Academic identities in today’s university: a visual study

Abstract

Recent years have seen the development of accountability processes to monitor the quality, autonomy, and performance of universities. These include the evaluation of university academics based on a quality quantification system that prioritizes research over other roles. For Spanish academics, their professional trajectories hinge entirely on successfully navigating evaluation procedures of this type. This study analyzes the impact of these processes on the academic identity of university teaching staff through an alternative and complementary perspective using visual methodologies. To this end, we employed collaborative image creation processes and engaged in reflective analysis, applying both narrative (vertical) and paradigmatic (horizontal) approaches. The results reveal the particular impact of evaluation processes on the identity of university academics. Additionally, we observed the influence of other elements that further amplify this impact, including job insecurity, the quest for employment stability, autonomy to fulfill the work role, as well as the prevalence of inequalities and competitiveness within access procedures. Consequently, we have identified the development of identities with distinct nuances, all underpinned by a common thread: subservience to the demands of evaluation processes, which have emotional and health consequences. This article concludes by proposing lines of action to enable the optimal development of academics.