Onderzoek aan de universiteiten. Een geschiedenis van de academische autonomie

Abstract

Research at universities. A history of academic autonomy. The history of the autonomy of research at the universities ('academic freedom') is traced through the last two centuries. It is argued that, until 1920 or so, autonomy of research at the universities could flourish thanks to the relative autonomy of the educational sector as a whole. Research functioned primarily to insure the quality of professors and teachers. In the U.S. context, the expansion of the colleges made the research at universities possible. After 1920, larger scale focussed research developed, in the industrial research laboratories but more importantly at public sector institutions. The research performed at these institutions steered research at the universities to varying extents, in particular by forming a labour market for university graduates. After 1970, and more strongly after 1980, governments and funding agencies developed mechanisms to steer research at the universities more directly. The merits of these policies are discussed.