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Academic Inbreeding in Portugal: Does Insularity Play a Role?

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Abstract

A recent study has highlighted the high level of inbreeding in Portuguese academia, relating this phenomenon with the age of the institution and with the core academic values of different disciplinary areas. Defining academic inbreeding as the recruitment of academics by the same institution that awarded their PhD, this study aims to extend the research to Portuguese universities of peripheral areas affected by insularity which might increase the levels of inbreeding. Resorting to a database provided by the national Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), the levels of inbreeding in universities of peripheral areas, such as the Portuguese islands and other second tier urban centres in the hinterland of the country, and in different disciplinary areas are analysed and compared with universities located in larger and coastal urban centres. Although overall results do not support a major influence of insularity in inbreeding, since the inbreeding levels were masked by disparities in the development stage of disciplines, when the age of the first PhD awarded in different disciplinary areas was taken into account, an increasing effect of insularity in academic inbreeding was noted.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by the project UID/CED/00757/2013, awarded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in Portugal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIPES – Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies, Rua 1º de Dezembro, 399, 4450-227, Matosinhos, Portugal

    Orlanda Tavares & Alberto Amaral

  2. A3ES - Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education, Praça de Alvalade 6 - 5.°, Frente, 1700-036, Lisbon, Portugal

    Orlanda Tavares, Vasco Lança & Alberto Amaral

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  1. Orlanda Tavares
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  2. Vasco Lança
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  3. Alberto Amaral
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Correspondence to Orlanda Tavares.

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Tavares, O., Lança, V. & Amaral, A. Academic Inbreeding in Portugal: Does Insularity Play a Role?. High Educ Policy 30, 381–399 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-016-0029-1

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