University Autonomy in Europe III:

University Autonomy at the Interface between Research and Teaching

Duration: 05/2004 - 04/2005

Sponsors: Magna Charta Observatory (Bologna)

Project collaborators: Ulrike Felt; Michaela Glanz

Abstract

Our third part of the project on the impact of institutional autonomy on university development is supposed to focus on the interface between the research and teaching tasks of academia. It should question the classical understanding of universities as places where research and teaching co-exist (the Humboldtian way) to reflect on the institution’s realities under present legal and financial conditions.
The interest of the study will be to identify where there are major problems arising at the research/teaching interface and to analyse how far university autonomy opens up new possibilities to shape the linkage of research and teaching creatively.
We will also draw attention to the influence of overall developments (e.g. Bologna process) on the potential extension/limitation of university autonomy in this domain. The analysis will be organised around two major themes: Firstly, the relationship between research and teaching within the university at large and secondly the articulation of the research and teaching interface in the development of young researchers. Again we will explore the situation in ten European countries.