Latin American universities and the third mission : trends, challenges, and policy options

Universities in Latin America are increasingly considered instruments of social and economic development and face rising expectations in regard to supplying relevant skills, undertaking applied research, and engaging in commercial activity. The paper discusses trends and challenges within Latin American universities, as well as policy options available for strengthening their contributions to social and economic development. The so-called third mission of universities is often equated with knowledge transfer narrowly defined as licensing and commercialization of research. The paper adopts a broader approach and explores how the new role of universities affects all aspects of academic practice in Latin America, including advanced education and research. It concludes that policymakers and university managers in Latin America face an important challenge of defining a legal framework, sound management procedures, and notably, incentive systems that stimulate outreach and entrepreneurship among students and staff while recognizing and preserving the distinct roles of universities.Tertiary Education,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,ICT Policy and Strategies,Secondary Education

The effect of market-based policies on academic research performance: evidence from Australia, 1992-2004

As many other advanced countries, Australia has substantially reformed its research policies in the last two decades. In order to encourage efficiency and performance in the higher education sector, the Australian government has introduced various policy instruments that stimulate competition and establish market incentives in the sector. The effect of such market-based policy instruments on research performance is the subject of this dissertation. The dissertation focuses on three interrelated questions. The first empirical analysis examines the effect of market-based policies on the structure of the academic research market. A theory that higher education is a winner-take-all market has triggered a concern that market mechanisms may lead to the concentration and stratification of the higher education market. The analysis develops a convergence model for the Australian research market and observes that the gap in research performance between universities declines over time. Furthermore, the new policy incentives have encouraged universities not only to improve their research inputs but also to maximize the productivity of these inputs. As a response to government research policies, universities have developed various research management practices in order to improve research performance. The second analysis examines the effect of seven management practices on institutional research performance over time. The results indicate that research management practices indeed have a positive effect on research performance. The most consistent effect is demonstrated by practices that target individual schools and faculties. The third part uses the Data Envelopment Analysis in order to examine the productivity and efficiency change in the sector more broadly. The dissertation concludes that market-based policies have had a considerable effect on Australian universities. Universities all across the sector improved their research performance, even though the invigorating effect of the market-mechanisms seems to fade over time. The government policies have also encouraged universities to implement internal research management practices and the effect of these practices outlives the immediate post-reform responses. Although the market-based policies may also have unintended effects, the reform in Australia seems to have achieved its primary goal: to provide incentives for productivity improvement in the higher education sector

Latin American Universities and the Third Mission : Trends, Challenges and Policy Options

Universities in Latin America are increasingly considered instruments of social and economic development and face rising expectations in regard to supplying relevant skills, undertaking applied research, and engaging in commercial activity. The paper discusses trends and challenges within Latin American universities, as well as policy options available for strengthening their contributions to social and economic development. The so-called third mission of universities is often equated with knowledge transfer narrowly defined as licensing and commercialization of research. The paper adopts a broader approach and explores how the new role of universities affects all aspects of academic practice in Latin America, including advanced education and research. It concludes that policymakers and university managers in Latin America face an important challenge of defining a legal framework, sound management procedures, and notably, incentive systems that stimulate outreach and entrepreneurship among students and staff while recognizing and preserving the distinct roles of universities

Ranking goes international : Piloting the CHE ranking of study programmes in Flanders and the Netherlands

The basic idea underlying the pilot project ‘CHE Ranking of European Universities’ is that the evolution of a common European Higher Education Area in the context of the Bologna process and a common European Research Area in the Lisbon strategy will lead to growing European mobility of students and higher education staff. Hence, comparable information about European higher education institutions will become more important for students as well as for academics in order for them to make well-informed choices in selecting where to go in the large European space, with perhaps 4,000 higher education institutions in more than 40 countries

Improving the participation in the Erasmus Programme

This study explores the extent to which European students experience financial and other barriers to participation in the ERASMUS programme. The evidence indicates that the main barriers to participation vary significantly between countries, with the exception of financial issues, which are an important concern for students everywhere. ERASMUS participation is associated with students’ socio-economic background, primarily influenced by individual preferences and cost-benefit considerations rather than questions of affordability. Other barriers to ERASMUS participation include problems with study credit recognition, as well as insufficient language skills and existing personal commitments

Epstein-Barr virus-associated primary nodal T/NK-cell lymphoma shows a distinct molecular signature and copy number changes

10.3324/haematol.2017.180430HAEMATOLOGICA1032278-28