*3.3.4 Over-activity*

Teachers' over-activity in trying to reconcile the various professional aspects of teaching, research, management and extension is the aspect with the greatest emphasis in the discourse analysed, the greatest concern being the lack of time to produce more innovative and higher quality work as we can observe in the examples below.

*What the lecturer is nowadays expected to do in the multiple facets of his or her activity (teaching, research, management and extension), makes it difficult to respond to all the demands in the way I would like (S1).*

*Teaching and learning also become, by these criteria, a mechanic that can be reproduced from year to year. There is no time and no relevance is given to the creation of innovative ways of being a teacher and a student that create a future. Research often becomes a mechanic where innovation is absent but which allows a response to the institutional criteria in force (S3).*

*...but also overloaded with teaching time, when it is necessary to meet the demands of a differentiated nature that are requested of a teacher at this level of education (publication of articles; research...) (S5)*

*... and with the impression that time for reading, reflecting, deepening, something fundamental for the ethical and intellectual commitment that should move us is scarce and undervalued. Being a good employee, bureaucratically diligent, achieving efficient publication schemes seems to be a combination valued by institutions (S8).*

*A large percentage of the time is devoted to teaching as the workload has, for several years, been higher than expected. Another significant percentage of time is devoted to university management tasks and community outreach activities, such as training activities. There is no time or motivation left for research or for developing research projects (S10).*

## *3.3.5 Collaboration*

Collaboration within the institutional framework appears in the discourse as offering difficulty even though it is seen as possible in more specific contexts.

*At the same time I value the teamwork that is possible to develop within the department to which I belong (S6).*

*A space of little cooperative work, of fulfilling tasks, teaching lessons, little openness to different opinions or working methods, little incentive to the exchange of knowledge and ideas (S7).*

In general, we can consider that the teachers' discourse does not reveal much enthusiasm or satisfaction in the way they are experiencing their professional activity at the university, although it is clear that they maintain autonomy and scientific freedom. The need to respond to a multiplicity of tasks required by the four aspects of their activity (teaching, research, management and extension) leads to the perception that they carry out a more superficial and mechanized work, resulting from the lack of time for deeper and higher quality work.

*University Teachers' Conceptions of What University Is: Implications for the Future of Higher… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100813*
