Transcript presentation

Challenges of globalized evaluation
practices in the context of semiperipheral and localized knowledge
production
MARIJA BRAJDIĆ VUKOVIĆ, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY – CENTRE
FOR CROATIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB
High quality research
Sven Hemlin (2008) six factors related to the quality of scientific work
- the product of scientific research,
- researcher,
- research environment,
- research impact,
- research financing, organization and politics
- and research assessment
Croatian socio-political context
0. 84 R&D Intensity (Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) as
% of GDP) (average for the EU member countries is 2.01, and USA 2.77)
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0.34 Business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) as % of GDP
(average for the EU member countries is 1.25, and USA is 2.01)
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0.8 New doctoral graduates (ISCED 6) per thousand population aged
25-34 (average for the EU member countries is 1.6, and USA is 1.6)
3.8 Researchers (FTE) per thousand labour force (average for the EU is 6.3
and for USA is 9.2)
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5.1 Scientific publications within the top 10% most cited publications
worldwide as % of total scientific publications of the country (average for the EU
member countries is 11.6, and USA 15.3)
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0.88 PCT patent applications per billion GDP (PPS€) (average for the EU
member countries is 4.00, for the EU member countries 4.32)
The effect of this reduced investment and the crises:
- most obvious in the continuous decrease in the number of researchers in Croatia.
- most significant problem is the unfavourable age composition of the research community,
whereby the system has been shrinking mostly in the cohorts of mid-career researchers (Golub
& Šuljok, 2005: 135).
- in the period from 2003 through 2012 research projects were mostly funded through the
system of so-called Z- projects that has been mostly criticized for crumbling the funds into small
research projects of almost no visibility or impact no matter scientific field that the public
money is invested in (Vlahoviček, 2014).
Research productivity
- There has been steady increase related to the number of international
publications and co-authorships in all scientific fields in Croatia since 90’s
(Prpić 2004, Prpić i Brajdić Vuković 2007).
- This productivity remains low in terms of its international impact and
visibility (Vlahoviček, 2014)
- Recent studies have shown perceived generational differences not just in
attitudes related to research practices and the future of academic system in
Croatia, but also in attitudes regarding patterns of productivity and
research assessment (Brajdić Vuković, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Debates and disputes
“Ministry has claimed that it wants to encourage new regulation of Croatian
humanities and social sciences in order to increase the international visibility of
the scholarly work in those scientific fields. In recent weeks, a significant portion
of the scientific community - universities and institutes, professional
associations and individuals, including members of the union - warned of the
danger caused by privileging only one component of the scientific work: there
will be a neglect of other, not less important, components….
In particular, we are warned of the consequences that the "international twist"
will have for the Croatian society and culture, Croatian as a language of science,
the Croatian scientific journals and publishers. The state of mind which gave
birth to this ordinance, the implicit view that domestic science and home science
audience should, as a priori inferior, lazy and corrupt, be disciplined by the model
of purity and superiority existent "abroad" – can be recognized as a textbook
example of colonial consciousness. It is a complex anxiety of weaker before the
stronger, of the willingness to give up our own in the hope that some among us the best because they are the most adapted - could be let in the phantasmagoric
circle of "selected and privileged."
Academic Solidarity Union, 2013
Black box of Croatian science?
Problems related to the lack of funding, need to engage in commercial
projects to be able to fund primary scientific project and doctoral
dissertation
Problems related to the shortage of technical and research staff
Problems related to the generational differences – generation gap
Problems related to the closed, interconnected scientific culture that lacks
transparency and orientation towards quality and abounds with hostilities
Problems related to the research and higher education institutions, their
lack of goals and their poor everyday functioning
Therapy or constructive problem-solving dialogue?
Thank you for your
attention!
Marija Brajdić Vuković
([email protected])