3.1 Scholarship and the university

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Academic Medicine
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Dental schools face increasing accountability for research and teaching performance.
• Staff must meet institutional targets and develop clinical expertise for tenure and promotion.
• International dental schools grapple with recruitment and retention of academic staff.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine issues impacting academic staff recruitment and retention in dental schools globally.
• To explore the balance between academic needs and specialist clinical skill development.
• To emphasize the broad definition of scholarship in bridging research and teaching.

Main Methods:

• This is a discussion paper, not an empirical study.
• It synthesizes issues impacting academic staff in dental education.
• It analyzes career development, scholarship, and institutional policies.

Main Results:

• Career development must uphold dentistry's scientific credibility while integrating clinical demands.
• Scholarship should be broadly defined to accommodate diverse individual strengths.
• Structured career development and flexible promotion criteria are increasingly recognized as vital.

Conclusions:

• Dental schools must provide structured career development and flexible promotion criteria.
• Recognizing diverse scholarly contributions and teamwork is essential for institutional performance and staff morale.
• Balancing academic rigor with clinical demands requires a flexible approach to career progression.