Is There Anybody Out There? (Reflections on the Extent of Research within Scottish FE)

Joanne Crone

Policy Researcher, Scottish Further Education Unit

Paper presented at the Scottish Educational Research Association Annual Conference, West Park Conference Centre, University of Dundee, September 30th - October 2nd 1999

Abstract

This project investigated the level and extent of research within the Scottish FE sector: college structures and funding; types of research undertaken; sources of research funding; and the types of practitioner support provided. A Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU) survey of 46 Scottish FE colleges gave a response rate of 61%, with over half of the respondents holding a senior level position.

A small number of colleges had research structures in place; six colleges had established research committees and forums and four of these had a specific research budget. Seventeen colleges had a member of staff with responsibility for the development of research in an institutional context.

Over half of responding colleges were involved in research involving the development of the college as an organisation. This involves market research, research on proposed developments and to improve institutional performance/quality. Over one-third of colleges were involved in research-related consultancy and supported staff who were undertaking research-related higher degrees. Support provided for these staff included time, supervision, IT support and access to resources. Many colleges attached the condition that the research should be of relevance to the work of the college.

Over half of the colleges had made bids in the last year for research funds, with mixed success rates. Funding sources tended to reflect those organisations that colleges had strong links with, including SFEU, Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID), Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) and European sources. Research collaboration also tended to involve organisations with which colleges had strong links, such as UK universities, LECs, industry and other colleges.

Introduction

A recent SFEU survey sought to identify the level and extent of research and development within the Scottish further education sector. A survey was undertaken of 46 Scottish FE colleges and focused on the following categories:

  • college structures and research activity
  • college funding and collaboration
  • staff involvement in research.

Findings

The response rate for the survey was 61% and findings are presented as a percentage of these responding colleges. Specific research roles that respondents held ranged from research co-ordination to membership of the college research committee to being the college research contact. Over half of the college respondents held a position within the senior management team, as follows:

College structures and research activity

Respondents were asked to specify the types of research structures that their college currently had in place.

A specific research budget / 14%
Research committee – a group that monitors research and/or allocates funding / 29%
Research forum/group – a group that discusses/promotes research / 29%
Inhouse training opportunities on research (eg. research methodology) / 25%

Six colleges (21%) had both a research committee and a research forum, and four of these had a specific research budget.

Respondents were asked to state the types of research activities in which their college had been involved.

Market research / 86%
Research on proposed developments / 68%
Research to improve institutional performance/quality / 75%
Research for external clients – public / 32%
Research for external clients – private / 32%
Research as part of higher degrees / 46%
Other research / 18%

Only one college stated that they were not involved in any of these types of research activities. Over half of responding colleges were involved in: market research; research on proposed developments; and research to improve institutional performance/quality. Ten colleges (36%) had all of these types of research activities plus research as part of higher degrees.

College funding and collaboration

Over half of the colleges responding to this survey had applied for research funding within the last year. However, 96% of the responding colleges were involved in at least one type of research activity. Cross-tabulation shows that over 40% of colleges that stated involvement in research activities had not actually made any bids in the last year for any funds to support this activity.

Colleges that had submitted bids for research funding were asked to give their success ratios for the bids they had submitted. There were mixed responses as shown below:

All bids successful / 14%
Half of all bids successful / 11%
One third of bids successful / 4%
No bids successful / 18%
Unknown at this point / 7%

At least nine of the 15 colleges responding to this particular question had some success with bids, with seven of these reporting a success rate of at least 50%.

Respondents were asked to state whether their college had entered into research collaboration with other organisations, and then to specify the nature of their partner organisations. The 13 colleges with positive responses specified the nature of their partnering organisation/s as follows:

Another FE college / 31%
UK university (or other HEI) / 54%
College or university abroad / 23%
Research organisation / 23%
Local Authority / 23%
Local Enterprise Company / 54%
Chamber of Commerce / 8%
Industry / 38%
Scottish Enterprise / 15%
Highlands and Islands Enterprise / 8%
Other (mixed) / 31%

Nine of the colleges stated that they had research partnerships with more than one other organisation. The most common partnerships were with UK Universities and LECs, as 25% of all responding colleges had worked in partnership with one of these (equivalent to 54% of those colleges that they had entered into research collaboration). Five of these colleges had worked in partnership with both of these types of organisations.

Colleges were asked whether they had made bids for research funds in the last five years to any of the following organisations, and whether these bids had been successful.

Seventeen colleges (61%) stated that they had made bids for research funds to the above organisations within the past five years. Colleges appeared most likely to apply for research funding from SFEU (36%) and Europe (32%). Three colleges were successful in gaining funding from both of these sources. Although fewer colleges applied to the SOEID, the Strategic Initiatives Fund and LECs, these sources gave a 100% success rate for funding. There were no applications to research councils or research foundations.

Staff involvement in research

A total of 23 colleges (82%) stated that staff were being supported to pursue (higher) research degrees/degrees requiring a substantial dissertation. (It should be noted that there is variance in this response to that given earlier in the report.) Twelve of these colleges stated that there were stipulations or conditions attached to such support, and all included that research should be of relevance to the work of the college.

Respondents were asked to list the ways their college supported staff in pursuing (higher) research degrees/degrees requiring a substantial dissertation.

Direct support
Funding of course / 79%
Allocation of time / 57%
Supervision / 43%
Staff development, eg. research skills / 32%
Indirect support
Secretarial support / 54%
IT support / 71%
Access to resources / 82%
Library services / 79%
Other support (eg. assistance with proposals) / 4%

Twenty-five colleges (89%) listed various ways in which they support staff pursuing research or higher degrees. Over 46% (13 colleges) provided time, supervision, IT support plus access to resources.

