In Search of a Professional Identity and Academic Freedom: Higher Education in Macau and the Academic Role of Faculty

Abstract

Higher education in Macau, China, is characterized by vocationalization of institutions, lack of faculty professionalization, and little or no shared governance. It is true that as compared with their counterparts in mainland China, professors in Macau enjoy more academic freedom in terms of what research to do and how they teach their classes. But they face increasing restrictions in research and teaching and lack power in academic programing and the selection of their colleagues and academic managers. Using general statistics of higher education in Macau and a case study of one university, this chapter illustrates not only the status of the profession but also the structural, cultural, and individual factors which influence that status. The findings have an important implication for the development of higher education in Macau in the post-colonial era. At a time of universal corporatization and commercialization in higher education, this study explores a challenge to academic freedom in one place in China, but it is a challenge that higher education faces elsewhere, too.