Becoming an Academic (Universities Into the 21st Century)

Becoming an Academic addresses the implications of the shifting higher education landscape for preparing new academics for their careers. It focuses on the preparation of doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and new academics in the social sciences – their experiences and perceptions of entering into and engaging in academic work. The scope and strengths of this book include:

• the introduction of a conceptual framework for considering the complexity of academic practice and preparation for academic practice
• a focus on the continuum of early career academics, from doctoral students through to newly appointed academics
• the spanning of national boundaries in preparation for academia, across the UK, Australia, Canada and the US
• the bringing together of a series of independent studies drawing on different literatures – representing amongst the authors an international body of research
• a practical commentary from doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and new academics on the relevance of different chapters to their own experience.