Academia and Public Policy: Towards the Co-generation of Knowledge and Learning Processes

Abstract

Building from the context of ongoing debates around the changing roles of universities in society, this paper contributes to analysis of academia-society interface in two important respects. First, the paper considers the underresearched subset of relations that exist between academia and public policy. It is argued that academia-policy relations bear similarities to academia-market relations; like imperfect markets, policy environments tend to be characterised by concentrations of power. Thus similar concerns to those evident in debates around the commercialisation of university activity are relevant. Second, the paper explores the issue of balance in the role of the academic with regards public policy though an auto-reflective case analysis of an emerging experience in the Basque Country region of Spain. An aim is to reflect on the very fine (and frequently controversial) line between policyoriented academic research and policy consultancy. The analysis highlights some of the benefits and issues with integrating action research principles into research projects, and suggests the significance of co-generation of knowledge and learning processes between academics and policy-makers. In turn this has specific implications for the time-horizon of relationships (long-rather than short-term) and for doctoral training (in research methodologies appropriate for such processes).

The Capabilities of Academics and Academic Poverty

“…Aranguren et al. (2009, p. 7) provide a more specific illustration: ‘as academics strive for research funding from both public and private sources, a logical outcome is not to design projects according to their own perspectives on desirable research agendas and then seek the possibility of appropriate funding. Rather, there is a tendency to design and conduct research from the outset according to the explicit (or perceived) objectives of those who fund the research.…”

“…He argued that an academic has not only a right 'to search for the truth and to publish and teach what one holds to be true' but also 'a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true' (quoted in Resnick, 2006). That would imply, for example, an academic restraining herself from only disseminating research results acceptable to a funder, the scenario doubted by Aranguren et al (2009) and, according to Bok (2003), one that contrasts starkly with the experience and threat of university commercialisation in practice. Along the same line of reasoning, that would imply the undergraduate students working on the consulting project restrain themselves from preparing and presenting a sustainable plan that is anti-thesis to the pursuit of the truth simply to meet the demands of a so-called client.…”

“…The embracing of evaluations, rankings and accreditations has been seen as the adoption of quasi market signals (Wilson, ; Meyer, ). That view is symptomatic of the idea that there is a trend for market forces to have wide ranging influence on recent alterations to the ‘academia‐society interface’ (Aranguren et al., 2009, p. 1).…”

Development and characterisation of a modified multi-purpose pine oil detergent for a small-scale manufacturer in Lesotho

“…The subject of partnerships between academia, private and public sectors has received a lot of attention recently, calling on academia to improve their cooperation with public and private sector (Chai and Shih 2013), and in essence offer the so-called third mission of higher education -technology transfer and business incubation (Aranguren et al 2009). Partnerships are believed to be catalysts for the birth of companies and hence economic resilience.…”

Designing regional development? Exploring the University of Aveiro's role in the innovation policy process

“…On a conceptual level, universities' regional governance activities is under-researched. The few existent examples include Gunasekara (2006b), Aranguren, Larrea, and Wilson (2009), Rodrigues and Melo (2013) and Pugh et al (2016). Though predominantly small-scale studies of short-lived events, these highlight the potential of a mutually beneficial relationship between universities and regional government, in building knowledge infrastructures, learning dynamics and institutional capacity.…”