Search results

Awareness and Desire as Strategy for Change. The Integration of Research and Education at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Dutch universities of applied sciences (UASs) had been teaching-only institutes since their legal origin in 1960. The development of higher education (HE) in Europe in the past twenty years requires UASs to embody and become hybrid organ-isations where education and research are integrated. Ever-changing, complex society needs professionals with overarching skills, such as critical, analytical and reflective ones. The Dutch government has framed this as a generic need for research abilities in all higher education students, in addition to framing research as a pedagogy for the development of skills. The new millennium brought Dutch UASs national funding for research and the appointment of lectoren (research professors). In 2015, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) board substantiated this national incentive in a renewed university-wide strategy to integrate research in all educational programmes. The AUAS strategic programme ‘Research into Education’ (Dutch: Onderzoek in Onderwijs; OiO) was designed to assist in the implementation of this aim. Educational managers and lecturers were positioned as the central actors in manifesting the intended changes. Five projects were framed, spanning from hands-on, tailor-made assistance of teaching staff to the creation of national and international networks. The aims and mechanisms for change of these projects as well as their results are presented in this chapter.Although AUAS was successful in realizing a broad desire to integrate education and research, monitoring and evaluation of the process shows how little we collectively know about functional connections between research and education, especially in applied higher education. A future strategic programme needs to bring about profes-sional enhancement at all levels to maintain the already-realised awareness and desire and take the process further to effect ability, knowledge, and reinforcement (Hiatt, 2018). It is a work in progress, yet hands-on university development can become empirically founded practice by smart and precise choices and design.

The Origin, Content and Context of Changing Research–Education Connections

Mutual enhancement or one-way street

The integration of research activities in universities of applied sciences (UASs) has led to the transformation of these universities into organisations with two primary processes: research and education. Although many believe in the benefits of combining research and education in one organisation, which is referred to as synergy in this study, research–education synergies have rarely been empirically investigated, particularly in the UAS context. Thus, this research investigates the intended synergy between the research and education of UASs by conducting a document analysis of their university-wide strategic policy. The findings show that UASs aim for synergies among people, UAS organisations and outside UAS organisations, with a focus on education-oriented synergies. This study provides an initial understanding of the strategic aims of UASs considering research–education synergy. The findings provide direction and a framework for future research and form a base for making explicit strategic choices for research–education connections in universities.

The Integration of Research in the Higher Education Curriculum: A Systematic Review

The support for connections between research and education is widespread. This connection yields the promise of educating students for the knowledge society. With the curriculum as the most important carrier of planned higher education, the lack of systematic insight in how research can be integrated into the curriculum is an important omission. This systematic review considers how empirical studies provide input for the integration of research in the higher education curriculum. Moreover, it provides a structured insight into the current body of knowledge on research in the curriculum. Based on a first set of 5815 journal articles, 121 articles were selected for further analysis. The model of Curriculum Aspects by Van den Akker (2003) was used to categorise the articles, which shows a body of knowledge on research in the curriculum with the largest focus on learning aims and learning activities. Furthermore, this review shows how few studies consider the effects of curriculum design on student learning, which calls for more empirical studies to benefit student learning.

Understanding Why Academics and Lower-Level Managers Connect Research and Education

After the integration of research activities, universities of applied sciences (UASs) have formulated organisational strategies to foster connections between research and education (Daas et al., 2023). Scholars stated that the behaviour of employees within UASs influences ‘the direction and tempo in which the proposed aims are reached or resisted in the wider organisation’ (Griffioen & De Jong, 2017, p. 454). Thus, employees within UASs, such as academics and lower-level managers, play a key role in establishing research-education connections (Jenkins & Healey, 2005; Van der Rijst, 2009). A recent study has shown that academics and lower-level managers connect research and education through three types of behaviours: by involving aspects of research in education, by involving aspects of education in research, and by involving aspects of research and education equally, with the first type mentioned most often (Daas & Griffioen, in review). Similar patterns are observed in previous studies highlighting how education benefits from research rather than vice versa (Taylor, 2007). However, the beliefs underpinning this behavioural focus still remain unclear. Scholars have reported factors that could influence employees in connecting research and education, such as career stages, personal abilities and the availability of resources influencing how academics combine research and teaching tasks (Coate, Barnett & Williams, 2001; Shin, 2011), and research productivity and teaching beliefs influencing how academics integrate research in teaching (Hu et al., 2015; Magi & Beerkens, 2016). Despite the important value of these insights, these studies all focus on one (set of) behaviour(s) in connecting research and education instead of considering factors influencing behaviours in connecting research and education holistically. Moreover, most of these studies consider academics instead of managers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the beliefs underpinning the behaviour of academics and lower-level managers in UASs in connecting research and education.To study the underpinning beliefs we applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) as a theoretical lens. According to the TPB, a person’s behavioural intentions are shaped through three determinants (Ajzen, 1991). Behavioural beliefs (1) refer to a person’s conceptions about the expected positive/negative outcomes of practicing the behaviour. Normative beliefs (2) consist of a person’s conceptions about whether others approve/disapprove of practicing the behaviour. Control beliefs (3) are a person's conceptions about the presumed factors that could enable/hinder in practicing the behaviour. The research question is: Which behavioural, normative and control beliefs underpin the behaviour of academics and lower-level managers in connecting research and education?

Connecting research and education in Universities of Applied Sciences