Abstract
This article analyzes three reports on higher education, research and innovation policy in Iceland by using a Foucauldian discourse analysis approach. The reports were released in 2009 and 2012, emphasizing the simplification of the research and innovation system in Iceland. While on the surface the reports include practical recommendations, the study reveals a strong moral stance in the reports which express concerns that too many universities and two small institutions spread efforts too widely. Suggestions to reorganize the system tend to be presented by simply stating that it is important to do so, but sometimes such assertions are also interwoven with arguments for larger and more powerful universities and research institutions. There is a focus in the reports on innovation and the creation of economic value. Research, science, and innovation are firmly combined with the goal of economic growth. There is the undertone that it is relatively easy to define what is good research or even quality research; and the chief criterion seems to be that good research is research that is useful for business and industry. Academic freedom, on the other hand, is rarely discussed in the reports.
Highlights
In this article I focus on the discourse about the relationship between the universities and the economy in Iceland
Today the University of Iceland is organized into five schools with 25 faculties divided into about 360 study programs in social sciences, humanities, health sciences, education, and natural sciences and technology (University of Iceland, n.d.)
The final part of the analysis was an examination of how the discursive themes and legitimating patterns can be viewed in the historical conjuncture of discourses before and after the bank system collapse in October 2008, not least to identify potential con tradictions or silences regarding issues, events, or positions I believed should be relevant enough to be mentioned in such reports
Summary
In this article I focus on the discourse about the relationship between the universities and the economy in Iceland. For this purpose, I examined two reports from 2009 and one from 2012 that deal with issues of efficiency and competitiveness in higher educa tion to see how they use concepts of quality and excellence as well as related concepts. I considered the potential consequences for academic freedom resulting from de mands placed upon the universities with regard to emphasis on innovation
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