On Improving the University Research Base: The Technical University of Lisbon Case in Perspective

Abstract

This article examines the challenges faced by a Portuguese technical university that is striving to develop its research base within a developing science, technology and higher education system. The paper identifies lack of resources, and also organizational factors, as particular challenges. These include faculty inbreeding, career structures and related incentives as hampering factors preventing a faster development of the university research base. These factors are strongly affected by the development of the science, technology and higher education system. It is argued that these challenges can be tackled, but greater institutional autonomy is necessary as well as an increased participation of research and development in university governing bodies. It is also recognized that the different strategies for dealing with the challenges facing universities should take into account the knowledge base of the development of schools.

Network, Channel, and Geographical Proximity of Knowledge Transfer: The Case of University-Industry Collaboration in South Korea

“…Furthermore, some studies on universities' activities in European countries at the intermediate level of development or in transitional phases, such as Portugal, have been presented recently (Horta, 2010 and2008). Universityindustry linkages in Asian countries such as South Korea (hereafter Korea), which has recently entered the developed countries group, have displayed different features from those in both the developed and developing countries.…”

Global and national prominent universities: internationalization, competitiveness and the role of the State

“…It is also the result of the expansion of doctoral programs in Portuguese universities, which has entailed that a substantial share of this hired academic staff are 'inbreeds' (the inbreeding rate at IST is very high; see Horta 2008). This may be an obstacle for the internationalization process at IST since inbreeds tend not be so connected and collaborate less with peers outside the university when compared with their non-inbred academic peers (Horta 2007).…”

“…6 Therefore, salaries are not a factor in lessening the attractiveness of Portuguese universities. Instead, the difficulties in attracting promising academic staff in the global market seem to be much more associated with overly bureaucratic recruitment processes, underlined by the low attractiveness of the Portuguese universities in terms of reputation and constrained by the scarcity of available resources to develop scholarly work (Horta 2008). The result is that unlike the global research universities, which tend to have at least one-fourth of their academic staff composed by international academic staff, at IST only 2% of its academic staff is not Portuguese.…”

“…The evaluation assessment of university based research units implemented in the 1990s strongly emphasized in its evaluation process the importance to publish in international journals. This led to a change in the organizational behaviors and working attitudes at IST, particularly in the perception that there was a need to internationalize the academic activities and increase research collaboration (Horta 2008). In addition, as in other countries, associated policies increased the autonomy of universities, promoted managerial practices and entrepreneurial attitudes that fostered both interinstitutional cooperation and competition at national level (see Magalhães and Amaral 2007).…”

“…Previous analyses have shown that the student structure of these universities is organized according to their primary mission: research (e.g., Horta 2008). Therefore, the concern of these universities is to guarantee their research capability by focusing their teaching activities at graduate level, and particularly emphasizing doctoral programs and research.…”