Institutional and Professional Values of the US Universities’ Academic Staff

Abstract

The problem of value priorities in the US universities is actualized in the paper; they traditionally show high ranking positions and make the majority among the best higher education institutions in the international education and research areas. The fundamental institutional values of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater are revealed aimed at implementing the best American universities experience for the development of higher education system and its quality in Ukraine. It is proven that American universities function on the basis of their own academic values and have their own culture and philosophy in addition to the established institutional values, such as institutional autonomy, academic freedom and shared governance. Consolidating the mission, vision and priorities of higher education institution development the institutional values reflect the peculiarities of the university’s activities and project the moral ideal of behavior of academic staff, students and graduates, who confirm to stakeholders their competitiveness at the labor market. It is revealed that a key and integral part of professional values in the US universities is academic freedom though which historically and traditionally the defense of democratic values is considered. It is grounded that academic freedom in the American university society is a prerequisite for developing knowledge, conducting research and publishing their results, it also causes the social and institutional responsibility, in particular for compliance with ethical standards of conduct and principles of integrity. It is reveled that the practical realization of the American professor’s right for academic freedom is the right for tenured appointment, which makes it possible to work without the administrative pressure and the risk to be fired because of his unpopular views and statements. It is established that the American Association of University Professors is the founder of the American understanding of academic freedom and the advocate of the universities’ academic staff rights, including their tenure.