Intellectual inbreeding or academic inbreeding is the practice in academia of a university hiring its own graduates to be professors. It is generally viewed as insular and unhealthy for academia. Intellectual inbreeding is thought to hinder the introduction of ideas from outside sources, just as genetic inbreeding hinders the introduction of new genes into a population.
The Commission on Graduate Education in Economics (COGEE) recognizes it as "a trend for emulation rather than diversification." Academic inbreeding has also been cited as a major problem in the major universities of the People's Republic of China—such as Peking University and Tsinghua University, which have adopted measures in recent years specifically to combat the practice—and South Korea. A relevant study also exists that analyzes the issue by considering Russia and Portugal as examples.
References
- ^ Shih Choon Fong (27 October 2003). "State of the University Address". National University of Singapore. Archived from the original on December 27, 2003. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
- Kornguth, ML; Miller MH (1985). "Academic inbreeding in nursing: intentional or inevitable?". Journal of Nursing Education. 24 (1): 21–24. doi:10.3928/0148-4834-19850101-07. PMID 2981989.
- "Beijing University: an Ivory Tower in Change". 11 July 2003. Archived from the original on 20 September 2004. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) () - "Academic Inbreeding Attacked". Science. 282 (5397): 2165. 18 December 1998. doi:10.1126/science.282.5397.2165c. S2CID 152739465. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
- Horta, Hugo; Yudkevich, Maria (Dec 2016). "The role of academic inbreeding in developing higher education systems: Challenges and possible solutions". Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 113: 363–372. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2015.06.039. ISSN 0040-1625.