Reconciling research autonomy and marketisation in New Zealand universities: the idea of strategic entrepreneurialism

ABSTRACT

This study proposes the concept of strategic entrepreneurialism to suggest ways universities can best maintain their research autonomy in the face of increasing marketisation in higher education. Studies show that there is decreasing research autonomy globally, and while some scholars attribute this to corporate practices of the higher education system, others believe that those practices can rather strengthen research autonomy. This study contributes to the debate and thereby also contributes to theories of marketing for higher education that promote a hybrid system where universities’ core educational mission is adjusted to enable compatibility with the economic mission. Twenty-six staff from the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology were interviewed, and documents such as the universities’ strategic plans and research policies were analysed. The findings showed that while university-industry-government research collaboration can resource universities to enhance their research mission, it can affect their autonomy.

KEYWORDS:

• New Zealand
• research autonomy
• resources
• university
• strategic entrepreneurialism

Acknowledgement

Thank you to my PhD supervisors, Dr Sean Sturm and Associate Professor Cathy Gunn, for providing me with the guidance and counsel I needed in my PhD, which ultimately led to the production of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).