Learning Strategy for a Research Focused University

As discussed in my post on university types different universities have different imperatives, and different strengths and challenges. This post outlines the case for a learning strategy suitable for a research focused university. I’ll start with my recollection of a presentation by the head of the Group of Eight universities at a conference in 2014, where she lamented how the value proposition for students at research focused universities was unclear. It was a sentiment many people secretly shared, or not so secretly in the case of school guidance counsellors, and it was slightly disheartening to hear it spoken about openly without an answer. It made me think…

What can the advantages be for students attending research focused universities?

Research universities face two significant challenges in delivering their mission in the face of competition from other university types. Research universities typically have to divert some of the tuition fees to research, which means they require a different value proposition for their learning experience, compared to teaching focused universities. Secondly high performing research focused universities are typically saddled with large and old and expensive physical campuses that pure online competitors are not. So with the growing threat of students being attracted to teaching focused or online universities, another question is…

How do research focused universities provide a clear and real and marketable value proposition for their students and their employers that other university types cannot plausibly deliver as well?

I remember reading a study that showed how the United States generated intellectual property at a far higher rate than China, but that China had now realized how IP and marketing were far more profitable parts of the value chain, compared to manufacturing. Think iPhone. This led to the question:

What is different about Asian education systems and cultures and business environments that makes it harder to generate IP? What type of education would be attractive to Asian students, who are driving Australia’s third largest export industry?

Next came a ‘climate survey’ that showed general dissatisfaction with University strategic plans. I have to admit I found they had unclear vision statements had more than their fair share of motherhood statements. Together they provided little guidance for making decisions at lower levels, and left universities somewhat rudderless, so…

What ARE the competitive advantages of a research focused university?

What is a teaching vision that students and staff, and the public, could all know and believe in?

Lastly I recall a comment made by someone very senior at my own university. An employer had commented “look its great that your university is getting so good at research, but that’s not really making your students are more attractive for us to employ”. Personally I remember how I managed to get all the way through my undergraduate degree without knowing my lecturers actually spent time on research, let alone what they researched, and least of all HOW they did their research. This all led to the question…

How is it possible for a research focused university to add value to teaching in a way that a teaching focused university can’t? Teaching universities can read research papers, but are they as good at research methods?

Are research methods useful to students in a rapidly changing and uncertain future?

We know there are some very successful universities focused on pragmatic teaching for “the real world” but increasingly that world is the one of three or four years ago when students started their degree, and so they graduate and discover they are already behind and need to catch up to be useful, and not just at the start of their career but all the way through.

How can we prepare students with real skills they can use on a daily basis to deal with a rapidly changing world?

I therefore propose the following learning strategies for research focused universities.

The value proposition for learning at a research focused university should be how it uses its unquestionable research prowess to imbue students with research skills and higher order learning skills (inquiry based learning) – focused on creating/evaluating/analysing, according to Blooms taxonomy. These skills will make them unquestionable leaders in evidence based decision making and in life-long learning. A successful research focused university can plausibly do this better than any university that attempts to copy this strategy.

Employers will be attracted to graduates that are therefore problem solvers and leaders and knowledge creators for an uncertain future.

Potential students will be attracted to the clear unique and advantage for them in the jobs market, not just on graduation but through many years of an uncertain future.

University staff will see a clear and unique and appropriate purpose, that fits their culture… a purpose they would be proud to fulfil, that they can do better than other universities, using skills they already have, and importantly makes sense to them.

Lastly this focus on knowledge generation skills is known to be key to future economies, especially Australia’s, and for IP generation, and a key selling point to international students who are still faced with education systems based on rote learning in didactic classes.

Of course a campus based university should sell culture, sporting and high value – active learning - face to face experiences. Often they need to catch up with teaching focused universities in these areas. These are the bread and better, but the competitive advantage comes from fusing research with teaching, by moving courses and programs from research led to research based, using inquiry based learning elements. Of course the graduates are leaders in raw knowledge and in leaders in practical application of their knowledge, but what sets them apart is their strength of their skills in generating new knowledge and solutions in a dynamic future.




Thoughts?
Simon Collyer