Academic Identities in Higher Education: The Changing European Landscape [Hardcover]

Academic identity is continually being formed and reformed by the institutional, socio-cultural and political contexts within which academic practitioners operate. In Europe the impact of the 2008 economic crisis and its continuing aftermath accounts for many of these changes, but the diverse cultures and histories of different regions are also significant factors, influencing how institutions adapt and resist, and how identities are shaped.Academic Identities in Higher Educationhighlights the multiple influences acting upon academic practitioners and documents some of the ways in which they are positioning themselves in relation to these often competing pressures.

At a time when higher education is undergoing huge structural and systemic change there is increasing uncertainty regarding the nature of academic identity. Traditional notions compete with new and emergent ones, which are still in the process of formation and articulation.Academic Identities in Higher Educationexplores this process of formation and articulation and addresses the question: what does it mean to be an academic in 21st century Europe?

Linda Evansis Professor of Leadership and Professional Learning at the University of Leeds, UK, and has previously worked at the University of Warwick, UK.

Jon Nixonis Honorary Professor in the Center for Lifelong Learning Research and Development at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, and Visiting Professor at Middlesex University, UK.

InAcademic Identities in Higher Educationwe are treated to a wonderfully accessible set of essays  most with an autobiographical component  by academics right across Europe. Implicitly and intriguingly, this volume opens the possibility that, for all of the instability in its formation, we may be seeing the emergence of a European academic identity. This is a special book and is essential reading for all those interested in academic identity, and I rls„