Collegiality among full-time professors in a Mexican university: Perceptions and challenges

Currently, institutions of higher education in Mexico have some changes in their educational and institutional policies on training and updating of the professorate. In this context, reforms of higher education, academics have had to adapt to new forms of academic work in both ways individually and collectively. Today it is possible to identify the diversity of functions that have Mexican academics to achieve a quality education. However, today, collegial work among professors has not been solved efficiently in universities of Mexico. The current study addresses the collegiality among full-time professors in a higher education institution in Northern Mexico. The purpose of this study was to determine the challenges and perceptions full-time professors have about collegial work in the University of Chihuahua campus Juarez. The topic of collegiality among full-time professors in Mexican Universities is important for higher education academics because in spite of the numerous attempts to increase their integration in academic groups that promotes professional development program for professors (PRODEP) they still working isolation way. The methodology utilized in the current study consisted of a qualitative approach. The study was an analysis of the collective experiences of the full-time professors working in a Mexican University. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 full-time professors. The analysis of these detailed interviews suggests that collegiality appears to be alive, but the vast majority of full-time professors do not belong nor participate in academic groups