Interdisciplinary doctoral programmes

Transcription

1 European University Association Council for Doctoral Education 6 th Thematic Workshop 17 January 2013, Turin (Italy) Stefano PALEARI University of Bergamo

2 Social context: the knowledge society The knowledge society is a knowledge-intensive society Growth of the academic world in recent decades Increase of scientific research papers per year Source: US National Science Foundations data 2

3 Social context: increasing diversification What drives the increase of scientific research papers? Increased diversification and specialisation of knowledge Fragmentation of knowledge field Development of new scientific fields of research Increasing variety in how scientific work is organised and carried out (Knorr Cetina 1999; Whitley 2000; Becher and Torwler 2001) Traditional boundaries and existing patterns of organization within science are blurred and challenged 3

4 A change in the paradigm Shifts in knowledge production From traditional research ( Mode 1 ) to Mode 2 of knowledge production (Gibbons et al. 1994; Nowotny et al. 2001) Mode 1 Academic-driven Investigator-initiated Discipline based Mode 2 Context-driven Problem-focused Interdisciplinary Emerging question: To what extent the HE system fits this change in the paradigm? 4

5 Cross fertilisation in disciplines and research Mathematics in Finance Black & Scholes, Net Present Value Statistics in Sociology National datasets Mechanical Engineering in Medicine Bioengineering Programs Electronics in Medicine Peacemaker Medicine and Finance in Sports MilanLab (football) Oackland Athletics (baseball) Moneyball: The art of Winning an Unfair Game (Lewis 2003) 5

6 Issues in multi-disciplinary contexts New inter-disciplinary scientific fields are no longer coterminous with academic disciplines (Whitley 2000) Issues with the new emerging fields: Lack of adequate infrastructures (departments; undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate teaching and curricula; textbooks; chairs; journals; conferences; etc.) Met with scepticism, or even resistance, from the academic establishment (Frickel and Gross 2005; Braun 2011) Majority of scholars who research in the new scientific fields have backgrounds in other disciplines (Clausen et al. 2012; Teichler 2005) 6

7 Doctoral Education What will doctoral education be? The third level of Higher Education (old paradigm) A diverse class of Higher Education (new paradigm) A combination of the two paradigms What will PhD candidates become? Academic researchers Applied researchers Researchers in companies and research centres Executives Problem less relevant in a framework with growing resources PhDs employed in the Higher Education systems 7

8 Issues: principles for Doctoral Education Strategic features for Doctoral Education: Maintain a high level of specialisation Driven by big issues Endowed with multi-disciplinary skills and competences Cross fertilisation among disciplines How can universities reward the efforts of cross-fertilisation among disciplines? The ability of research units to publish widely in high quality channels should be regarded as a strength and not be discouraged. It may happen when narrow discipline-based lists of journals are used as the basis for assessment (Fagerberg et al. 2012) 8

9 Issues: Research assessment How is it possible using traditional bibliometric assessment as journal rankings? (Martin and Whitley 2010) Bias in favour of mono-disciplinary research Traditional publication channel discriminates against: interdisciplinary research in general socially relevant research, and policy research in particular Books as a publication channel in interdisciplinary research and emerging field play a very important role and are used in a much greater extent than in more established disciplines Handbooks or state-of-the-art books usually edited by senior academics Chapters in books often are not considered in assessment 9

10 The challenge of the new paradigm Fight disciplinary narrow-mindedness when designing the criteria for research assessment Are recruitment policies based on assessing specific competences the best way to evaluate future researchers? Need to identify career pathways and options for researchers working in multi-disciplinary fields The evolving society requires a continuous renewal of its knowledge base and of the scientific system supporting it 10

11 Promoting Interdisciplinarity: Examples Pioneering approach: through Leadership CCSE: Network among disciplines in the same university and among institutions in different countries Systemic approach: through Incentives Strategic university research projects: promotion of interdisciplinary research projects to stimulate the collective identity and the university as an organisational actor 11

12 Raising the bar: a multi-polar University University is revisiting their service mission to society Service for external partners Communities receive academic know-how Development of interpersonal skills in the students Interdisciplinary activities University from ivory tower to watchtower of the society The university would be a watchtower, taking an active part in improving society, serving as an essential instrument of public service (Brubacher and Rudy 1996) 12

13 The concept of the new university : time, space, content Break traditional boundaries Time Lifelong-learning education Space Long-distance learning (Open Universities) Network Universities Content Cooperation with the industry and the government (Triple helix model, Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz 2000) Joint research-centre Multi-disciplinary research teams on strategic topics (territorial dynamics, educational system, ageing, pervasive technologies, etc.) 13

14 The implications on Governance A new governance is necessary: Multi-stakeholders governance (Network governance) Funding research without filters: Italy project But changing the governance is not enough Universities have to be free to hire academics and to reward personnel according to own targets and methodologies Reward cross-fertilisation among disciplines Avoiding hyper-specialisation and research limited to the mainstream 14

15 The current European trends: Demography Source Nazaré (2011) 15

16 The current European trends: Funding Many countries reduced public funding to their tertiary education systems from the beginning of the crisis Reduction of funding mainly in the countries in the south and east of Europe Trends in Public Funding to Higher Education Europe over the period Source EUA s Public Funding Observatory (June 2012) 16

17 The Italian case at a glance To do more with less (?) Sharp decline of academic staff Dramatic decline of non-academic staff State universities 2011/ / / /09 D D % Students Bachelor & Master n.a ,9% Tenured academics ,6% Full professors ,3% Associate professors ,5% Tenured researchers ,2% Non-tenured reserachers ,4% Non academic staff ,1% Source: Reprocessing MIUR and CINECA data What future for the PhD students? 17

18 The issue of sustainability: budgeting models Who has to bear the costs of HE? New funding models for the sustainability of the system Sources Public funding Students 'Classic' State University 80% 20% The percentages above refer to theoretical solutions Overhead EU projects Private model (teaching) 20% 50% % Hybrid Model 50% 50% Overheads Contracts Fund raising A variety of funding/business models could facilitate the creation of a university eco-system Evolution of HE institutions to be more respondent to different stakeholder needs A possible response to the increasing costs of HE 18

19 Towards a Maastricht Treaty for universities Need of more transparency and harmonisation Common definition among European countries Who are the academics? Is the tenure staff only? Do they include the PhD students too? Should PhD candidates be considered among academics or among students? Comparability of the institutional accountability We have only one currency, one Central Bank but we still don t have a unique framework, policy, idea, for European universities Measuring outputs, but compared to the inputs A Maastricht Treaty to imagine the future of European University! 19