Abstract:

The Bologna Process is perceived as the most important and challenging factor of change in higher education in the last decade. It has profound effects on the curricula, teaching processes and student work. In this work we present a research developed at the University of Coimbra in Portugal to analyze how these transformations affect university teachers in their functions, roles, work and identities. This exploratory study used an interview to gather university teachers’ perceptions about these changes in their profession. We concluded that teachers must behave strategically to deal with the impacts of policies and reconcile their own interests with the interests and orientations of the university. Also it is expected that the teaching profession continues to deal with these challenges, which lead to its reconfiguration.

Keywords:

Higher education, university teachers, the Bologna Process, Portugal.