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Imported talents: demographic characteristics, achievement and job satisfaction of foreign born full time faculty in four-year American colleges

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Abstract

The information-based economy globalizes the competition for talents and has changed the nature of international migration in recent decades. The rise of America has historically benefited from imported talents, and higher education has played a crucial role. By using 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF04), this research tries to reexamine the roles of foreign born faculty in four-year American colleges after September 11. Descriptive statistics and discriminant analysis demonstrate that foreign born faculty occupy a special niche in the American four-year colleges. We argue that American higher education still needs imported talents, especially in the areas of pure and applied sciences.

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Notes

  1. The nature of illegal immigration has changed little since the term was first applied to this segment of international migration. The discussion included here of the changing nature of immigrants and immigration refers to legal immigration.

  2. Academic rank includes Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and (full) Professor.

  3. All job satisfaction questions are measured on a four-point Likert Scale: 1. very satisfied, 2. somewhat satisfied, 3. somewhat dissatisfied, and 4. very dissatisfied.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Administration and Foundations, College of Education, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790, USA

    Zeng Lin

  2. Illinois Board of Higher Education, 431 East Adams, Second Floor, Springfield, IL, 62701-1418, USA

    Richard Pearce

  3. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790, USA

    Weirong Wang

Authors
  1. Zeng Lin
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  2. Richard Pearce
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  3. Weirong Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zeng Lin.

Appendices

Appendix A: Linear regressions

Table 8 Linear regression results of published refereed journal articles in career controlling by faculty birthplace
Full size table

Appendix B: Dummy variables

Table 9 Dummy variables
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Appendix C: Classification of field of teaching and research

Table 10 Classification of field of teaching and research
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Lin, Z., Pearce, R. & Wang, W. Imported talents: demographic characteristics, achievement and job satisfaction of foreign born full time faculty in four-year American colleges. High Educ 57, 703–721 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9171-z

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