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ERIC Number: ED673299
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-May
Pages: 23
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Two Decades of Change: Faculty Discipline Trends in Higher Education
Brielle Johnson; Melissa Fuesting
College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
In recent years, higher education institutions have faced pressure to prioritize certain disciplines over others. In particular, there have been heightened pressures to emphasize disciplines that are in greater demand by students or perceived by the public as translating directly from degree to career. This report takes a longitudinal approach to provide insights on how academic disciplines have changed over the past 20 years in terms of faculty salaries, tenure status, and headcount. Trends across and within disciplines were examined to explore how recent historic events (e.g., the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic) and shifting priorities may have impacted the higher education faculty workforce. Data were analysed from the "Faculty in Higher Education Survey" from 2003-04 to 2023-24. This survey is administered annually, providing up-to-date information on recent and historic trends in faculty disciplines. The concluding section of this report synthesizes insights across analyses and provides key takeaways for higher education leadership. Across various indices, the faculty disciplines of Business, Health Professions, Biological/Biomedical Sciences, Engineering, and Legal Professions fared better than other disciplines in terms of salaries, raises, and growth. On the other hand, disciplines including English Language/Literature, Liberal Arts and Humanities, Consumer Sciences, Education, and Theology generally fared worse than other disciplines across the same metrics.
College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. 1811 Commons Point Drive, Knoxville, TN 37932. Tel: 877-287-2474; Fax: 865-637-7674; e-mail: research@cupahr.org; Web site: http://www.cupahr.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: Administrators
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A