Academics’ Self-Assessment Regarding the Mastery of the Academic Profession Competencies

Abstract

 The academic profession is faced with many changes and challenges in the social context, which are related to the requirements for (re)defining the existing and introducing new competencies. The main aim of the research presented in this paper is to examine the participants’ self-assessments regarding the mastery of the academic profession competencies at the beginning of senior academic career. The research method applied in this research was an online survey, and the research instrument used was a survey questionnaire. The data was analysed with the use of the Statistical Package IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0. The research was conducted on a sample of 1130 research participants (682 senior academics and 448 junior academics) from seven public universities in Croatia. The evaluation scale contained 45 items - academic profession competencies. Research results have shown that four of the main five competencies in terms of the self-assessment regarding the mastery level are from the group of general academic competencies which are not related to the traditional academic activities - teaching or research. Research participants assessed that the competencies they have mastered the least, are the ones related to universities’ third mission and leadership activities.