Mentorship of early career academics in Tanzania: issues and implications for the next generation of academics
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Date
2021-03-31
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Higher Education Pedagogies
Abstract
Mentoring has been pointed out as one of the strategies for early career
academics (ECAs) preparation and support for smooth transition into
academia. Although ECAs mentoring has been widely studied, and the
findings have indeed been informative and illuminating, the issues
facing ECAs have yet to be adequately addressed, particularly in
Tanzania. Drawing from open-ended questionnaires, focus group dis cussions, and interviews, we examined the issues surrounding the
mentoring of ECAs in selected Tanzanian universities. Academic exploi tation, isolation, and lack of support from senior academics were
among the key issues facing ECAs. The findings further revealed that
regular mentorship training, peer support, and institutional policy
framework as strategies in place to subdue the mentoring challenges.
We argue for universities to have policy framework on professional
development through ECAs mentoring to fill out the gap on pedago gical, research and public engagement deficits for ensuring capable
next generation of academics.
Description
Keywords
Mentorship; higher education; academics; early career academics; next generation of academics