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Durand in New York City
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Argentine researcher Julio Durand came to Boston College to study
the American tenure system so he could compare it with that in
his home country. His research, Durand says, yielded "useful
conclusions" on ways to improve Argentina's higher education
system, as well as the country's once very strong research tradition.
Higher education in Argentina is "poorly developed,"
according to Durand, who earned a Ph.D. in higher education from
the University of Navarre in Spain. He attributes this insufficient
development to many factors - political and ideological persecution
during the military regime, reduction of resources allocated to
universities and the "brain drain" of academics to the
U.S. Durand says that these factors have also contributed to the
decline of research done at private Argentine universities.
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(left to right) Mohan Agrawal, Fulbright Professor Visiting
from India; Mary Rose Bolton, Secretary of Boston Fulbright
Committee and Coordinator of the Boston-area Fulbright Visiting
Scholar Enrichment Program; and Julio Durand, Visiting Fulbright
Scholar
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"The possibility of studying some features of the American
and Argentinean universities comparatively seemed to offer good
perspectives for the enrichment and future improvement of higher
education in Argentina," he explains.
Durand visited several institutions of higher learning in the
U.S., including Brown, Columbia, Harvard, New York University
and Wellesley.
He found that history plays an important role in understanding
the differences in the two countries' tenure systems. In the early
20th century the U.S. and Argentina made "completely distinct
decisions" as to the tenure system and the status of university
professors, Durand says.
For instance, he says, the American Association of University
Professors (AAUP) in 1915 took important steps to protect academic
freedom from abuse by the state or from others.
"Assuring that a professor could not be dismissed because
of his or her ideas, and that expulsion would require trial by
peers contributed a great deal to the consolidation of academic
activity as a professional career in the U.S.," Durand explains
However, around the same time AAUP instituted these protections,
Durand says, incidents of political "agitation and discontent"
in Argentina prompted several of the country's universities -
all of them public - to eliminate the tenure system. What replaced
tenure was a very open and competitive contest-like system of
choosing faculty.
The result? "The restriction of the academic freedom of
the professor," he states.
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Durand (left) dines with Boston College Professor Philip
Altbach
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Another important aspect of Durand's project was a comparative
study of the working conditions for both American and Argentinean
professors. This study included investigating conditions such
as career development, hiring practices, salary, research resources,
and workload distribution. This comparative analysis, Durand believes,
will help develop and strengthen the careers of academics in his
country. "It could even contribute to the recovery of the
research tradition of the university," he notes.
He has made presentations at many Argentina institutions since
returning from his Fulbright sojourn. He is also currently at
work on a book about the working conditions of Argentinean professors
and the characteristics of academic work in the country.
"The possible title of the book will be The Invisible Faculty:
Full-Time Professors in Argentina's Universities," he says.
"In Argentina, only 13 percent of instructors are full-time
professors, and that is the reason why I chose this title."
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