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Research in non-university higher education institutions. The case of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences

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Abstract

This paper presents the development of research in the Swiss non-university higher education sector and frames it in the debate on the organization of higher education systems in Western Europe and on the dynamics between university and non-university sector. It shows that, in the Swiss case, the applied research mandate has been used to differentiate these institutions from universities and that this endeavor has been to a large extent successful in technology, while it has been a source of major tensions in the other domains. I conclude that the development of research in the non-higher education leads to complex dynamics of convergence and of differentiation and that this process is strongly influenced by the specificities and differences between different subject domains.

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Aknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency which financed this study, as well as the persons interviewed and those who answered to the on-line questionnaire. Moreover, he thanks Mrs. Liliana Attar for support in the study.

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  1. University of Lugano, via Lambertenghi 10a, Lugano, 6904, Switzerland

    Benedetto Lepori

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  1. Benedetto Lepori
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Correspondence to Benedetto Lepori.

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Lepori, B. Research in non-university higher education institutions. The case of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences. High Educ 56, 45–58 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-007-9088-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-007-9088-y

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