Research in the non-university higher education sector - tensions and dilemmas

This article analyses the increasing emphasis on research in the non-university higher education sector in Norway as an important faculty task in addition to teaching. This development is an interesting example on the types of tension and dilemma that may emerge when institutions and individual staff members try to imitate the research profile of the universities. A central dimension is the tension between traditional professional and vocational norms for education and R&D work, and academic ideals. Based on a survey among faculty members at the state colleges, eight policy dilemmas faced by these colleges in their internal allocation of resources for R&D are illustrated.