۱- Introduction

۲- Massification and the shift in demand for academic labour

۳- Disequilibrium between supply and demand: evidence of academic labour shortages

۴- Research assessment: impact on faculty backgrounds and supply

۵- International mobility and competition

۶- Strategic responses to academic labour shortages

۷- Consequences of both academic labour shortages and the emerging response strategies for the accounting and finance academy

References

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on change in the higher education sector arising from massification, increased political control, international mobility and competition. Drawing on various data sources and labour shortage models, it considers academic labour in UK accounting and finance academia over the period 2000 to 2012. A disequilibrium between supply and demand is evidenced through the identification of recruitment problems, unfilled vacancies, and retirements. The impact of research assessment on faculty backgrounds is shown to result in inadequate supply of faculty with the required skills. Strategic responses to labour shortages include: increased recruitment efforts, early promotions, enhanced remuneration and reducing restrictions on occupational entry. The consequences and future implications of shortages and strategies are considered. In particular, the decoupling of research and teaching in accounting is challenging the future existence of accounting as an academic discipline. The current generation of accounting academics is also under threat – if they neither excel at research nor are professionally-qualified they risk becoming undesirable.

Introduction

Higher Education is increasingly viewed as a commodity purchased and sold in a global market place (Altbach, 2001), operating as a commercial business. Of the many challenges facing the modern global university, the most critical may prove to be the competition for intellectual labour (Altbach et al., 2012; Wildavsky, 2010; Olson, 2013, ch.5). In the UK, the demand, supply, and nature of academic labour has been influenced over time by factors such as massification, increased political control (Gibney, 2013) and international mobility and competition. As in many other countries, the academic profession is an ageing profession in the UK, with the proportion aged over 50 in England having risen from 34% to 41% in the last ten years (Locke and Bennion, 2013). Further, individuals replacing retiring faculty members must ideally demonstrate a wider array of talents and productivity than their predecessors (Austin, 2002). Consequently, academic labour shortages across many disciplines in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) are evident. Under recent Home Office visa proposals, PhD-level occupations with domestic shortages, including research and higher education teaching positions, were given priority (Jump, 2011). Institutions in the UK are becoming increasingly reliant on international recruitment (Wildavsky, 2010; Locke and Bennion, 2013).