Research in non-university higher education institutions The case of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences

• Published in: Higher education Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 45 - 58
• Main Author: Lepori, Benedetto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.07.2008; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied research; Ausland; Binary system; Case Studies; Colleges & universities; Convergence; Differentiation; Economic research; Education; Education parks; Educational research; Educational systems; Fachhochschule; Forecasts and trends; Foreign Countries; Forschung; Funding; Higher Education; Hochschule; Hochschullehre; Individualized Instruction; Professional education; Research universities; School facilities; Schweiz; Small & medium sized enterprises-SME; Specialization; Students; Switzerland; Technical Education; Technological innovation; Technology; Universities; Universities and colleges; Vocational education; Switzerland; Non-university higher education; Switzerland; Binary divide; Applied research
• ISSN: 0018-1560; 1573-174X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10734-007-9088-y

This paper presents the development of research in the Swiss non-university higher education sector and frames it in the debate on the organization of higher education systems in Western Europe and on the dynamics between university and non-university sector. It shows that, in the Swiss case, the applied research mandate has been used to differentiate these institutions from universities and that this endeavor has been to a large extent successful in technology, while it has been a source of major tensions in the other domains. I conclude that the development of research in the non-higher education leads to complex dynamics of convergence and of differentiation and that this process is strongly influenced by the specificities and differences between different subject domains.