Abstract
Existing research into the relationship between teaching and research in higher education is mainly normative and atheoretical, resulting in assumptions of a close and beneficial connection between them. We problematise the idea of a nexus by undertaking a critical examination of the concept through the lens of educational ideologies to theorise the changes over time that shape the ways teaching and research are practised. Two hundred seven academic staff in the Humanities and Social Sciences were surveyed in 10 universities in England and Wales; the universities were identified as having strength in teaching, research, or in both. Along with analysis of interviews with senior managers at these universities, findings suggest that systemic forces which separate teaching and research are evident in institutional contexts with implications for the idea of a nexus. While the nexus may exist in theory, in practice, we argue that teaching and research can be pulled in different directions by institutional priorities. Furthermore, in institutions which adopt an enterprise ideology, there are signs of a nascent nexus emerging between research and innovation.
Highlights
The concept of a ‘teaching-research nexus’ in higher education is one that is constantly in flux, yet persists as an academic ideal (Fanghanel et al 2016)
We examine how conceptualisation of the nexus is influenced by ideologies of higher education (Trowler and Wareham 2007) via an online questionnaire with academic staff (n = 207) and interviews with senior managers (n = 11) in 10 universities in England and Wales
We understand that Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and Research Excellence Framework (REF) ratings are limited indicators (Forstenzer 2016), but following Moodie (2009), the Guide was considered useful in characterising universities in ways that extended dominant university typologies
Summary
The concept of a ‘teaching-research nexus’ in higher education is one that is constantly in flux, yet persists as an academic ideal (Fanghanel et al 2016). We approach the concept of the nexus with the understanding that its traditional and often unproblematised concept as a point of connection may, be insufficient to reflect the complexity of these two activities. Such complexity arises through the fragmentation of the higher education landscape, as research universities around the world gain increasing prestige in climbing global rankings (Marginson 2007), and in the UK post-1992, when universities’ research status increasingly became a proxy for quality (Boliver 2015). We suggest that all these factors affect how the two activities relate to each other and, the concept of a nexus
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