Steering at a distance: research centres funding schemes as instruments for university change

In addition to promoting reforms, governments foster change in university systems through funding, competition and new policy instruments. Little research has been conducted on how research centres funding schemes support organisational changes in universities and on their institutional and policy b...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pereira-Puga, Manuel, Sanz Menéndez, Luis
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/342444
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342444
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Research funding instruments
University change
Organisational autonomy
Authority sharing
University governance
Centres of excellence
Higher education institutions
Descripción
Sumario:In addition to promoting reforms, governments foster change in university systems through funding, competition and new policy instruments. Little research has been conducted on how research centres funding schemes support organisational changes in universities and on their institutional and policy barriers. This article addresses the research centres funding scheme implemented by the regional government of Galicia (Spain) in 2016. The approach is observational and based on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with key actors. The regional government sought to encourage organisational differentiation by increasing the autonomy of centres inside the universities and to enhance strategic research agendas, reinforcing the scientific authority of the centres’ directors. We found that the design and operation of the instrument in the context of the existing university governance system, and the interaction with other funding instruments within the policy mix, may create barriers that hinder the effectiveness of the funding scheme.