Abstract:

The aim of this research is to define the perceptions of academicians working at a foundation university regarding the concept of being an academician at a foundation university through metaphors. Phenomenology design was used in this research. The study group comprised 96 academicians working in 45 different foundation universities across Turkey. The academicians working at a foundation university were asked to fill a form featuring the phrases, “Being an academician at a foundation university is like (similar to) …, because …”. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The results showed that the metaphors created by academicians working at a foundation university on the concept of being an academician at a foundation university were grouped under 6 top categories and 22 subcategories. These categories are: (1) Student satisfaction centricalness and commercialization under the academic capitalism top category, (2) Lack of belonging, temporariness and dismissal anxiety under the insecurity top category, (3) Academic freedom, valuableness, equivalence, flexibility, openness to development, cultural transfer and productivity under the job satisfaction top category, (4) Performance-orientation and competitiveness under the challenge top category, (5) Worthlessness, exploitation of labor, and deskilling under the proletarianization top category, (6) Lack of academic freedom, meaninglessness, insecurity in the business environment, identity confusion and mobbing under the alienation top category. All these categories were discussed within the scope of previous researches and some concrete research proposals were suggested for further studies.

Keywords: