<strong>Growing</strong> <strong>the</strong> best <strong>and</strong> brightest
<strong>Growing</strong> <strong>the</strong> best <strong>and</strong> brightest March 2014 BIS asked Economic Insight to undertake a study to help develop its underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> drivers <strong>of</strong> research excellence in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in <strong>the</strong> UK. Specifically, BIS wanted us to look beyond funding levels <strong>and</strong> path dependency as drivers <strong>of</strong> research excellence <strong>and</strong> instead to focus on <strong>the</strong> “on-<strong>the</strong>-ground” features <strong>and</strong> practices prevalent in HEIs (e.g. institution autonomy, recruitment practices, culture) that support research excellence. Put simply, <strong>the</strong> primary objective <strong>of</strong> this study is to underst<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> practical things that UK HEIs do with <strong>the</strong> resources <strong>the</strong>y have to help create excellent research. <strong>The</strong> results will be used to help BIS decide how it should best deliver its responsibility for maintaining <strong>and</strong> building on current levels <strong>of</strong> excellence in research. <strong>The</strong> remainder <strong>of</strong> this section sets out our approach to, <strong>and</strong> methodology for, this study. In particular, it describes how we have sought to meet <strong>the</strong> objectives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study set out above. As described fur<strong>the</strong>r below, our approach is shaped by <strong>the</strong> business <strong>and</strong> economic concept <strong>of</strong> “competitive advantage” <strong>and</strong> semi-structured interviews with academics are at <strong>the</strong> heart <strong>of</strong> our methodology. Studying <strong>the</strong> sources <strong>of</strong> competitive advantage involves underst<strong>and</strong>ing what an organisation does differently to give it a competitive edge over ano<strong>the</strong>r <strong>and</strong>, relatedly, how that competitive edge can be maintained where rivals have strong incentives to erode it by “mimicking” or “outdoing”. <strong>The</strong>refore, although principally developed in <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> analysing firms not HEIs, we think that <strong>the</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> competitive advantage is a useful lens through which to look at <strong>the</strong> drivers <strong>of</strong> research excellence in HEIs <strong>and</strong> aligns closely with <strong>the</strong> research objective set out above. <strong>The</strong> academic literature on competitive advantage identifies two overarching sources <strong>of</strong> 3 For example, see: Porter (1980), “Competitive Strategy”, Free Press. 4 For example, see: For example, see: Warwick (2002), “<strong>The</strong> determinants <strong>of</strong> research group performance”, Journal <strong>of</strong> Management Studies; Sch<strong>of</strong>ield (2012), “Critical Success Factors for Knowledge Transfer Collaborations between University <strong>and</strong> Industry in <strong>the</strong> Emerging Market Context”; Goodhall (2009), “Highly Cited Leaders <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Performance <strong>of</strong> <strong>Research</strong> competitive advantage: superior efficiency <strong>and</strong> differentiation. 3 In this context, superior efficiency is achieved by finding ways <strong>of</strong> maximising <strong>the</strong> quantity <strong>and</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> research for a given level <strong>of</strong> funding (or, similarly, finding ways to minimise cost for a given quantity <strong>and</strong> quality). Differentiation is achieved by finding ways <strong>of</strong> creating valuable research that o<strong>the</strong>rs do not. This concept immediately helps to frame <strong>and</strong> raises various practical questions <strong>of</strong> relevance to this study, such as: What does superior efficiency look like? How might it vary between disciplines? How is it achieved in practice? Previous work, discussed in more detail in Section 3 <strong>of</strong> this report, suggests that research institutions adopt various formal <strong>and</strong> informal strategies to achieve superior efficiency <strong>and</strong> differentiate <strong>the</strong>mselves. <strong>The</strong>se strategies include but are not limited to: facilitating <strong>and</strong> encouraging various forms <strong>of</strong> collaboration; leading <strong>and</strong> supporting researchers through various mentoring <strong>and</strong> appraisal techniques; <strong>and</strong> balancing <strong>the</strong> competing dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> research, teaching <strong>and</strong> administration. 4 But <strong>the</strong> existing literature tends to contain relatively little information about what each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se strategies look like practice. Uncovering this is as an important part <strong>of</strong> this study for two reasons. » First, it is likely that most institutions will recognise <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong>, <strong>and</strong> take steps to deliver (say) a good research environment. To underst<strong>and</strong> what subtle changes make <strong>the</strong> difference between 'very good' <strong>and</strong> 'excellent' will require us to develop a richer underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> different 'flavours' <strong>of</strong> a research environment. We note that <strong>the</strong>re may be similarities / differences between <strong>the</strong> disciplines (e.g. an excellent research environment for an economist might look quite different to <strong>the</strong> same for a chemist). Universities”, <strong>Research</strong> Policy; Wood (1990), “Factors influencing research performance <strong>of</strong> university academic staff”, Higher Education; Harris (1994), “<strong>The</strong> determinants <strong>of</strong> research performance: A study <strong>of</strong> Australian university economists”, Higher Education; Travaille (2010), “What keeps science spiralling? Unravelling <strong>the</strong> critical success factors <strong>of</strong> knowledge creation in university research”, Higher Education.
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