ABSTRACT
A personal commitment to key virtues goes to the heart of what it means to teach with integrity. However, the political, economic and social conditions that frame professional practice in higher education determine whether lecturers find themselves working in a culture which largely supports or betrays these virtues. It is important to consider how personal commitment to the virtues of teaching fits within modern university culture. Hence, this final chapter will focus on the relationship between the virtue-based approach to academic professionalism outlined in the previous chapter and the broader context of higher education life. It will concentrate on the way key trends in modern higher education are shaping behavioural imperatives for universities and the academic communities they serve. The chapter will argue, in particular, that government policy initiatives in several countries in relation to massification, widening participation and auditing research quality have had a deleterious impact on professional virtues.
