The academic work in the periphery: why argentine faculty is satisfied despite all?.

MARQUINA, MONICA; REBELLO, GABRIEL

Job Satisfaction around the Academic World

Springer

Lugar: Dordrecht; Año: 2012; p. 13 - 28

The academic profession in Argentina can be differentiated from those in the industrialised nations, but it shares some common characteristics with other Latin American countries. Academic staff in the region has traditionally been dominated by part-time staff; therefore, most teachers do not conduct research in addition to teaching. The low teaching salary levels have been another feature of Latin American university conditions. But beyond these characteristics, there are others related to the dependence on the centre. The academic profession in Argentina, in the context of Latin America, is a profession at the periphery. Patterns of academic work in industrialised countries set the standards worldwide and Latin American academic systems are influenced from the north. Thus Argentine scholars, like those of other peripheral countries, are dependent on the main centres of knowledge and scientific networks worldwide, with great inequality regarding resources and infrastructure. Academic staff around the world is increasingly becoming part of a global academic community. In this context, developing countries are at the bottom of a global system of unequal academic relationships (Altbach, 2004).  A quick glance at the international scene shows that Argentine academics, despite these conditions, have an average level of satisfaction compared with the rest of the countries in the CAP survey. Argentina ranks third among the countries whose academics perceive that working conditions had improved when compared with the beginning of their academic careers. These data must be analysed in context and in depth in order to find explanations for these perceptions.  The purpose of this chapter is to link the level of satisfaction of Argentine academics with the characteristics of the academic profession in a peripheral country. Why, despite these conditions, are the academics in Argentina quite satisfied? Which are the most satisfied? To what extent are satisfaction levels linked to the degree of approximation of their working conditions to international standards?