Ernest Boyer’s (1990) paper “Scholarship Reconsidered” sparked widespread discussion of the role of academics and broadened the notion of academic work by defining four “Scholarships”: Discovery (Research), Application, Integration and Teaching.
Since the publication of the Boyer paper, higher education in Australia has undergone significant change and is operating in a global, market-driven economic environment. There have been significant changes in the universities due to new technology and management practices. These changes described have put considerable pressures on universities and impacted the nature of academic work.
This paper re-considers the role of academics in the context of this new environment and explores whether the four ‘Boyer’ scholarships are sufficient to define academic work. A fifth scholarship is proposed which aims to restore the voice of academics as key stakeholders in the formation of effective educational policy and decision making. |