Strengthening the Nexus between Teaching and Research

Executive summary

This investigation has moved the debate on the teaching/research nexus from the restrictive question: ‘Is there a nexus?’ to a systematic examination of the nexus as it actually operates in three very different universities—The University of Ballarat, The University of Western Australia and Curtin University of Technology. The assumption was that, since teaching and research are widely regarded as the two core activities of academics, it would be worthwhile to determine whether, and if so how, the relationship between them was being enhanced in policy and practice under different institutional circumstances. A primary focus of the project was the undergraduate experience, since undergraduate teaching is the core activity of most Schools and Departments, and links between research and postgraduate learning are generally easier to determine.

Strengthening the nexus is commonly thought to be urgent within an academic environment that is changing rapidly under the combined pressures of policy, technology and community demand. Increasing numbers of individuals are seeking a university education at both undergraduate and postgraduate level to meet increasingly sophisticated workforce requirements, changing technologies and social relationships. Progress in meeting students' educational needs with available resources may well require an institutional commitment to ensuring greater linkages between teaching and research activity. Reputations for teaching and research are also becoming intertwined as universities position themselves competitively and define their particular and distinctive approaches to learning.

The project included a systematic review of current policies in each of the universities, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with key members of each executive team and staff teaching in humanities and social sciences, sciences and the professions. Through these interviews we sought to identify examples across disciplines and institutions of good practice linking teaching and research; some of the problems staff and Schools/Departments face in linking the two activities; and the key reasons for doing so.

Our overall findings were as follows:

Within and across the three universities several kinds of connection between teaching and research were operating productively in both directions;
Among the senior executive staff in each university there was systematic reflection regarding ways to create (through policy and strategic initiatives) interdependence between research and teaching for the benefit of students, staff and the institution;
Examples of a nexus were evident in many areas of undergraduate learning, especially in professional courses;
Many staff reported engaging for much of their time in activities that simultaneously accomplish teaching and research goals;
Staff in each university, working across a range of disciplines, fulfilled at least some of their scholarly objectives through pedagogic research;
The relationships between teaching and research were differentiated by discipline, level of teaching and institutional mission;
Many factors helped to strengthen the nexus including curriculum demands, professional accreditation requirements, publishers’ requirements and changing academic work practices, as well as institutional policies and strategic initiatives; and
Institutions, their staff and students can all benefit when scholarly teaching and research are recognised and rewarded within a unifying framework that enables these two aspects of a community of learning to work as warp and weft.

Across the three institutions there were some similar and some clearly different impediments to a nexus. Differences were related to such factors as:

the numbers of research-only and teaching-only (part-time) staff;
types of teaching undertaken—especially service teaching;
types of research undertaken;
the rate of knowledge change within the discipline;
the composition of the student body including the cohort size and the proportion of international students (especially students with a first language other than English);
the number and diversity of postgraduate research students; and
involvement in offshore and distance education.

Each university was actively involved in redevelopment of a range of policies with a view to integrating its core activities and providing appropriate rewards and incentives to reflect increasingly diverse forms of scholarship. The form of this review reflected differences in institutional mission and directions. Some concern was expressed that the revised DETYA funding mechanisms could result in a separation of teaching and research and that it was desirable to shift to financially supporting links between the two areas.

A common theme that emerged was that institutions can assist academic staff as they work towards better integration of their activities through leadership development that enables Heads to:

provide professional mentoring for their staff;
identify sources of support to enhance staff performance in teaching and research;
reduce demands that conflict with core activities;

and through

revising promotional criteria to include a broader range of scholarly activities; and
publicising how this broader array benefits both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Changing academic work practices and external pressures make the aligning of policy and practices with reward structures an ongoing challenge for institutions and staff.

Full Report (665KB)

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