Zoekresultaten

Abstract submission from U!REKA

Higher education institutions are more and more attempting to connect research to teaching. One way of enhancing this connection is within the work of academics. Currently it is unknown if research and teaching are connected in the work of academics and if this relationship differs between new and old universities. Due to the fading boundaries between new and old universities within binary educational systems, comparing both settings becomes relevant. This research considers the relation between research and teaching in the work of academics by analysing tasks and competencies within job openings of new (N=126) and old (N=246) universities within the Netherlands. Data reduction was done in Atlas.ti8 using coding schemes. Hereafter, a quantitative analysis was applied, containing a descriptive and a correlation analysis. The findings show a negative relation between teaching and research-related tasks and competencies in job openings of new universities, while this relationship is sometimes positive, and sometimes negative in job openings of old universities. These findings yield a discussion about the professional profiles of teachers and researchers appropriate to enhance the connection between teaching and research within new and old universities.

Onderzoek in het onderwijs: zoeken naar de facetten

Building research capacity in new universities during times of academic drift

New universities on the European mainland were mostly teaching oriented until the start of this century. Current national and local management intends to better connect research and teaching through the increase of lecturers' research capacity, often defined through their master's degrees or PhDs. However, this strategy is complex due to the needed combination of didactical expertise, professional practise, and research competencies in lecturers' professional profiles, which are not captured by the notion of formal degrees. This study considers the professional profiles of new lecturers through a thematic analysis and a correlation analysis of tasks and competencies in job openings (N = 126). The findings show that two professional profiles underpin the hiring of new lecturers: the teaching lecturer and the research-active lecturer. These profiles do not imply a better connection between research and teaching. To reach this goal, higher education policy should explicitly define lecturers' professional profiles beyond their formal degrees.

Integrale benadering van onderzoek in het onderwijs

Het realiseren van een verbinding tussen onderwijs en onderzoek in het hoger beroepsonderwijs een integrale aanpak variërend van docenttaken en curriculumstructuur, tot organisatie-inrichting en beloningsbeleid. Dat verondersteld een complexe aanpak. De kennis over het verbinden van onderzoek lijkt inmiddels omvangrijk. Tegelijk blijkt dat de huidige stand van de wetenschap over de research-teaching-nexus weliswaar divers is, maar ook vooral normatief en prescriptief. Er is weinig empirisch onderzoek gedaan naar wat er gedaan wordt aan het verbinden van onderwijs en onderzoek en wat het effect is van deze verbinding, bijvoorbeeld op het leren door studenten. Dit symposium combineert papers over onderzoek die de intentie hebben om een meer empirisch inzicht te geven in de praktijken van het verbinden van onderwijs en onderzoek.

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.

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?