Book Description

This study examines the changing notions of excellence and utility and their influence on the purposes and culture of higher education. A conceptual framework is developed that harmonizes the conflicting forces that drive the research effort. Eight sections include: introduction (the legacy of expansion, research under pressure, trends in funding research, and concerns about current directions in policy); excellence and utility: a first encounter (changing notions of excellence and utility and philosophical justifications of higher education); excellence and utility in historical perspective (the medieval university, the modern university, and development of the role of service); the role of research in higher education (general characteristics of university research, the notion of research: its scope and orientation, research and its nexus with teaching); excellence and utility in harmony and conflict (the relationship between excellence and utility, the question of standards, excellence in what, and narrowing of excellence and utility); excellence and utility in funding research (conflict in the process of funding research, funding research: national priorities or peer review, and evaluating research); pressures on the teaching role (the teaching-research nexus and doctoral education); and summary and conclusions (notions of excellence and utility, problems of the narrow notions of excellence and utility, the way forward, and summary of recommendations). The 14 recommendations cover: a broad view of research, broadened panel membership, reward structure, collegiality, and a pool of researchers. Contains approximately 160 references. (SM)