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Retired Professors to Serve In Developing Nations
In contrast to colleges and universities in the United States, where many academic job openings have multiple qualified applicants, institutions in developing countries often find it difficult to fill academic posts, particularly in fields such as business, accounting, mathematics, computer science, medicine, and other sciences. Senior academic administrators are also in short supply. "The rapid expansion of higher education in many developing countries has highlighted an increased need for good-quality teaching," says Hazel Milton of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), a London-based organization representing institutions of higher education in fifty-four countries.
Unfortunately, says Milton, these countries have been steadily losing promising students and staff to overseas universities and international companies. In addition to the pressures created by the establishment of new institutions, the expansion of existing ones, and the "brain drain" of promising young scholars to the developed world, many institutions in developing nations are affected, according to Milton, by the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis that has decimated the population in some countries.
In response, the ACU is developing a plan to match retired professors and academic administrators with university positions in developing countries. (Academics at earlier stages of their careers who have at least two years' teaching experience are also eligible to apply.) The association is collecting information from professors interested in teaching or serving in administrative positions overseas, and hopes to start matching candidates with short-term positions at universities in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean in April.
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