Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Current Science Policies and their Implications for the Formation and Maintenance of Academic Identity

  • Article
  • Published:
Higher Education Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper draws on communitarian theory to suggest that the traditional strength and stability of academic identities are strongly associated with membership of communities, primarily the discipline and the university, that together constitute a coherent, bounded world. It analyses how science policies have helped to weaken these boundaries over the last 30 years. It then examines the implications for academic professional identities, focusing on natural scientists, and considers, in particular, how they are reflected and taken account of in policies for doctoral education, which has in the past constituted a key form of induction into academic community membership. It argues that these policies have the potential to help students to continue to build the foundation of a strong epistemic identity in the context of change but that they contain contradictions that must be confronted.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The paper draws on two projects: first, the English component of an international study of higher education reforms carried out by teams from Brunel University, England, the University of Bergen, Norway and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (1994–2000); second, a study of academic responses to the UK Foresight programme (1997–1998).

References

  • Advisory Board for the Research Councils (ABRC) . (1993) The Nature of the PhD. A Discussion Document, London: HMSO.

  • Bailey, F . (1977) Morality and Expediency: The Folklore of Academic Politics, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becher, T ., Henkel, M . and Kogan, M . (1994) Graduate Education in Britain, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blume, S . (1987) The Social Direction of the Public Sciences: Causes and Consequences of Co-Operation Between Scientists and Non-Scientific Groups, Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Blume, S . (1995) ‘Problems and prospects of research training in the 1980s, OECD’, in OECD (ed.) Research Training: Present and Future, Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, W . and Rudenstine, N . (1992) In Pursuit of the PhD, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Buxton, M . and Hanney, S . (1997) Assessing Payback from Department of Health Research and Development: Second Report, Vol. 1, London: Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M . (1997) The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. II: The Power of Identity, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cave, M ., Hanney, S ., Henkel, M . and Kogan, M . (1997) The Use of Performance Indicators in Higher Education: The Challenge of the Quality Movement, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B.R . (1983) The Higher Education System: Academic Organization in Cross National Perspective, Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B.R . (1991) ‘The Fragmentation of Research, Teaching and Study’, in M. Trow and T. Nybom (eds.) University and Society: Essays on the Social Role of Research and Higher Education, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B.R . (1998) Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: Organizational Pathways of Transformation, Oxford: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cryer, P . (1998) ‘Introduction’, in P. Cryer (ed.) Developing Postgraduates’ Key Skills: Issues in Postgraduate Supervision, Teaching and Management, Guide 3, London: Society for Research into Higher Education/Times Higher Education Supplement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dainton Report . (1971) Report of a Study on the Support of Scientific Research in the Universities Cmnd 4798 London: HMSO.

  • Delamont, S ., Atkinson, P . and Parry, O . (1997) ‘Critical mass and doctoral research: reflections on the Harris Report’, Studies in Higher Education 22: 319–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H . (1997) ‘The triple helix and the rise of the entrepreneurial university’, Paper Given at the Conference on the Government of Higher Education, Lausanne.

  • Etzkowitz, H . and Leydesdorff . (1997) The University in the Global Economy: A Triple Helix of Academic–Industry–Government Relations, London: Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission . (2000) Towards a European Research Area, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

  • Gibbons, M ., Limoges, C ., Nowotny, H ., Schwartzman, S . and Trow, M . (1994) The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies, London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A . (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S . (1992) ‘The Question of Cultural Identity’, in S. Hall, D. Held and T. McGrew (eds.) Modernity and its Futures, Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D . (1989) The Condition of Post-Modernity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, M . (2000) Academic Identities and Policy Change in Higher Education, London: Jessica Kingsley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, M . (2002) ‘Academic identity in transformation? The case of the United Kingdom’, Higher Education Management and Policy 14: 137–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, M ., Hanney, S ., Kogan, M ., Vaux, J . and von Walden Laing, D . (2000) Academic Responses to the UK Foresight Programme, London: Centre for the Evaluation of Public Policy and Practice, Brunel University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, M . and Kogan, M . (1993) ‘Research Training and Graduate Education: The British Macro Structure’, in B.R. Clark (ed.) The Research Foundations of Graduate Education, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine, J . and Martin, B . (1984) Foresight in Science: Picking the Winners, London: Pinter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E . (1990) New Reflections on the Revolution of our Time, London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J . and Wenger, E . (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Luukkonen, T . (2001) ‘Old and new strategic roles for the European Union Framework Programme’, Science and Public Policy 28: 205–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A . (1981) After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, London: Duckworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, B.R . and Nightingale, P . (2000) The Political Economy of Science, Technology and Innovation, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R.K . (1973) The Sociology of Science, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 267–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulhall, S . and Swift, A . (1992) Liberals and Communitarians, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulkay, M . (1977) ‘Sociology of the Scientific Research Community’, in I. Spiegel Rösing and D. de Solla Price (eds.) Science, Technology and Society: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective, London and Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neave, G . (1988) ‘On Being Economical with University Autonomy: Being an Account of the Retrospective Joys of a Written Constitution’, in M. Tight (ed.) Academic Freedom and Responsibility, Milton Keynes: SRHE and Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R . and Winter, S . (1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowotny, H ., Scott, P . and Gibbons, M . (2001) Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty, Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD . (1971) ‘Science, growth and society: a new perspective’, Report of the Secretary-General's Ad Hoc Group on New Concepts of Science Policy, Chaired by Harvey Brooks. Paris: OECD.

  • OECD . (2001) Science, Technology and Industry Outlook, Paris: OECD.

  • Pavitt, K . (1991) ‘What makes basic research economically useful?’, Research Policy 20: 109–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, M . and Brew, A . (2002) ‘Research Training and Supervision Development’, Studies in Higher Education 27.2: 135–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rip, A . (1997) ‘A cognitive approach to relevance of science’, Social Science Information 36: 615–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, N . (1990) ‘Why do firms do basic research (with their own money)?’, Research Policy 19: 165–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, P . (1997) ‘The changing role of the university in the production of knowledge’, Tertiary Education and Management 3: 5–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shove, E . (2000) ‘Reciprocities and Reputations: new currencies in research’, in M. Jacob and T. Hellström (eds.) The Future of Knowledge Production in the Academy, Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C . (1989) Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trist, E . (1972) ‘Types of output mix of research organisations and their complementarity’, in A. Cherns et al. Social Science and Government: Policies and Problems, London: Tavistock Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vabø, A . (2002) ‘Mytedannelser i endringsprosesser i akademiske institusjoner’, Ph.D. thesis, University of Bergen.

  • Van der Meulen, B . and Rip, A . (2000) ‘Evaluation of societal quality of public sector research in the Netherlands’, Research Evaluation 9: 11–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weale, A . (2001) ‘Deliberative democracy: science advice, democratic responsiveness and public policy’, Science and Public Policy 8: 413–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White Paper: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . (1993) Realising our Potential — A Strategy for Science, Engineering and Technology Command 2250 London: HMSO.

  • White Paper: Department of Education and Skills . (2003) The Future of Higher Education Cm 5735 London: HMSO.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for the Evaluation of Public Policy and Practice, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK

    Mary Henkel

Authors
  1. Mary Henkel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Henkel, M. Current Science Policies and their Implications for the Formation and Maintenance of Academic Identity. High Educ Policy 17, 167–182 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300049

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300049

Keywords

Search

Navigation