Colleges were asked to provide details of members of staff currently undertaking formal research; 85 projects were submitted, covering general areas such as: teaching and learning; social science; organisational research; information technology; environmental research; and subject-specific research.

Seventeen colleges provided information on individual members of staff who had responsibility for the development of research in an institutional context. Over a third of these positions are either at, or above, Assistant Principal level or have research specified within the job title.

Discussion

Research questions fell into four distinct categories and focused on the areas of:

  • college structure and funding
  • types of research activity
  • sources of external funding
  • staff involvement in research
  • external factors.

College structure and funding

The number of colleges with a research structure was in single figures which could indicate that college structures and funding do not strongly support research purposes. However, it is also the case that over 20% of responding colleges had a research committee and a research forum/group. In addition, 17 colleges (61%) listed individual members of staff who had responsibility for the development of research in an institutional context, and almost a third of these were at Assistant Principal level or had research specified within his/her job title.

Types of research activity

The types of research and development being undertaken within the sector tended to fall into three main categories. The first category involved the development and improvement of the college as an organisation; research that underpins the business of the college. This included market research, and research into proposed developments, or to improve institutional performance and/or quality. Salter (1999) described this as: ‘Research (which) can improve processes within the institution … colleges are multi-million pound businesses and should see process research as essential to their business success’. Brian Wilson, Minister for Education and Industry, highlighted the importance of this type of research at the ASC Conference (1998): ‘We want to emphasise the importance of market research and discussions with local business and industry and with neighbouring colleges or those with similar specialisms, before you finalise your Development Plan and decide on your college’s portfolio of courses for the coming year’. This area of research and development was most common within colleges, with over two-thirds of responding colleges stating their involvement in institutional research activities.

The second most common type of research involved members of staff undertaking higher degrees which included an element of research. This area contributes towards the building of the institutional CV profile and can be important for college involvement in HE provision. Approximately half of responding colleges stated that they had activity within this area of research. Approximately one-third of colleges are involved in consultancy which involves research for external clients, who may be within the public or private sectors.

Sources of external funding

Over 50% of colleges had made external bids for research funding to a range of organisations within the last year. The relatively small amounts of funding for small-scale research projects provided by SFEU is complemented by the number of bids for European funding, which is presumably for the developmental element and/or the evaluative research element of projects. These two sources are compatible and provide synergy since the SFEU funding acts as a catalyst for small-scale practitioner projects, whereas the European funding is for institutional projects.

The successful applications for LEC funding indicates that discussions are likely to have taken place between the organisations prior to the application being submitted and that this is not ‘blind bidding’.

It is also interesting to note that there were no applications made to research councils or foundations by colleges. This may reflect the view that colleges are not traditionally recognised as being research organisations. In addition, the types of research that colleges are typically involved with are not those that are generally funded by research councils or foundations, which tend to focus on academic research.

Staff involvement in research

Over 80% of colleges were supporting staff pursuing higher degrees which included an element of research. This generally included those colleges within the University of the Highlands and Islands Project and those that have a relatively high level of HE provision. Over half of these colleges attached conditions to the support that they provided and made the point that research should be of relevance to the work of the college. Therefore, this type of research activity is not merely concerned with personal development per se, but is also related to the development of the college as an institution.

External factors

The survey indicated that there is a level of research and development within the sector, and recent sector developments and initiatives have indicated that this is likely to be increasing. Incorporation is one factor that has led to increasing levels of research and development since colleges have had to closely examine their operational and strategic mechanisms in order to improve efficiencies and increase autonomy. This is illustrated through the relatively high levels of research concerned with the development and improvement of college ‘business’ and the levels of research-based consultancy. Dr Evans (1998) believes that: ‘the need for institutional research has become greater since incorporation, and because colleges have to respond to the rapid transformations in education and training ... this requires colleges to research all aspects of their operations in order to maintain a presence in the highly competitive world of education and training … much can be achieved through research and development to secure value for money and improve the quality of service that colleges are trying to offer in the current volatile environment’.

The survey indicated a level of college collaboration regarding research and development, through partnerships with: other FE colleges; UK universities and HEIs; LECs; and industry. This reflects recent Government emphasis on the changing balance between competition and collaboration. Working in collaboration allows learning to occur within all partner organisations; colleges can learn from research organisations and partner organisations can learn about the FE sector. The importance of collaboration in the area of research was highlighted by Professor Robertson (1998) who stated that: ‘research in FE is most likely to flourish if it takes place in partnership with strong established research communities, namely universities or similar institutes and agencies’.

In conclusion, this survey paints a picture of college research and development within the Scottish FE sector that illustrates a modest, but significant, level of research and development activity which is being nurtured within colleges in a controlled and sensible manner. The Scottish picture is also reflected on a UK-wide basis by Johnson (1997), who described the FE model for research as having the following key purposes: ‘to improve quality and achievement by deepening experience and knowledge, to encourage action research on new developments and to build up a research capability designed to provide a base for improved institutional performance’.

References

Evans, Dr R.G. (1998) ‘Establishing a Culture of College Research’.College Research: A Journal for Further Education and Lifelong Learning. FEDA.

Johnson, M. (1997) Research in FE Colleges. FEDA.

Robertson, Professor D. (1998) Researching FE – Potential and Prospects. FEDA FERN Conference. Unpublished paper.

Salter, L. (1999) Developing a Research Culture in FE. The Place of Research and Development in FE Conference. Unpublished paper.

Wilson, B. (1998) Keynote Address at the Association of Scottish Colleges Conference. ASC Circular 98/52.