Tenure as a threat to sustainability in Philippine tertiary education institutions

Abstract

Tenure has been described by Siow as one of many unusual personnel practices in academia, while Frey, Botan, and Kreps describe it as a motivator for faculty to choose academia over industry [1-2]. Interviews and interactions with academics from three universities in Metro Manila, the Philippines, along with the author’s experience and interpretation of the findings, however, lead to the conclusion that tenure encourages work-life imbalance in the attempt to obtain it and then mediocrity after it is granted. This paper compares tenure policies in three universities in Metro Manila, the Philippines, seeking to interrogate present policies, with data being coded into categories and inter-subjectivity being maintained by validating the observations made by the author with colleagues. For sustainability to be achieved, it is recommended that there be: (1) an increase in hiring of adjunct and visiting faculty; (2) recalibration of quantitative and qualitative indicators in determining faculty performance; and (3) high-value and long-term, but not lifetime, contracts to replace tenure. Compensation as a factor in educational sustainability and an increased number of reviewed institutions are recommended for future study.