ERIC Number: EJ1446446
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0958-2029
EISSN: EISSN-1471-5449
Changing Conceptualization of Innovation in the European Union and Its Impact on Universities: Critical Junctures and Evolving Institutional Demands
Ridvan Cinar; Paul Benneworth; Lars Coenen
Research Evaluation, v33 Article rvad006 2024
This article explores underlying mechanisms triggering a change in conceptualization of innovation in the European Union (EU), the impact of this change on institutional demands upon European universities and implications for evaluation procedures. We mobilize the theoretical concept of critical junctures to explore significant periods that have affected understanding of innovation in the EU as well as institutional expectations from universities. Through an analysis of European policy corpus relating to innovation, we identify three distinct periods, 1983-6, 1995-2000, and 2008-12, entailing fairly fundamental shifts that have considerably broadened the understanding of innovation and then demonstrate the way this broadening conceptualization has affected institutional demands upon universities. Following this, we discuss the implications of the critical junctures on evaluation approaches. We conclude by arguing that different approaches towards innovation have created complex institutional environment for universities to navigate and suggest that implementing more nuanced and customized evaluation schemes aligned to the institutional demands of each critical juncture could help addressing this complexity.
Descriptors: Universities, Educational Innovation, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis, Foreign Countries, Educational History, Evaluation Methods
Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://applij.oxfordjournals.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: European Union
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A