Views of Teaching-focused and Research-focused Academics on the Mission of Higher Education

The views of academics on the aims and mission of higher education in society are related to their orientation regarding teaching and research. Data were collected through questionnaires from 52 academics in Cyprus. The responses suggest that the humanistic or personal-development view of the mission of higher education was considerably more popular among academics than the vocational or market-oriented view. Teaching-focused academics are more likely than research-focused academics to emphasise the benefits associated with the teaching and vocational aspects of higher education. A qualitative analysis of respondents' answers to three open-ended questions shows that teaching-focused academics place greater emphasis on the importance of higher education for the development of the student. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for attempts to improve the quality of teaching and research at universities.