faculty at private institutions who indicated the expectations were fairly or very clear felt that the expectations for performance as a scholar, teacher, advisor, colleague and campus citizen were significantly less reasonable than did their peers at public colleges and universities.

+ Full Report (PDF; 402 KB)

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