Building a Research Culture from Scratch at a University of Technology

Abstract

Universities of Technology in South Africa

The role of research education coordinators in building research cultures in doctoral education

“…Such work, importantly where this paper is concerned, does not mention the role of RECs in such developments. Much of the literature on building a research culture focuses on disciplines new to universities (Pratt, Margaritis & Coy, 1999;Hill & Haigh, 2012, McRoy, Flanzer & Zlotnik, 2012, institutions new to the university sector (Johnson & Louw, 2014) and early career researchers (Tynan & Garbett, 2007). In Australia, for example, an entire special issue of a journal has been devoted to how to build research cultures in education (Reid, Santaro, McMaugh & Saltmarsh, 2010 ) and in the US there has been considerable debate about whether the particular culture of educational research is such that its outcomes can influence educational policy (Feuer, Towne & Shavelson, 2002).…”

The transition from a university college to a university: a United Kingdom study

“…At a more individual level, the institution's leaders implemented programmes to strengthen research self-efficacy, foster research collaboration and encourage self-responsibility. A chief finding of Johnson and Louw's (2014) work was that the institutional leaders, including deans, department heads and professors, are critical to developing a research culture and needed 'to be talking, engaging, supporting and encouraging research wherever they [were]' (p. 159).…”

“…Muller, 2005). Johnson and Louw (2014), for instance, in a qualitative study of Vaal University of Technology, gave their attention to how this university set about growing a research culture to create knowledge; the predecessor technikon was basically tasked with disseminating knowledge to students who were preparing for industry employment. As a way of building a research culture, the leaders of the new university initiated policies including the establishment of awards and other incentives, the facilitation of national and international conference travel, and the recruitment of research supervisors and postdoctoral fellows.…”

“…In most cases, these institutions have been teaching-led and have sought to become universities by becoming more researchoriented (Hemmings & Hill, 2014;Johnson & Louw, 2014). That said, the shifting landscape of UK higher education witnessed a recent acceleration of sector-wide growth and diversification, alongside a perceived trend towards 'commercialisation' and 'marketisation', with the nature, purpose, and role of universities coming increasingly under the spotlight as a consequence (Barnett, 2012;Collini, 2012;Palfreyman & Tapper, 2014).…”

Gender-Based Research Capacity Building as Transitional Process within the South African Higher Education Context: Towards A Community of Practice

“…The shift in the political landscape has meant that academia at universities of technology (UoT) have had to embrace a "new way of doing" (Johnson & Louw, 2014;Katz & Martin, 1997) where the focus has shifted from teaching to research. UoTs traditionally came from a teaching environment that was primarily focused on the practical application of theory as opposed to the abstraction thereof through scientific research efforts and academic scholarship.…”