Impelling professors towards more research

Impelling professors towards more research

Dr.Kriengsak Chareonwongsak

Senior Fellow, Harvard Univerisity’s Center for Business and Government

           

The Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)’s annual seminar explores ways to improve educational quality in the United Kingdom. In mid December 2007, it focused on a growing trend in the UK, in which professors are neglecting their research in favor of their lectures only.

In this seminar, Stephen Court, Senior Research Officer at the University and College Union (UCU), warned that if professors with doctorate degrees continued to avoid research, knowledge development at the tertiary level would be seriously threatened. He pointed out that during the past 10 years, the number of professors who only teach has increased from 12,000 to 40,000. He gave the examples of University College London and University of East Anglia, which used to be known for their emphasis on research, but now have lower research outputs. Dr. Court added that a mere 50 to 100 years ago, the academic culture demanded that professors engage in both research and lecturing, but he observed how this culture is less dominant than it used to be.

This situation is also occurring in Thailand, where professors engage in relatively little research. The Office for National Educational Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) reports that between 1999, when education reform was introduced by the National Education Act, and 2005 very little research has been produced by institutes of higher learning. Professors produce an average of only 0.10 research papers per professor per year, even in universities with reputations for rigorous academic standards.

If professors neglect research, our institutes of higher education will eventually become known for their poor quality because professors are not progressing in knowledge creation; they are not involved in the discovering of new knowledge, a critical factor required for high quality teaching. Their teaching will eventually be composed of “canned knowledge,” knowledge anyone can find in a book, knowledge that lacks development and cutting-edge relevance to developments in our modern world. It will be impossible for such professors to teach their students research skills and the research mind set. This void will be especially apparent to students at the masters and doctorate levels, those who need to be able to create and develop new knowledge. Furthermore, this lack will weaken the academic atmosphere in universities, resulting in a lower quality of teaching, a lower quality of research, and a lower esteem (trustworthiness) for our universities.

            However, my experience of being an academic at Harvard University, USA, has shown me some mechanisms that help to stimulate professors to research, as follows.

Law mechanisms in the USA. The Bay-Dole Act, also known as the Patent and Trademark Law Amendment Act, was announced by Congress in 1980 and amended again in 1984. This law stipulates that researchers who receive funding from the government can take out patents and sell them to the private sector. This law has done much to stimulate research and patent registration by universities. It has also helped to foster closer ties between the business sector and universities. One measure of this law’s success is academia’s increased use of the Technology Licensing and Transfer Office, the office where institutes of higher education register their patents. Between 1980 and 1990, this government agency increased from 25 to 200 offices. This law significantly increased emphasis on research in the USA. It helped decentralize research, enhance cooperation with the private sector, and give higher importance to patents, fueling the motivation to engage in research.

Mechanism for competition among professors. Some people say Harvard is world famous for its professors who can impart knowledge to students. What some people do not realize is that all Harvard professors must research. No potential candidate is accepted as a lecturer until that person has established his or her academic reputation with research acknowledged for its quality. Even tenured professors must research. All lecturers and professors are given only temporary contracts until they can prove their ability to publish. Those who don’t are released to work elsewhere. This mechanism provokes an exciting research ambiance amongst Harvard professors. It helps to nurture an exciting learning atmosphere, where students know they are receiving cutting-edge knowledge from their professors.

Applying these mechanisms within Thai universities

These 2 mechanisms can be applied in Thailand.
For example, we can enact similar legislation as the US’s Bayh-Dole Act. Thailand can contextualize the principles of this act without having to completely imitate it. For example when the business sector hires universities to do research, it may share the benefits from any patents taken out with the universities, etc. This may stimulate professors to engage in more research. The Ministry of Education may use Harvard’s concept by creating as system to stimulate university professors to incorporate research into their normal annual academic cycles, so professors will dedicate themselves both to teaching and to research.

Those who oversee Thai university cannot deny society’s expectation that universities produce quality graduates, but if professors neglect research, this expectation will never be fulfilled. Therefore, all those involved in this issue need to gather together to solve the problem and to create mechanisms to prevent it in the future. This would also apply to private universities, which do not fall under government jurisdiction. These universities must both support themselves financially and create pathways for their professors to research, as well as maintain high quality teaching.