Colleagues Abroad

This issue marks the second time we have looked at the use of part-time faculty in countries other than the United States. The first time, in the May/June 2002 issue, we looked at the use of lecturers in Canada, Italy, Japan and Great Britain. In this issue, we have pieces about temporary faculty in Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Malaysia and Scotland. The similarities between the faculty groups are interesting. Part-time faculty are expected to be prepared to step in and teach at a moment’s notice, regardless of the faculty member’s qualifications. Hiring focuses primarily on staffing the course and secondarily on finding a faculty member with the precise qualifications.

Without impugning the abilities of the part-time faculty who staff the courses, the growing use of temporary faculty is a disaster. An entire generation of college graduates, both M.A. and Ph.D. recipients, has never been fully integrated into academe. They have been relegated to the sidelines, intellectually, socially and politically. While tenured faculty set curriculum, participate in the ceremonies and occupy seats in the Faculty Senates, their part-time faculty colleagues are left behind to wonder what it would be like to be members of the communities in which they teach. Some, particularly those who want full-time teaching jobs, are embittered and angry. Still, they do the best job they possibly can with the scant encouragement and support offered them by their colleges and departments.

How many mathematicians, linguists, social scientists, biologists and the like, worldwide, are underutilized by higher education in general, and their institutions, in particular? Can higher education afford to rely on a professorate, half of whom have more in common with workers at Wal-Mart, instead of with colleagues in their professional associations? I think neither state nor national higher education political strategists understand the ramifications of allowing colleges and universities to rely on disposable faculty.

There is a glimmer of hope, however, that comes to us from the European Union. In October of 2002, the EU passed the Part-Time Workers Directive and Framework Directive on Fixed Term Work. The law calls for all part-times employees throughout the EU to be paid pro-rata wages and benefits. In addition, the law forbids colleges and universities to employ faculty on open-ended, multi-year, temporary contracts. Not surprisingly, the law has been difficult to universally enforce. However, in the United Kingdom, the government spends approximately £50 million ($84 million dollars) each year to implement the Directive within higher education. U.S. officials estimate that it would cost $3 billion dollars provide part-time faculty with pro-rata salaries and benefits. A huge sum? Yes and no. The amount, while certainly large, represents just one-half of one percent of the total spent each year on higher education in our country.

As always, I hope you enjoy your issue of the magazine.

–P.D. LESKO