PERSONAL VIEW
Academic leave
"Leaving town" versus "taking leave": the case for re-thinking academic leave restrictions
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor R J Epstein
Room 404, Professorial Block, Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong; repstein@hku.hk
Today’s knowledge worker will be judged by achievement rather than attendance.
Keywords: conference leave; academic medicine; continuing professional development; continuing medical education; human resources
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Academic institutions permit staff to take non-vacation leave—variously categorised as conference leave, study leave, training leave, special leave, etc—with the aim of adding long term value to the institution.1 Logically, such value–adding leave should be considered an intangible asset, rather than a cost, of the institution. Yet most employers continue to offer academic leave as a restricted "perk" or privilege, implying that the institution (a) cannot judge the value of individual leave applications, and (b) tacitly approves staff not working while on leave.
The pressures of globalisation are now highlighting this anomaly. In the past few decades the scope of day to day academic activities has extended to the regional and international sphere; this diffusion of the academic workplace away from its historical lecture theatre roots is part of a broader migration away from institutional imperialism2 and towards outsourcing, offshoring, flexi-time, portfolio careers, and telecommuting.3–5 New communication technologies
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