The academic profession: The dynamics of emerging countries

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze variations of internal fragmentation in the academic profession of emerging countries compared to mature ones. Just as in mature countries the academic profession in emerging countries is part of a global academic community. We will analyze the academic professions of six emerging countries recognizing differences between a group of scholars connected with international standards and therefore part of the global academic community compared to more locally oriented academics. We assume that in each country it is possible to recognize the existence of an academic sector that we called “elite” that has a considerable distance from the rest of academics in terms of working conditions, productivity and perceptions of their profession. However, we will try to demonstrate that this distance is significantly lower in mature countries.