Academic Profession in Knowledge Societies (APIKS)

The sample takes into account a regional distribution and differences in the size of HEIs. The organisational variables are not part of the scientific-use file due to anonymisation. The German sub-study of the APIKS project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (funding code M522200).

The APIKS survey has two objectives. Firstly, the working conditions and attitudes of academics (professors and academic staff) at public universities are to be identified with a focus on research, teaching and university governance, including academic self-administration. Secondly, with the supplementary block of questions on knowledge and technology transfer, a current topic area on the so-called ´third mission´ or social relevance is added to the survey.

The questions on knowledge and technology transfer activities are not limited to classic fields such as spin-offs and licences, but also include teaching and voluntary work. In addition, the German sub-study was expanded to include a block of questions on "Supervision practices in the doctoral phase". This short study asks about the experiences of professors regarding supervision activities in the context of their doctorate and is based on a transfer of qualitatively elaborated supervision types and practices into standardised survey instruments (Schneijderberg 2018, 2021).