I.11. Universities at the Crossroads: Research Autonomy, Teaching Quality and the Temporalities of Academic Work

Universities are facing a period of significant change, including the introduction of New Public Management, openness to local communities and the world of work, the push towards internationalisation, continuous reference to different evaluation and ranking systems, and the integration of technological innovations in academia, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

Transformations intertwine and overlap within an increasingly accelerated system that ends up compressing time, chasing market demands and increasing competition. As a result, the organisation of study, research and teaching time tends to be redefined based on quantitative criteria of performance, efficiency and productivity, with the risk of overshadowing the issue of teaching quality, scientific knowledge and, last but not least, academic life.

In this context, the strategies of those who make up the academic community are adapting and reorienting themselves, producing effects that, in the long term, are changing the roles of teachers, researchers and students, both in terms of social identity and individual identity.

The panel aims to welcome theoretical reflections and empirical research on teaching provision, research autonomy and forms of university openness to the outside world, with a focus on the processes of redefining academic identities and the temporalities that regulate university work and life. The objective is to explore the dynamics that contribute to the reworking of the identity of the contemporary university system, highlighting contributions that shed light on tensions, continuities, and possible trajectories of change