Evidence-informed policy and practice has been a trend as part of an effort to increase the use of research to improve education at all levels. In many countries, knowledge-brokering initiatives were established to stimulate links between research, policy, and practice. Drawing on a mapping of initiatives in seven countries, this article describes…

As a systemic approach to improving educational practice through research, "What Works" has come under repeated challenge from alternative approaches, most recently that of improvement science. While "What Works" remains a dominant paradigm for centralized knowledge-building efforts, there is need to understand why this…

This article focuses on "impact" as a new condition of research assessment for UK academics. It explores a history of resistance to an "impact agenda" and how impact as a component of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)--a system of performance based funding--is viewed by academics as an infringement to a scholarly way of…

Over the last decade, higher education policy in the United Kingdom (UK) has increasingly focused on the impact of academic research. This has resulted in the emergence of specialist knowledge brokers within UK universities in the social sciences and humanities. Our empirical research identified a tension between the research impact agenda and the…

The transfer of academic technologies to industry is an important process underpinning innovation and economic development. Various approaches have been adopted by universities to encourage academics to participate in commercial activities. Many have implemented revenue sharing policies, through which the revenues generated from university-owned…

This critique of the interpretation of education exclusively in terms of the system of commodity relations explores the general cultural role of education and its "producing" function from the standpoint of the growth of the culture of knowledge. It looks at the position taken by foreign specialists that sheds light on the negative…

This paper considers the different approaches to undertake knowledge exchange between academia and the third sector from three practitioner perspectives. London South Bank University (LSBU), as part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) Social Enterprise Capacity Building Cluster (CBC), has been…

This article focuses upon the adoption and implementation of United Kingdom government support for third stream business-facing activities in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The article, concerned with income generation and the creation and application of knowledge beyond the confines of the academy, draws on policy literature and…

This study focuses on aspects of the Changing Academic Profession survey of 2007-08 that describe the place of faculty in their institutions. The authors examine the following aspects of institutional life: (1) the faculty role in institutional governance; (2) who evaluates their teaching and research; (3) the locus of their loyalties as between…

This article will examine Portuguese and European science and higher education policies and their impact on international collaborations. It will do so by looking at two key indicators: international academic mobility and the coauthored international scientific publications. The data show Portugal as an attractive country for foreign students and…

This paper looks at what the value of a doctorate is, both to employers in particular and to society and the economy at large. Given the emphasis many universities and funding agencies/governments are putting upon the development of PhD programmes, this is an issue deserving attention. The paper tries to show how two separate but interrelated…

This report presents the findings arising from a study of international research collaboration, exploring trends, competitor countries' policies and UK universities' management of this function. The authors found no systematic overview of the nature and extent of the measures being used by competitor countries to support the development and…

This article describes the application of the Research and Development in Organisations (RADIO) model to five action research projects carried out in schools around transition processes. The RADIO model is mapped onto all five studies, and adapting the model in order to include greater stakeholder participation is suggested. Reflections are made…

"Higher Ambitions: The future of universities in a knowledge economy" has its own higher ambitions. It is a broad-ranging document, covering access to HE; research and innovation; student expectations and experience; university-business links; and community engagement. It is billed as a framework document, one which should structure…

The UK higher education community is well served for news and policy discourse by the weekly "Times Higher Education" ("THE"). "THE" also provides a window into the conduct of this community. Concern about the contribution of research to the wider society beyond academe has risen along with its scale and cost. Views…