Knowledge, Diversity and Performance in European Higher Education

Studies in Higher Education, 2014

The aim of this article is to contribute to the scholarly debate on differentiation processes in higher education, particularly in binary systems. The article builds on recent developments in institutional theory and organizational ecology regarding the nature of organizational forms, as well as on the mechanisms through which these forms impact on characteristics of individual higher education institutions, and highlight the role of isomorphic pressures and competitive differentiation. The approach emphasizes the relevance of segregation and blending processes between types of institution. An application to the relationship between the two main types in Swiss higher education confirms that these forces largely determine the dynamics of the populations, and that a distinction emerges between core featureswhich make the distinction between populationsand features for which individual strategies and local conditions are more relevant.

Research Evaluation, 2015

Institutional diversity—the variety of higher education institutions within a higher education system—has been a popular theme in higher education (policy) research. Despite the large amount of work, key challenges to a better understanding of institutional diversity have hardly been addressed. We argue that particularly the problems of conceptualizing and measuring diversity across higher education systems are underestimated. This article therefore focuses on selecting salient dimensions of difference (i.e. important dimensions of organizational action), setting the perimeter of the populations studied, dealing with outliers and choosing appropriate diversity measures. We highlight the careful steps that need to be taken to make comparisons across higher education systems meaningful and use European data to illustrate the consequences of particular choices.

, 2012

We examine the extent to which the presence and number of web links between higher education institutions can be predicted from a set of structural factors like country, subject mix, physical distance, academic reputation, and size. We combine two datasets on a large sample of European higher education institutions (HEIs) containing information on inter-university web links, and organizational characteristics, respectively. Descriptive and inferential analyses provide strong support for our hypotheses: we identify factors predicting the connectivity between HEIs, and the number of web links existing between them. We conclude that, while the presence of a web link cannot be directly related to its underlying motivation and the type of relationship between HEIs, patterns of network ties between HEIs present interesting statistical properties which reveal new insights on the function and structure of the inter organizational networks in which HEIs are embedded.

Eleventh International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, 2010

The differences in publication and citation behavior between experimental sciences and social sciences and humanities (SSH) have been intensely debated; nevertheless, often these latter areas continue being evaluated by the criterion of the former using bibliometric indicators based on WoS publications for monitoring and measuring scientific performance (Nederhof: 2006). Due to a considerable part of the output in SSH being oriented toward national or regional topics and local audiences, and frequently published in books, ...

2010

The web includes many academic digital pictures and open access image archives that can potentially be used for research, artistic or social activities. Although most research outputs have a well-accepted metric for their impact assessment (eg, citation counts), it is not known whether evaluative informetrics can be extended to academic images as a type of non-standard research output. For scholars or institutions publishing such images it is important to know how well used their images are.

2010

A variety of science policy instruments aim to foster Interdisciplinary Research (IDR) since it is perceived as more successful in achieving scientific and technological breakthroughs. However, there is little evidence showing that interdisciplinarity systematically leads to achievement, although there are plenty of historical studies suggesting that interdisciplinary research environments play a key role in scientific breakthroughs (eg Hollingsworth, 2006).

2010

Globalization has a significant impact on higher education. We observe an increased competition between universities for the most promising students and highly qualified faculty, nationally and internationally. The Russian higher education system went through a notable transformation after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Universities were mainly involved in teaching and played an insignificant role in research, with the exception of Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State Universities.

2012

The dissolution of the former Soviet Union greatly impacted the Russian science community. Research personnel were reduced by a factor of three to 302.8 thousand in 2007. The model of Russian science remained unchanged: the main research body is still the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) with its 150 research institutes. The initiative “Strategy of nanotechnology development”, adopted as a priority program in 2007, supports President D. Medvedev's wish to transform Russia into an knowledge-based society.

Eleventh International Conference …, 2010

2010

Turkey is one of the most dynamic countries in terms of the increase in scientific publications (Glänzel, W.). Turkey jumped from 38th in 1991 to 18th in 2009. Similarly, the Turkish social sciences and humanities publication share has grown impressively in the last decade (Önder et al.). In this study we compare the increase of the publications and citations, and we analyze patterns of international and national collaboration between 2000-2009 using Web of Science and Scopus.