Looking Forward: ‘HEIs are being asked to produce more research, and also to teach more students in a more personal way’

HIGHER EDUCATION's new starring role in building the 'knowledge society' of the future has seen a notable effect in recent years, in the amount of research devoted to the HE system itself. Whereas, for many decades, only a few hundred European researchers were engaged in studying issues around HE, there are now two dozen institutes across the EU states, and up to 2,000 individuals, exploring the structures and aims of our universities and their place within wider socioeconomic life.

The role of HE in the era of globalisation and ICT is the subject of a research programme led by the European Science Foundation (ESF). The Higher Education Looking Forward (HELF) project has explored, since 2006, a series of interconnected themes covering: HE and the Knowledge Society; equity and social justice; the steering and governance of HE; institutional forms and professional roles within HE. The outcomes of these research projects, and of HELF's London conference in the autumn of 2007, are now summarised in a synthesis report authored by John Brennan (OU) and international colleagues.

Higher Education Looking Forward: An Agenda for Future Research maps the developing role of HE within a rapidly changing world. Brennan and a multinational team of experts argue that universities are subject, as much as companies and individuals, to the pressures of internationalisation and globalisation. In the past, universities have educated national elites and produced skilled people needed for local or regional economies. In the 21st Century they are increasingly producing people for the global economy, while remaining tied in to local and national priorities and funding regimes. This opposition can expose them to financial as well as academic risk, and demands more financial and management resources than many universities have available.

Brennan comments: "Universities are constantly rethinking their strategy in the light of globalisation. But the expectations on universities are growing all the time and there are some pressures that are hard to balance. For instance, HEIs are being asked to produce more research, and also to teach more students in a more personal way. Perhaps more importantly, universities do not exist just to produce economic benefits. They are also important in providing equity, social cohesion and social justice. How can they do this on a world scale?"

The HELF authors suggest new lines of research that are needed to improve our knowledge of the changing world of HE. Future research must, they argue, ask about the connections between contemporary social and economic change, the changes now occurring within HE, and the roles of academics. These grand themes break down into a series of research questions listed in the report. How, for example, are the changes in the balance of power between HE's different constituencies affecting HE's social functions? How do changes in the organisation of HEIs relate to changes in intellectual programmes and agendas, and to advances in knowledge? Must universities adopt new functions and blur their boundaries with other social institutions to retain their importance in the knowledge society?

The report argues that new forms of social science methodology will be needed to answer these questions. Research must not, however, allow itself to be dominated by immediate pressures and issues. The report concludes: "the needs of policy makers and practitioners will be better met if there is sometimes some element of 'distance' between their immediate concerns and interests and the questions pursued by research."

HE research, HELF insists, should continue to develop a scientific agenda, exploring wider social and economic questions. "Scientific research agendas should not just reflect policy agendas," argues Brennan, "they should help determine them."

The HELF project researchers have now obtained funding for a EUROCORES Programme on Higher Education and Social Change (EuroHESC), designed to develop and implement interdisciplinary comparative research into the relationship between HE and society. 18 countries have decided to join the initiative, for which proposals for collaborative research projects are currently being evaluated. Networking will start in 2009.