Academic Profession in Chile: Perspectives From an International Survey

Abstract

In this article, we present the first results of the Chilean version of the international survey of the academic profession APIKS (Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society) applied to faculty in 11 Chilean universities between the end of 2018 and early 2019. Participating institutions include universities in the three major groupings: public universities, private universities with state support (also known as G9), and private universities without state support. 1,258 academics answered the survey in full. The paper presents descriptively the results of the following modules of the survey: distribution of time across the various university functions, characteristics of the teaching work, characteristics of research activities, and third mission activities. We also report on the faculty"s experience in the early stages of their careers: instructors and assistant professors. The main results suggest that undergraduate teaching remains the major task of faculty in all kinds of universities. One-fourth of their time is dedicated to management. Types of knowledge production, with high national and international collaboration levels, emphasize publication of journal articles over other forms of scientific communication. Outreach activities are directed mostly to other universities, the government, and NGOs over the business sector. We also show that university support to early-career faculty is still incipient.