ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 6 – social SCIENCEs
Because of the multiple tasks of comprehensive universities where the
Social Sciences may interact beyond faculty borders, a narrow emphasis
on competitiveness, productivity and often short-term assessments may
have a detrimental effect on the intellectual, academic and societal mission
of universities and their constituent departments. Such endeavours,
particularly in the Social Sciences and Humanities, can reduce the range
of ideas explored, narrow the fields of academic enquiry, and rupture the
important articulation between intellectuals and other spheres of social life.
The panel agreed that universities, their reputations and their contributions,
also reside exactly in nurturing intellectual freedom, stimulating
innovative and blue-sky research, encouraging unorthodox thinking and
foster the debate between academia, civil society, and politics/government.
A narrow focus on metric data, an overemphasis on quantifiable
benchmarking, and a concern with economically measurable indicators,
are dangers that are implicit in each assessment exercise of the Social
Sciences that above all are meaning producers. In a wider social context, in
which intellectual life is in danger of further marginalisation, as a premium
is put on directly measurable effects, we believe it is imperative to keep
the role of universities as leading centres of intellectual life at the forefront
of our assessment. This means, among others, that our assessments are
guided by a concern for maintaining, fostering and nurturing speculative
thinking, advanced academic research, a vibrant intellectual milieu for
both teachers and students, and the degree to which the intellectual life of
the university interacts or articulates with other sectors of society.
In sum, universities are and should be centres of intellectual excellence,
debate, disagreement and the exploration of novel ideas, the different,
including the uncomfortable, the disagreeable, and even the marginal.
We therefore believe that the mission of research assessments is not solely
to identify what constitutes success (or otherwise) in narrowly defined
metric terms, but also to assure that the intellectual mission and the
public role of departments subject to assessment is strengthened for the
future. We suggest that interdisciplinary research and cross-faculty cooperation
are strengthened to assure these goals. Innovation might occur
if new research areas are allowed to emerge, are recognised and nurtured
across present boundaries.
In addition to somewhat impenetrable faculty and departmental
boundaries, one of the present problems seems to be the lack of a clearly
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