How Does Research Performativity Impact on the NonCore Regions of Europe? The Case for a New Research Agenda

Activity: Talk or presentationLecture and oral contribution

Description

The European Union is committed to the goal of becomin g the most competitive and dynamic knowledge economy in the world, evident inthe European knowledge triangle of education, research and innovation. Higher education is positioned as contributing directly toincreased research and development capacity, innovation, and the development of human capital, as well as economic competitiveness(EC 2010). While higher education has traditionally played important roles in the production of knowledge and the training of professionalélites (Shattock, 2009), this new responsibility for adding economic value has resulted in higher education becoming a focus for sustainedreform. Higher education has been subject to reform of funding and governance, including the introduction of quasimarketconditions, particularly around research funding and competition for student income, and financial diversification through recruitment of international students; the reduction in direct funding from governments promoting a diversification of income streams; government steering of research priorities to meet economic needs, specifically prioritizing certain STEM areas that are perceived to be close to the market; governmentsupport for increased participation in higher education as part of an economic strategy to maximize the stock of human capital in aid ofsecuring economic competitive advantage in a global economy; the replacement of professional or collegiate regulation of academic workby institutional regulation; closer management of academic labour; and the promotion of entrepreneurial activity (Amaral, et. al., 2009;Marginson & Wende, 2007; Musselin, 2005). While these are global trends, within Europe they converge with the development of theEuropean Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). Academic work generally is therefore increasinglyframed by Government steering of research priorities and the need to produce data for departmental and institutional performanceindicators and benchmarking exercises, as well as reorient academic practice in line with these measures. There are increasing concernsabout the distorting effects of this kind of research performativity, especially national and institutional responses to rankings and thepublication metrics.One key challenge is to assess how such institutional responses structure academic practice, impact on academic identity, the historicallyformed modes of knowledge production and dissemination in a number of disciplinary fields, and the ways in which they transform thenature of knowledge production itself. However, the new systems of status distribution introduced by this research performativity appear toreproduce and entrench academic hierarchies, since knowledge production is largely concentrated in particular geopoliticallocations, mostly the United Kingdom and the United States. Furthermore, these processes reinforce academic stratification globally. Rankingsreinforce the advantages of leading institutions and regional centres of higher education, intensifying the flow of economic and humancapital to these institutions and regions in the form of endowments, research funding, and high status academics and research students(Marginson, 2016). Research selectivity, therefore, produces and reinforces geographical and institutional hierarchies. It is important toestablish how research selectivity impacts in the noncore regions and institutions of European higher education, as well as the GlobalSouth. Research agendas on research performativity need to avoid reproducing and reinforcing these institutional, regional, and linguistichierarchies. The noncore areas of European higher education are often absent from dominant critiques of contemporary researchperformativity, and limited recognition is given to issues of the linguistic impact of rankings and publication metrics (Duszak & Lewkowicz,2008). Also, limited attention is given to the impact on modes of knowledge, theories, and intellectual traditions in the noncoreregions of Europe or the Global South. Furthermore, there is a need to examine how these processes interact with systems of academic recruitmentand promotion, gender, linguistic, and ethnic equality. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis paper draws on a recent COST Action submission that aims is to build a research network focused on the varied ways that European,national, and institutional systems of research performance management impact upon academic practice and identity, specifically on themore peripheral European higher education systems. The network of proposers comprises 37 scholars from 19 countries (Austria, Belgium,Brazil, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia,Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey), with the majority being women and early career researchers. This COST Action submission places emphasison linguistic, disciplinary, and epistemological impacts. The proposal and this paper were developed using a collaborativeprocess. Various iterations were reviewed by participants to ensure that a) the most important policy documents and academic debateswere identified, b) that the emerging emphasis on linguistic, disciplinary, and epistemic impact was sufficient, and c) that research from orabout the noncore regions of Europe was fairly represented. Therefore, this paper draws primarily on three sets of data. First, it draws on a review of European (European Commission, etc.) andnational policy documents related to research, higher education governance and quality assurance. This provides information on theexplicit and intended policy direction for European higher education. Second, a review of key academic research into contemporary highereducation, especially in relation to rankings, publication metrics, and research performativity. This highlight the dominant themes andconcerns of academic discourse in this area. Third, a review of academic literature from or explicitly concerning rankings, publicationmetrics, and research performativity in noncore European regions. This provides a comparative set of themes and concerns related tothese higher education systems. This review of literature forms a basis for proposing a research agenda that gives attention to the impact of rankings, publication metrics, and research performativity on the noncore regions of Europe.Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThis paper puts forward the case for a sustained research agenda that focuses specifically on the noncoreregions of Europe, essential if we are to have a proper understanding of the impact of research performativity on academic practice and identity:" Publication metrics rely upon a small number of bibliometric databases operated by the major academic publishers. In what ways dothese have a determining effect on the capacity of academics, HEIs, higher education systems, and regions to participate equitably in thesystems of international exchange and comparison? This includes inquiring into how research performativity influences choice of researchtopic, what to write, and where to publish (Elton, 2000; Linkova, 2014; Wouters et. al. 2015); and a methodological tendency to privilegeélite institutions (Marginson, 2016; Rauhvargers, 2013). While recent research has focused on the way women are disadvantaged inrecruitment, promotion, and research visibility (EC 2011), less attention has been paid to the intersection of gender and research selectivityin the noncore regions of the EHEA. These processes appear to intersect with the high exodus of talented academics from the noncoreregions of the EHEA (see Linkova & Henderson 2003).If research performativity imposes a universal standard that reflects the dominance of certain forms of knowledge, knowledge productionand dissemination, how is this affecting the development and dissemination of knowledge locally; and how does this influence systems ofstaff recruitment and professional advancement? This includes the underrepresentation of the arts, humanities and some areas of thesocial sciences, and the almost invisibility of non-English language publications, in rankings and publication metrics (Duszak andLewkowicz, 2008; Medgyes and Kaplan 1992; Rauhvargers, 2013; Vogopoulou, et. al., 2015; Waltman et. al., 2012).ReferencesAmaral, A. e t. al. (Eds.) (2009) European Integration and the Governance of Higher Education and Research. Dordrecht: SpringerNetherlands.Duszak, A., & Lewkowicz, J. (2008). Publishing academic texts in English: A Polish perspective. Journal of English for Academic Purposes,7(2), 108120.Elton, L. (2000 ) The UK Research Assessment Exercise: Unintended Consequences. Higher Education Quarterly, 54(3): 274283.European Commission (2010) Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. (COM(2010) 2020 final). Bruss els: EC.European Commission (2011) Structural change in research institutions: Enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in researchand innovation. Retrieved July 15, 2017, from http://ec.europa.eu/research/sciencesociety/document_library/pdf_06/structuralchangesfinalreport_en.pdfLinková, M. (2014) Unable to resist: Researcher responses to research assessment in the Czech Republic. Human Affairs, 24(1): 7888.Linková, M. & Henderson, L. (2003) Nurturing or Frustrating Ambition? The position of young researchers in Central and Eastern Europe.In Proceedings on the Enwise workshop on young scientists. Prague, April. Retrieved July 15, 2017, www. cecwys.org/prilohy/aeb76b97/Nurturing% 20or% 20frustrating% 20ambition. pdf.Marginson, S. (2016) Higher Education and the Common Good. Melbour ne: Melbourne University Press.Marginson, S. & M. van der Wende (2007) "Globalisation and Higher Education", OECD Education Work ing Papers, No. 8, OECDPublishing: Paris.Medgyes, P., & Ka plan, R. B. (1992). Discourse in a foreign language: The example of Hungarian scholars. International Journal of theSociology of Language, 98(1), 67100.Musselin, C. (2005), European Academ ic Labour Markets in Transition, Higher Education, 49(1): 135154.Rauhvargers, A. (2013). Global university rankings and their impact: Report II. Brussels: European University Association.Shattock, M. (Ed) (2009) Entrepreneurialism in Universities and the Knowledge Economy: Diversification and Organizational change inEuropean Higher Education. Maidenhead: Open University Press & Society for Research in to Higher Education.Vogopoulou, A., Sarakinioti, A. & Tsatsaroni, A. (2015). Globalisation, Internationalisation and the English Language in Greek HigherEducation. Paper presented at the European Education Research Association Conference, Budapest, 8 11September 2015.Waltman, L. et. al. (2012), The Leiden ranking 2011/2012: Data collection, indicators, and interpretation. Journal of the American Societyfor Information Science and Technology, 63(12): 24192432.Wouters, P. et al. (2015) The Metric Tide: Literature Review (Supplementary Report I to the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics inResearch Assessment and Management). London: HEFCE.
Period6 Sept 2018
Event titleECER 2018: Inclusion and Exclusion, Resources for Educational Research?
Event typeConference
LocationBolzano, ItalyShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Higher Education Policy
  • Globalisation
  • Performativity
  • Neo-liberalism