Professionalization

Higher Education as Home to Professional Schools

Foundational to becoming a professional is receiving the prescribed education and specialized training required to practice in the field. Examples of professional schools, where part of professionalization takes place, include colleges of medicine, architecture, law, and education. Professional schools drove higher education enrollment and expansion by housing not only the professional schools themselves but also by beginning to offer the prerequisite degrees required to apply.

Although higher education institutions are centers of professional training and activity, they share responsibility for producing professionals with other actors: The state sets licensing and regulatory requirements; professional associations develop standards for education, examination, practice, and membership.

Professionalizing the Professoriate

The concepts of professions and professionalization began in Europe and, with colonization, spread around the world as universities were established and new professionals trained. Professors gained professional status at varying rates from region to region. For example, professors were among the earliest professionals in Germany whereas in the United States, they were not recognized as such until around the beginning of the 20th century.

Part of the influence on professionalization of the professoriate was the model of the German research university, which prioritized academic freedom as a central tenet. Professionalization of the professoriate has a relationship to the concepts of academic freedom and tenure because had faculty not professionalized, they would not have the necessary autonomy to self-govern via the tenure process. The tenure process is important as a mechanism to protect academic freedom by, among other things, protecting faculty from being fired for engaging controversial topics.

Graduate Student Professionalization

Graduate student professionalization is the process of preparing graduate students for a career in their profession. Tension exists in balancing graduate students’ preparation for practice versus preparation for academia. For example, a professional student preparing for an academic career will also require acclimation to aspects of work such as teaching, research, and service; securing funding; standards of ethics and practice; reappointment, promotion, and tenure; and interaction among, and across, fields of study.

Each profession emerged in response to a societal need and therefore has a unique relationship with and influence on higher education. For example, universities initially formed around teaching the early professions (law, medicine, and theology) and the first students had one-on-one, apprentice-style relationships with their teachers. As professions matured and others emerged, student preparation changed. For example, engineering developed as a profession spurred by technological advancement, but students were prepared differently based on where and when they studied. In France, early engineers attended grandes écoles, whereas in England, an apprentice-type relationship was maintained. Eventually, the industrial revolution created demand that drove expansion of schools of engineering across Europe and North America.

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