Reclaiming the tripartite academic role: A critique of the commodification of nursing education and its consequences for faculty sustainability.

Abstract

Nurse educators in many countries are working under intensifying pressure from marketized higher education, persistent faculty shortages, and employment models that reward teaching volume while offering little protected time for scholarship. As schools of nursing are increasingly run as revenue-generating units, faculty are expected to absorb larger student cohorts, heavier service loads, and growing administrative work, often without recognized time for inquiry, mentorship, or curriculum development. This article argues that such commodification is not an unavoidable response to fiscal constraint but a policy choice with measurable costs for the discipline. Drawing on the updated Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) model of evidence-based healthcare and on principles of human-centered design, the paper examines how separating teaching from scholarship and service weakens faculty retention, erodes pedagogical quality, and narrows the pipeline of future educators. Teaching-only and teaching-dominant appointments may offer short-term administrative savings, but fragment academic identity, contribute to burnout, and threaten succession planning. The paper proposes practical interventions at institutional, accreditation, and workforce-planning levels, including protected scholarship time, regulated workload limits, formalized academic-clinical career pathways, and promotion criteria that recognized educational scholarship. Restoring the tripartite role of teaching, research, and service is presented as a necessary condition for an evidence-informed and sustainable nursing education system.