The vanishing idea of a scholarly life: Workload calculations and the loss of academic integrity in Western Sydney

The loss of collegiality and the loss of academic integrity were key themes raised during forums, personal interviews, a survey and focus groups conducted with University of Western Sydney academic staff as part of a research project into academic work load agreements. In this paper the experiences related by participants are placed in the light of current literature. This paper follows Soliman and Soliman (1997) in suggesting that academics must make their work visible or the essential broad contribution of academic work will never be fully understood by managers whose priorities are sometimes peripheral to educational processes. It outlines difficulties academics are experiencing in the key areas of casualisation, teaching and research, and administration, which are contributing to loss of collegiality.