Challenges and Contradictions among Teaching, Research, and Community Engagement in a Regional University Unit

Abstract

It is common for academics in higher education institutions in Mexico to have to strike a delicate balance in maintaining their identity as academic workers without becoming solely administrative staff. This article presents the results of a qualitative study that, through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, explored the perspectives of academic workers from six undergraduate programs offered in a regional unit of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla regarding the functions they have performed since 2017. The interviews and focus group sessions were recorded and transcribed to subsequently code and categorize the data obtained, which allowed for the creation of semantic networks. The results show that, due to the dynamics of a newly established academic unit, faculty members have had to assume administrative roles that occupy a significant portion of their time and interfere with their performance as teachers and researchers. It is important to highlight that, in the participants' discourse, the outreach function is perceived as administrative work. It is essential to seek a balance between the substantive functions of higher education faculty, as an imbalance can lead to a loss of the university's meaning for the community in which it is embedded. Having mechanisms that allow for an equitable distribution between administrative activities and academic functions would foster a harmonious development that would contribute both to the well-being of society and to that of the academic workers themselves.