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

This article analyses the increasing emphasison research in the non-university highereducation sector in Norway as an importantfaculty task in addition to teaching. Thisdevelopment is an interesting example on thetypes of tension and dilemma that may emergewhen institutions and individual staff memberstry to imitate the research profile of theuniversities. A central dimension is thetension between traditional professional andvocational norms for education and R&D work,and academic ideals. Based on a survey amongfaculty members at the state colleges, eightpolicy dilemmas faced by these colleges intheir internal allocation of resources for R&Dare illustrated.