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The freedom to set research agendas — illusion and reality of the research units in Dutch universities

The freedom to set research agendas — illusion and reality of the research units in Dutch universities
The freedom to set research agendas — illusion and reality of the research units in Dutch universities
The Dutch higher education and research system has incrementally changed during the last decade. Several reforms, initiated by the government, have hinted towards
influencing the basic processes within universities, such as research programming. However, it is largely unknown how these reforms have been implemented at the university shop floor level. Are the core activities of academics influenced by the reforms? Do academics still enjoy the academic freedom as they used to do? In this paper, we address the responses of four research units to changed institutional environments (two units in biotechnology and two in medieval history). Based on 33 interviews, we mapped their views on present-day research programming and problem choice in their units. The results show that the research units preserve their own research agenda to a large extent: the academic credibility process is paramount.
higher education, research policy, dutch universities, academic freedom, research units
0952-8733
377-391
Leisyte, Liudvika
8e039355-1cb0-490d-ac53-f1c572d5349c
Enders, Jürgen
cf0b34e3-15ef-430a-ae38-3c780d059a78
de Boer, Harry
5d57956c-8ae8-4ddf-9442-997bd3870a3c
Leisyte, Liudvika
8e039355-1cb0-490d-ac53-f1c572d5349c
Enders, Jürgen
cf0b34e3-15ef-430a-ae38-3c780d059a78
de Boer, Harry
5d57956c-8ae8-4ddf-9442-997bd3870a3c

Leisyte, Liudvika, Enders, Jürgen and de Boer, Harry (2008) The freedom to set research agendas — illusion and reality of the research units in Dutch universities. Higher Education Policy, 21, 377-391. (doi:10.1057/hep.2008.14).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The Dutch higher education and research system has incrementally changed during the last decade. Several reforms, initiated by the government, have hinted towards
influencing the basic processes within universities, such as research programming. However, it is largely unknown how these reforms have been implemented at the university shop floor level. Are the core activities of academics influenced by the reforms? Do academics still enjoy the academic freedom as they used to do? In this paper, we address the responses of four research units to changed institutional environments (two units in biotechnology and two in medieval history). Based on 33 interviews, we mapped their views on present-day research programming and problem choice in their units. The results show that the research units preserve their own research agenda to a large extent: the academic credibility process is paramount.

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Published date: 2008
Keywords: higher education, research policy, dutch universities, academic freedom, research units

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Local EPrints ID: 352532
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/352532
ISSN: 0952-8733
PURE UUID: d2a01e10-f43e-4cdf-9270-fa09b838f06f

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Date deposited: 15 May 2013 12:50
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 13:54

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Contributors

Author: Liudvika Leisyte
Author: Jürgen Enders
Author: Harry de Boer

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