Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ulrich Teichler

Comparative surveys of the academic profession have been undertaken for the first time in 1992 (The "Carnegie" survey) with more than a dozen countries and between 2007 and 2010 (The "Changing Academic Profession" survey and the "Academic Profession in Europe" survey) with more than 20 countries. Some identical or similar questions were included and some countries participated in both surveys – thus providing the opportunity to undertake an analysis of change over time. Other questions varied in order to allow an in-depth analysis of current salient issues (first: "The academic profession under pressure"; subsequently: "The role of strong managerial power", "Increasing expectation of relevance" and "Internationalisation". Since 2014, preparations are underway to undertake a third survey in 2017 with almost 30 countries being interested to participate – and hopefully more than 20 countries successful in raising the necessary funds and forming a competent team of researchers. Again, some questions will be repeated to measure change over time, while "Higher education in the knowledge society" and "The formative years of scholars" will be new areas of emphasis. It is hoped that a reflection of theoretical and methodological strengths and weaknesses of prior studies will lead to qualitative improvement of this area of higher education research.

Ulrich Teichler was Professor at the University of Kassel from 1978 to 2013 and for many years Director of the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER-Kassel). He has held professorships at Northwestern University (USA), the College of Europe (Belgium) and the University of Hiroshima (Japan) and has also been active in teaching in Germany, Argentina, China, Norway and Austria. Prof. Teichler has published over 1000 scientific papers. His research focuses on higher education and profession, structural development of higher education, international cooperation and mobility, and the teaching profession.