Managing the accountability-autonomy tensions in university research commercialisation (original) (raw)
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University of Auckland, 2021
Using the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland as a case study, this study seeks to provide a conceptual model for how universities can best maintain their research autonomy in the face of increasing business practices in higher education. One of the core functions of a university is to search for and discover knowledge through research. To be able to do this effectively, the research must be as autonomous as possible because autonomy is regarded as an essential element in the research performance of academics. While empirical evidence about the benefits of research autonomy is mixed, a growing pool of research shows that research autonomy is limited in most universities. Although some scholars attribute this to corporate practices of the higher education system, other scholars believe that the “market” and “market-like” activities can strengthen the autonomy of academics, if it is done cautiously. I draw on resource dependence theory to suggest that, despite pressures from the external stakeholders (notably, government and industry), universities can increase their research autonomy through the implementation of strategic measures. I use a case study design and draw on interviews and document analysis to generate the findings. I interview twenty-six staff in selected faculties and positions at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, and analysed documents such as NZ Government’s statement of science investment, and the universities’ strategic plans and research policies. I have found that research autonomy is a relative term, and that university-industry-government research collaboration can enrich universities with resources required to strengthen their research mission. However, if such relationships are not managed well, they can deprive universities of their right to pursue knowledge for its own sake and curtail their role as critic and conscience of society.
Managing Knowledge and Identity across the Boundary of Academic and Commercial Science
European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
In the last few decades, institutions of higher learning are being transformed from ivory towers to become engines of regional and national economic development and ‘knowledge businesses’ increasingly focused on producing commercial products for private industry. The role of academics is rapidly shifting as many in the professoriate are becoming ‘captured’ by an ethos of commercialization as they rush to bring the product of their research to the marketplace. Critics of the entrepreneurial paradigm see academics as promoters as well as victims of commercialisation who internalize the pursuit of profit and value of money under the academic capitalist knowledge regime. While some academic researchers have enthusiastically embraced the transformation in the relationship between science and business, and between the academy and industry, many remain firmly committed to academic science, disinterested in pursuing commercial opportunities. Yet, others choose a middle ground and stradd...
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 2023
This study proposes the concept of strategic entrepreneurialism to suggest ways universities can best maintain their research autonomy in the face of increasing marketisation in higher education. Studies show that there is decreasing research autonomy globally, and while some scholars attribute this to corporate practices of the higher education system, others believe that those practices can rather strengthen research autonomy. This study contributes to the debate and thereby also contributes to theories of marketing for higher education that promote a hybrid system where universities’ core educational mission is adjusted to enable compatibility with the economic mission. Twenty-six staff from the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology were interviewed, and documents such as the universities’ strategic plans and research policies were analysed. The findings showed that while university-industry-government research collaboration can resource universities to enhance their research mission, it can affect their autonomy.