Book symposium: 'new bible for higher education professionals'

The book

The book ‘Creating the Desire for Change in Higher Education’ is edited by dr. Didi Griffioen, former program leader of the Amsterdam UAS change and support program Research into Education (OiO), and currently professor of Higher Education, Research and Innovation at Amsterdam UAS. The book focuses on the change approaches needed to alter research–education connections in higher education institutions. It is grounded in the knowledge gathered by the Research into Education (OiO) program, which was active from 2015-2020, and provides conceptual knowledge for creating situational change mechanisms to alter research–education connections with a specific focus on one or more organisational levels in a higher education organisation. The book is published open access by Bloomsbury Publishing and can be freely downloaded here or purchased in hard-copy here.

The symposium

International perspective

Prof. dr. Ines Langemeyer from Karlsruher Institut für Technologie provided an international perspective on creating change towards connecting research and education in higher education institutions by explaining the underlying concepts, such as change and research. She highlighted from the book that ‘to see change makes wanting to be in change’ and positioned it in an institutional and organisational research perspective. She also drew on her own research into the effect of research integration in courses, which has shown that research integration in courses has a positive effect on students and fosters their interest in doing research, regardless of their expectations and preferences. See her slides here.

National perspective

Current chair of regieorgaan SIA prof. dr. Huib de Jong shared his experience with enhancing the connection between research and education in the Amsterdam UAS from his position as former chair of executive board of the university from 2013 - 2020. He reflected on national developments during that time in regard with UASs choosing a position in the scientific community by stating they conduct ‘practice-based research’ and that the development of research activities took flight when finances were given to UASs by the government around 2003. He also reflected on the impact of the ‘steering model’ of the UAS and the importance of human resources in connecting research and education.

Local perspective

A local perspective on change mechanisms towards research-education connections in the Amsterdam UAS was given by dr. Esther Verboon, director of the education and research policy staff department. She shared two statements for the audience to reflect on: ‘every educational department and accessory research group should be integrated and lead by a manager-professor duo’ and ‘training in research-competencies should be part of obliged professionalization for every lecturer-researcher’. The audience shared ideas on tailoring leadership and training to local (team) purposes.

Practical perspective

Lucy Kerstens, manager of the Centre for Applied Research on Economics & Management (CAREM) at Amsterdam UAS, reflected on the difficulty she experienced in the past and now in connecting research and education. She stated that ‘the book will be the new bible for any professional working in higher education’ as it gives evidence-based knowledge that could help professionals understand mechanisms to enhance research-education connections. Lucy developed the research career wheel, to help lecturers and early career researchers in defining their personal research careers. See her slides here.