Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

As an example of a study, which aims to support the use of evidence-based policy in decision-making, the paper will present a study on cost-sharing. Commissioned by the European Union, the study had the task of reviewing the impact of changes to the balance of higher education costs between public grants and private revenues using a case-study approach (Orr, Wespel, & Usher, , ). The purpose of the study was to provide a basis for open discussions on reforms to higher education funding and their consequences.

The aim of the paper is to analyze the relationship between educational research and its use in the policy-making process in Romania. We examine the ways in which research influences educational policy, the mechanisms by which this influence operates and whether it can be improved. We focus firstly upon research production, looking to identify the researchers’ perception regarding the quality and the potential of their research with respect to the policy-making process. Secondly, we analyze policy makers’ opinions regarding research and its incorporation into policy-making. Finally, we discuss the obstacles and opportunities presented by the transfer of research into policy making, and make some suggestions as to how this can be improved. We used qualitative methods based on in-depth interviews with researchers and policy-makers in Romania. The results show that, in general, policy makers are not using research results, and we identify the causes of this situation. We identify different types of causes, from the quality and visibility of research activity to the structural and institutional obstacles which research activity and transfer have to face. The implications are discussed at three different levels: the micro level represented by the individual researcher, the mezzo level, represented by the organization and the macro level – the systemic context. The conclusions offer researchers and policy-makers opportunities to consider opportunities and constraints, in order to improve the relationship between the educational research and its potential users.

The University of Potsdam (Uni Potsdam), a research-intensive university situated in former East Germany, is no stranger to the major German and European policy reforms that have transformed the German higher education system over the past decade and a half. Uni Potsdam’s rich regional past, young institutional history, and low state funding present a remarkable context of reform. This case study analyzes the perceptions of 25 professors amid Bologna and national reforms and found significant changes to the structure of faculty work, teaching and learning, and interaction between professors and students. This paper focuses on one thread of these findings: the ways in which the Bologna Process has changed the academic relationships between students and professors at Uni Potsdam 2011–12.