How does research performativity and selectivity impact on the non-core regions of Europe? The Case for a New Research Agenda

Simon Warren*, Marcin Starnawski, Anna Tsatsaroni , Areti Vogopoulou, Pavel Zgaga

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewpeer-review

Abstract

Higher education systems are caught between two dynamic processes, one referring to economic value and the other to status value. Although these political rationalities are presented as part of a coherent programme of reform and ‘modernisation’, they pull higher education systems and the actors within them in contradictory directions. Their impact can collectively be referred to as research selectivity since these rationalities encompass both what is often regarded as research performativity as well as institutional practices of recognition and reward and subjective strategies. This paper has a double aim: First, to map the dominant orientations of higher education studies research and how this has interrogated the relationship between neoliberalism and the restructuring of higher education systems and research infrastructure. Our reading shows that this is a significant context for inquiring into research selectivity as it is enacted and, at the same time, suggests that we need to pay attention to the privileging of existing centres of higher education research and the relative absence of sustained focus on research selectivity in the non-core regions of Europe. The second aim, then, is to put forward the case for a sustained research agenda that focuses specifically on the identification of the differential impact of processes of research selectivity in non¬-core regions of Europe, organised around three intersecting themes – linguistic impact, epistemological impact, and disciplinary impact. Arguing for the importance and relevance of this research agenda for empirical research in Europe and globally, the paper emphasises that its main objective is to create a critical space within which we can, collectively, think higher education otherwise.
Original languageEnglish
JournalHigher Education
Volume81
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)607-622
Number of pages16
ISSN0018-1560
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

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© 2020, Springer Nature B.V.

Keywords

  • Research selectivity
  • Europe
  • peripherality
  • Performativity

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